How to Make WhatsApp and Telegram Stickers From Your Photos

A good sticker is a subject with nothing behind it, so the first job is the cut-out. Our transparent background tool handles that step: it is free, with no signup and no watermark, and it takes a JPG, PNG or WebP up to 10 MB and returns a transparent PNG at the same resolution.

bgclear is a background remover and not a sticker maker. It has no sticker preset, does not add WhatsApp's margin or outline, and does not create sticker packs. WhatsApp and Telegram both have their own sticker tools for the last step, and this guide names a free editor for the cases where you need an exact file.

If all you want is one sticker to send today, read the quick route for your app and skip the specs. You only need the exact numbers when you are preparing a full set of files yourself.

Stickers appear small in a chat, so one clear subject with a strong expression beats a detailed scene. A close-up of an uncle laughing with his eyes shut will read better than the whole family lined up at a wedding.

Look for a subject that separates cleanly from what is behind it. Your cousin in a dark kurta against a pale wall is an easy cut-out. The same cousin in front of a crowd or a wall of marigolds gives the tool more to get wrong, particularly around hair.

Use the original photo from your gallery. A picture saved from a WhatsApp forward has already been compressed, and its edges will look rough once the background is gone.

Ask before making a sticker of someone else, and leave out photos you do not have the right to use, such as film stills or match photos of cricketers. WhatsApp's help page says stickers must be legal and authorised.

1. Open the transparent background tool and upload your photo.
2. Wait for the result, then keep the background set to none so that the surroundings stay transparent.
3. Look closely at the edge on both a light and a dark preview. Check hair, fingers and any gaps between an arm and the body.
4. Download the transparent PNG and keep it. It is your master file for both apps.

The same cut-out can also become your profile picture. Our WhatsApp DP tool covers that, with a plain colour behind you in place of transparency.

WhatsApp can turn a photo from your gallery into a sticker, so you do not need a separate WhatsApp sticker maker for this. These steps come from its help page on custom stickers. The icons and labels vary by version, and the page says custom sticker packs need the latest version of the app, so update first.

On Android:

1. Open a chat, tap the emoji icon, then the stickers icon.
2. Tap Create, then Recents, See more, and Photos.
3. Choose your transparent PNG from the gallery.
4. On the preview screen, pick a preset. You can add text, an emoji or a drawing here.
5. Tap send.

On iPhone:

1. Open the stickers panel in a chat.
2. Tap Create, then Use a photo.
3. Choose your transparent PNG.
4. Pick a preset on the preview screen, then add text, an emoji or a drawing if you like.
5. Tap send.

WhatsApp's page does not say how its creator treats a PNG that is already transparent, so judge it from the preview. If you see a coloured box or an awkward crop, try a different preset.

To keep stickers together, add them to a pack. On Android, press and hold a sticker in the tray, tap Add to sticker pack, then choose a pack or tap New and name it. iPhone has the same option under the edit and More controls. To share a pack, open a chat, go to the stickers panel, open the More menu and tap Send.

WhatsApp also has a separate WhatsApp Stickers app for browsing and making packs. Its help page says the app is rolling out gradually, so you may not have it yet.

You only need these if you are preparing the files yourself, for instance to publish a pack through a sticker app. WhatsApp's design guide asks for a transparent background, exactly 512 x 512 pixels and less than 100 KB per sticker. It recommends a 16-pixel margin between the artwork and the edge of the canvas, and an 8-pixel white outline so the sticker stays visible on any chat background. A pack also needs a tray icon of 96 x 96 pixels, under 50 KB.

WhatsApp's official sticker sample code on GitHub requires WebP files and between 3 and 30 stickers in a pack, with no mixing of still and animated stickers.

One conflict to know about: the iPhone tab of the custom stickers help page currently says still stickers must be 500 x 500 pixels and may be PNG or WebP, while the Android tab, the design guide and the sample code say 512 x 512. We would follow 512 x 512, since three of the four official references agree on it. If a file gets rejected, the message on screen is your best guide.

