What is a PNGTuber, and how to make one from a photo

A PNGTuber is a streamer who shows up on screen as a picture instead of a webcam. Not a 3D model with face tracking, just a handful of PNG images: one with the mouth closed, one with it open, perhaps a blink. A small app listens to the microphone and swaps the images as you talk, so the avatar looks as if it is speaking. It is cheap, it runs on almost any computer, and it gives you a recognisable on-screen presence without showing your face or your room. This guide explains what a PNGTuber is, which images you need and why they must be transparent, the free PNGTuber software available in September 2026, how to set one up in OBS, and how to make the images from a drawing or a photo of yourself.

What a PNGTuber is

The name comes from PNG, the image format, and VTuber, a virtual YouTuber. A VTuber’s avatar is a rigged model that follows your face and body through a camera. A PNGTuber’s avatar is a few still images that react to one thing: whether you are making sound.

That simplicity is the appeal:

• No rigging. A drawing or a photo becomes an avatar in an afternoon.
• No face tracking. No camera, no good lighting, and almost no processing power.
• Private. You are present and expressive without showing your face or your room.
• A clear identity. A strong character reads well in a small corner of a stream, a clip or a Discord call.

Many PNGTubers add small touches: a bounce when speaking, a shake when loud, extra images for reactions (surprised, laughing, angry) switched with a hotkey. The core is still just images that swap.

The images a PNGTuber needs

Two images are the minimum (idle and talking). Four adds blinking, which makes the avatar feel much more alive for little work.

Three rules for the images:

1. Transparent background. The avatar is placed over your game, desktop or scene. A PNG with a white box around the character looks like a sticker stuck on the stream. Every state must be a PNG with transparency.
2. Identical canvas size. All states must be the same width and height, or the avatar jumps when it swaps.
3. Identical position. The head, body and outline must sit in exactly the same place in every image. Only the mouth and eyes should change. Even a few pixels of shift reads as a twitch every time you talk.

There is no official size, because there is no single standard; the apps accept ordinary PNGs. A canvas a little larger than the avatar will appear on your stream keeps it sharp without wasting memory.

Free PNGTuber software

Checked on each app’s own page in September 2026.

veadotube mini

veadotube mini, by olmewe, describes itself as a lightweight, easy-to-use pngtuber app. It is free, with an optional name-your-own-price payment, for Windows, macOS and Linux. It switches between talking and idle states automatically, supports eye blinking, extra expression states, shake and jump effects, and accepts PNG, GIF and APNG images, so a state can be animated. States can be switched from the keyboard, mouse, gamepad, MIDI controller or a Stream Deck.

PNGTuber Plus

PNGTuber Plus, by kaiakairos, is free with an optional pay-what-you-want, for Windows, macOS and Linux. It builds the avatar from separate PNG parts that can appear or disappear when you speak or blink, bounce and jiggle, and animate from sprite sheets. You can set its background colour for a green screen, and save and share avatars. Its source code is published on GitHub.

PngTuber Maker

PngTuber Maker, from YiMeta, is free on Steam for Windows and listed as Early Access. It needs at least two PNG images, detects sound to open and close the mouth, and includes a virtual camera, backgrounds, accessories and a desktop mascot mode.

Which to choose: veadotube mini if you want the simplest path from a few PNGs to a working avatar; PNGTuber Plus if you want the avatar in layers that move independently; PngTuber Maker if you are on Windows and want its virtual camera or desktop mascot mode.

Setting up a PNGTuber in OBS

The PNGTuber app runs in its own window, and OBS captures it. The part that trips people up is transparency: not every capture method passes it through.

From veadotube’s own OBS guide, checked September 2026:

The steps, in outline:

1. Open the PNGTuber app with your avatar loaded.
2. In OBS, in your scene, add a source of one of the types above and point it at the app.
3. If the mode supports transparency, tick Allow Transparency where it applies. Your avatar now floats over the scene.
4. If it does not, set a solid background colour in the PNGTuber app (green is the usual choice), then right-click the source in OBS, choose Filters, and add a Chroma Key filter for that colour.
5. Resize and position the avatar in a corner of the scene.

Other apps work on the same principle; PNGTuber Plus, for example, lets you set the background colour for keying.

How to make PNGTuber images with a transparent background

From a drawing

If you draw the character digitally, put the mouth and eyes on their own layers in one file, with the background layer hidden. Export each combination (mouth closed, mouth open, eyes closed variants) as a PNG from the same canvas. The positions match automatically and no background removal is needed.

If you drew it on paper, or the art came as a flat JPG with a background, photograph or scan every version under the same light, then remove the background from each. How clean the result is depends on contrast: a bold, clearly outlined character on plain paper gives a clear edge to find, while thin pencil lines on a similar-coloured page are harder. Check each cutout in the compare view.

From a photo of yourself

A photo PNGTuber, your own face as the avatar, is a quick way to start.

