Make transparent GIF, WebM and PNG stickers with free tools

How to make a transparent GIF, a WebM with alpha and PNG stickers with free tools, the right export settings, and how to upload them to ErtePals.

The magic of a character floating on your desktop or stream comes from having no box behind it. A GIF saved with a solid background shows up as a rectangle; a transparent GIF or a WebM with alpha looks like it lives right on top of your apps. This guide covers making transparent animations with free tools, picking the right format and uploading the result to ErtePals.

Pick a format first

  • GIF: opens everywhere but only supports 256 colors and fully transparent or fully opaque pixels, so soft edges can get a jagged halo.
  • APNG: animated PNG with a full alpha channel and smooth edges; files can be larger than GIF.
  • Animated WebP: supports alpha and is usually much smaller than GIF — great for short stickers.
  • WebM (VP9 + alpha): the most efficient choice for long or high-resolution animations.
  • MP4 (H.264): no transparency; it will show as a box on your desktop.

Make a still PNG sticker

  1. Open the image in GIMP — Open your image in the free GIMP editor and choose Layer → Transparency → Add Alpha Channel.
  2. Delete the background — Select the background with the Fuzzy Select tool and press Delete. Foreground Select works better on busy backgrounds.
  3. Clean the edges — Shrink the selection by a pixel or two (Select → Shrink) and delete again to reduce color fringes.
  4. Export as PNG — Use File → Export As with a .png extension; PNG keeps the alpha channel.

Then bring it to life with ErtePals’ “Bring an image to life” tool and a motion preset such as float, bounce or jelly — no animation drawing needed.

Make a transparent animated GIF

In GIMP each frame is a layer. Delete the background on every layer, then File → Export As .gif, tick “As animation” and set the frame delay (e.g. 80–100 ms). Free browser-based GIF tools can also make a color transparent, crop and resize — check their privacy terms before uploading personal images. For pixel art, free tools like LibreSprite or Krita make drawing transparent animations with layers and a timeline easier.

Make a WebM with alpha (ffmpeg)

Export your character as a PNG sequence with a transparent background (Blender, Krita and many animation tools can), then convert it with the free ffmpeg command-line tool:

ffmpeg -framerate 24 -i frame_%03d.png -c:v libvpx-vp9 -pix_fmt yuva420p -b:v 0 -crf 30 -an character.webm

  • -pix_fmt yuva420p keeps transparency; without it the background turns black.
  • -crf sets quality: lower means better quality and bigger files; 25–35 suits most characters.
  • -an drops audio, which desktop characters don’t need.
  • A .mov with alpha (e.g. ProRes 4444) can be used directly as the input.

Upload to ErtePals

  1. Open the Creator Studio — Go to the Create page. The Upload tab accepts GIF, PNG, APNG, WebP, WebM and MP4, up to 25 MB per file.
  2. Drop your file — Your browser checks the real file type, size, duration and transparency, and warns you about solid backgrounds.
  3. Preview it — See how it looks on a transparent background and on a desktop.
  4. Fill in the details and save — Add a name, description, category and tags; choose private, unlisted or public. Public uploads are reviewed before they appear in Discover.

Download ErtePals to see your transparent character on screen

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