Telegram animated stickers and custom emoji use a format called TGS —
compressed Lottie animation data. The "official" way to make one is a Lottie /
After Effects pipeline, which is overkill if you already have a clean SVG icon.
Here's the fast path.
1. Start with a clean SVG
Export a vector SVG from Figma, Illustrator or Inkscape. Convert text to
outlines and avoid embedded raster images — TGS is vector-only.
2. Convert and animate in the browser
I use a free tool called SVG to TGS. You upload the SVG,
pick an animation preset, preview it in a Telegram-style frame, and export a
.tgs file. It runs fully client-side (WebAssembly), so nothing is uploaded.
3. Respect Telegram's limits
Telegram rejects stickers that break its rules, so the output has to be:
- 512×512 px
- under 64 KB
- up to 3 seconds
- 60 FPS
A good converter enforces this automatically so @Stickers accepts the file on
the first try.
4. Add it to Telegram
Send the .tgs to @Stickers for a sticker pack, or use the custom emoji flow
for Premium emoji.
Bonus: TGS ≠ TGA
A lot of "SVG to TGA" converters show up when you search — ignore them. TGA
is a static raster image format and has nothing to do with Telegram. You want
TGS.
That's it — an animated Telegram sticker straight from an SVG, no motion-design
software required. Tool I used: https://svgtotgs.com
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