1. Fix the camera. Put the phone or camera on a tripod or a stack of books, and use a timer or remote. Sit still.
2. Take one photo per state. Mouth closed; mouth open, as if mid-word; eyes closed with mouth closed; eyes closed with mouth open. Keep the head in the same place.
3. Use even light and a plain background behind you. A clear outline gives a clean cutout, and even light keeps the states looking identical.
4. Remove the background from each photo. Drop each one on getPNG. The cutout is fitted to the full-size photo, so hair keeps a soft, natural edge.
5. Save each at the picture’s own size. Because the camera did not move, all the cutouts line up exactly, which is what a PNGTuber needs. If you crop, crop them all by the same amount in an editor rather than one at a time by eye.
6. Check the edges. A green rim will look worse over a stream than on white. Clean edge colour takes the old background’s colour out of the soft edge, and Edge shift pulls the outline in by a pixel. Apply the same settings to every state so the outlines match.

For more ways to make transparent images, and which formats keep transparency, see how to make a transparent PNG. The same cutouts also make good emotes and stickers; making stickers from photos covers that. And a clean still of your avatar on a colour is a ready-made profile picture: the Discord profile picture guide has the details.

When this does not work

• The avatar twitches when it talks. The images differ in size or position. Re-export them from one canvas, or retake the photos without moving the camera.
• A green or white rim around the avatar. Colour from the old background is left in the soft edge pixels. Use Clean edge colour and a pixel of Edge shift on every state; white halos around a cutout explains the cause.
• A black or coloured box behind the avatar in OBS. The capture mode does not pass transparency. Switch to a mode that does, or set a solid colour in the app and add a Chroma Key filter.
• The chroma key eats part of the avatar. The avatar contains the key colour. Pick a background colour that does not appear in the character, such as magenta for a green character.
• The mouth flaps for keyboard noise. Raise the microphone threshold in the app, or use push-to-talk if the app offers it.
• The cutouts differ slightly between states. Hair moved between shots, so each photo was cut out a little differently. Take the photos quickly, and keep hair tied back or still.
• A drawn character with fine lines loses detail. Thin outlines on a close colour are hard to separate. Export the drawing with transparency from your drawing app instead.

Privacy: photos you would rather not publish

A PNGTuber is often chosen precisely to avoid showing your face or your home on stream. The photos you make the avatar from may show both. getPNG removes the background inside your browser and the photos are never sent anywhere; after the first picture, it keeps working with the connection switched off.

The steps, in short

1. Plan the states. At minimum an idle image (mouth closed) and a talking image (mouth open). Add blinking versions of both for a livelier avatar.
2. Make each image the same size and position. Draw every state on the same canvas, or take the photos from a fixed camera position, so the images line up exactly when they swap.
3. Remove the background from each image. Drop each photo or drawing on getPNG and save a transparent PNG at the size of the original, so every state keeps the same framing.
4. Load the images into PNGTuber software. In veadotube mini, PNGTuber Plus or PngTuber Maker, assign the PNGs to the idle, talking and blinking states and pick your microphone.
5. Set the talking threshold. Speak normally and adjust the sensitivity until the mouth opens when you talk and stays shut for keyboard clicks and background noise.
6. Add it to OBS. Capture the app as a source. A capture mode with transparency (Spout2, Game Capture or Syphon for veadotube mini) needs no green screen; Window Capture needs a chroma key.

Questions

What is a PNGTuber?

A PNGTuber is a streamer or video creator who appears as a simple image avatar rather than on camera. The avatar is a few PNG images, typically one with the mouth closed and one with it open, that switch automatically when the microphone hears you speak. It is a lighter alternative to a VTuber, whose avatar is a rigged 2D or 3D model driven by face tracking.

How many images does a PNGTuber need?

Two is the minimum: an idle image and a talking image. Four is common: the same two with eyes open and with eyes closed, so the avatar blinks. Apps such as veadotube mini also allow extra expression states you switch with a key, for reactions.

Is there a free PNGTuber maker?

Yes. veadotube mini and PNGTuber Plus are free to download on itch.io, with an option to pay what you want, and run on Windows, macOS and Linux. PngTuber Maker is free on Steam for Windows and is listed as Early Access (all checked September 2026).

Do PNGTuber images need a transparent background?

Yes, for the avatar to sit over your game or screen rather than in a box. Save each state as a PNG with transparency. The app then passes that transparency to OBS through a capture mode that supports it, or through a solid background colour you key out.

How do I make a PNGTuber from a photo of myself?

Put the camera on a tripod and take one photo per state: mouth closed, mouth open, eyes closed, without moving between shots. Remove the background from each and save transparent PNGs at the original size, so they line up. Load them into PNGTuber software as idle, talking and blinking.

How do I add a PNGTuber to OBS with a transparent background?

For veadotube mini, its OBS guide lists Spout2 Capture on Windows and Syphon Client on macOS, which keep transparency, and Game Capture with Allow Transparency on Windows and Linux. Window Capture has no transparency, so set a solid background colour in the app and add a Chroma Key filter in OBS.