What are Discord’s emoji requirements?

Discord requires custom emoji to be 256KB or smaller and recommends 128×128 pixels. This is entirely separate from the message attachment limit, which is measured in megabytes. Discord adjusts these figures periodically, so check their own documentation if something is rejected unexpectedly.

My GIF posts fine in chat but won’t upload as an emoji. Why?

They are two different limits. Message attachments are allowed to be many megabytes; custom emoji are capped at 256KB. The same file can comfortably pass one check and fail the other.

What about Discord stickers?

Stickers use different formats and requirements from emoji, and animated stickers are not GIF-based. This tool is built for custom emoji specifically. Check Discord’s sticker documentation for what their sticker uploader currently accepts.

Does the emoji need to be exactly 128×128?

Discord will scale other sizes, but 128×128 is what it recommends, and starting there means you control the crop rather than leaving it to Discord. It also makes the 256KB limit substantially easier to meet.

Discord Emoji GIF Maker

Fits a GIF to 128×128 and under 256KB in one step.

Upload a GIF

Drop a .gif file to fit it to 128×128 and under 256KB

Why emoji uploads fail when message uploads don’t

Discord applies a far smaller limit to custom emoji than to ordinary message attachments. A GIF you can post in a channel without any complaint will be refused as an emoji, which is what makes the rejection so confusing — the same file worked seconds earlier in a different context.

The emoji budget is 256KB against a 128×128 canvas. This tool sets the canvas and then compresses only as far as needed to clear the cap, in a single re-encode rather than two. That matters because each pass through a GIF quantiser discards color information permanently, so resizing and compressing as separate operations costs visible quality that a combined pass doesn’t.

If you are building the emoji from video rather than an existing GIF, start at Video to GIF and keep the clip to a second or two. It is considerably easier to build a small GIF than to rescue a large one, and at emoji display size nobody will miss the frames you left out.

How to make a Discord emoji GIF

Upload your GIFDrop a .gif file onto the upload area, or click to browse for one on your device.
Choose how to handle the shapeIf the GIF is not already square, pick whether to crop it to fill the 128×128 frame or fit the whole frame inside it.
Fit it to the requirementsPress the button. The GIF is resized to 128×128, then compressed only as far as needed to get under 256KB.
Download and uploadCheck the reported size against 256KB, download the GIF, and upload it through the platform's own uploader.

Other platforms

Frequently asked questions

What are Discord’s emoji requirements?: Discord requires custom emoji to be 256KB or smaller and recommends 128×128 pixels. This is entirely separate from the message attachment limit, which is measured in megabytes. Discord adjusts these figures periodically, so check their own documentation if something is rejected unexpectedly.
My GIF posts fine in chat but won’t upload as an emoji. Why?: They are two different limits. Message attachments are allowed to be many megabytes; custom emoji are capped at 256KB. The same file can comfortably pass one check and fail the other.
What about Discord stickers?: Stickers use different formats and requirements from emoji, and animated stickers are not GIF-based. This tool is built for custom emoji specifically. Check Discord’s sticker documentation for what their sticker uploader currently accepts.
Does the emoji need to be exactly 128×128?: Discord will scale other sizes, but 128×128 is what it recommends, and starting there means you control the crop rather than leaving it to Discord. It also makes the 256KB limit substantially easier to meet.