How to make video stickers for Telegram

Lifehacker has already written about how to create static and animated stickerpacks. And in this article we will figure out how to make recently appeared video stickers.

Things to Consider Before Making Video Stickers for Telegram

Video stickers are reaction stickers based on WEBM videos, which allows for even greater detail and quality.

To create them, you need to send the prepared WEBM files to the official bot. In addition to the format, the source code must meet the following developer requirements:

• compression with VP9 codec;
• size - 512 pixels on one side and no more than 512 pixels on the other;
• duration - up to 3 seconds, and volume - 256 kilobytes or less;
• transparent layer with alpha channel;
• no audio stream.

In fact, all this is easy to comply with if you select the appropriate settings when exporting a file in a video editor. But if you do not own professional software, there is an easier option - take a regular video, remove the background from it and convert it to WEBM.

How to make video stickers for Telegram

1. Trim the video

First you need to shorten the video to 3 seconds in any editor. For example, in the free online service 123Apps.

Go to link and upload the file by dragging it to the window.

Highlight the desired video fragment no longer than 3 seconds.

Click on the gear icon, and then turn on the No re-encoding toggle switch and click Save.

2. Remove background

If you do not want to clear the background or the video has a transparent background, then immediately proceed to the next step. Otherwise, you will have to cut out the excess. The most convenient way to do this is with the help of online services - say, Unscreen. In the free version, it only allows you to download the result in GIF format, but this is not a hindrance.

open page and download the video by dragging it to the browser window.

Wait for the file to be processed and click the Download button.

3. Export file to WEBM

To convert the source code into an understandable Telegram format, you need software that can convert to WEBM using the VP9 codec with an alpha channel. There aren't many good free options out there. One of them is Shutter Encoder, which is open source and suitable for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Install the app by link and run.

Move the file obtained in the previous step to the application window. Select VP9 codec and WEBM format.

In the "Sound Settings" section, select "No Sound". Expand "Advanced Features" and activate the "Enable Alpha Channel" option.

In the "Bitrate Adjustment" section, set the resolution. Since the GIF with the background cut in Unscreen has a size of 640 × 337, we took 512 × 372 so that the video does not pinch or stretch. If you have used another service, you can experiment. Then select the CQ method and set the value in the region of 31-51 (the higher, the stronger the compression and the smaller the size of the resulting file).

Click the "Launch function" button, and in a couple of seconds the converted file will appear in the same folder where the source was. Check its size, and if it's over 256 KB, re-encode, choosing a larger CQ value from the previous step.

4. Create a sticker pack in Telegram

Now you can finally turn your WEBM file into a video sticker. This will help a special bot from the creators of Telegram.

Open a dialogue with the bot link. It is best to use the desktop or web version of the messenger.

Enter command /newvideo, then enter a name for the set.

Click on the paperclip icon, select "File", specify the path to the prepared WEBM video and send it to the bot.

Select and send the emoji that the sticker will match.

Submit the rest of the files you want to include in the set in the same way. When you're done, click /publish.

Click /skipto skip adding the icon. Instead, the first sticker from the pack will be used.

Enter a short name for the set to uniquely link to it, and copy the URL.

5. Try out new video stickers

Now all that remains is to distribute the sticker pack via Telegram. To do this, share a link or simply use new video reactions in chats and channels.

Choose from a menu or send quickly by entering the appropriate emoji.

Artyom Kozoriz