A pack needs a fixed canvas, a margin and a WebP file that meets WhatsApp's limits. GIMP is free for Windows, Mac and Linux and gives you precise control over all of that, starting from your transparent PNG.

1. Open the transparent PNG in GIMP.
2. Use Image > Scale Image to bring the longest side down to 480 pixels. That leaves room for the 16-pixel margin.
3. Use Image > Canvas Size, unlink the width and height, set both to 512 pixels, click Center, then Resize.
4. Use Layer > Layer to Image Size so the whole canvas is kept on export.
5. Optional: add the white outline. Create a new layer below your subject, use Select > Alpha to Selection on the subject, Select > Grow by 8 pixels, and fill the selection with white on the lower layer.
6. Use File > Export As, name the file sticker.webp, and choose a quality setting.

Check the file size afterwards. If it is over 100 KB, export again at a lower quality, or open it in the free browser tool Squoosh, choose WebP and lower the quality until it fits. Look at the edges again after compressing. Our guides to WebP and PNG for transparent images and compressing while keeping transparency explain the trade-offs.

If you only have a phone, sticker maker apps on the Play Store and App Store can resize files and package them into a pack. We have not reviewed them, so check the reviews and the permissions they ask for. For most people, WhatsApp's own route above is simpler.

Telegram added a Sticker Editor in April 2024. Open the sticker panel from the message box in any chat and press the plus button, then choose a photo. Telegram can cut out the subject itself in one tap, so you may not need a separate tool at all. When you add a sticker to a set, you choose emoji that describe it.

A cut-out from our tool is useful when you already have a transparent PNG made for WhatsApp, or when you want one master file for both apps. Compare the two results on your own photo and keep whichever edge looks better.

To publish a set from your own files, Telegram's sticker documentation points to the @Stickers bot. For still stickers, one side must be exactly 512 pixels and the other can be 512 or less, in PNG or WebP. That makes Telegram easier than WhatsApp, because a non-square cut-out needs no padding.

1. Resize your transparent PNG so that its longest side is exactly 512 pixels. GIMP, Windows Photos and macOS Preview can all do this.
2. Open @Stickers in Telegram and start a new sticker set.
3. Send each file to the bot, ideally as a file so that Telegram does not compress it, and pick an emoji for it. Then follow the bot's prompts to name and publish the set.

Telegram's page does not make transparency mandatory, but it suggests a transparent background with a white outline and a black shadow to help the sticker stand out. It gives no file size limit for still stickers made through the bot. Its separate guide to importing stickers from other apps sets 512 KB per file, requires a transparent layer and asks for at least one emoji per sticker. Keeping under 512 KB is a sensible target either way.

The Bot API documentation says sticker sets created by bots can hold up to 120 stickers. Custom emoji are a separate format at 100 x 100 pixels, and Telegram says using custom sets is a Premium feature.

Pale outline around the subject. It shows up in dark mode. Retry with a sharper photo, and read our halo guide.

Sticker disappears against the chat background. A dark subject on a dark wallpaper can vanish. WhatsApp's recommended 8-pixel white outline is there for this reason.

Text is unreadable. Short words work best, such as Arre yaar or Chalo. Add them in the app's editor at a large size, then preview the sticker at full chat size.

Parts of the subject are missing. Changing the format will not bring them back. Use a photo with better light and a plainer background.

WhatsApp rejects a file. Check the canvas size and file size first, then confirm that your pack has at least three stickers and that they are all still or all animated.

Checked November 2026: WhatsApp's custom stickers help page, sticker design guide and sample code README, plus Telegram's sticker documentation, import guide, Bot API and Sticker Editor announcement. App menus change between versions, so your screen may not match these steps exactly. We did not test these routes ourselves for this guide. The steps and limits come from the apps' documentation.