Telegram animated stickers use the .tgs file extension. The format stores lightweight vector animations based on Lottie, allowing stickers to move smoothly without the larger file sizes often associated with raster animation.
Telegram introduced animated stickers in July 2019. Unlike ordinary static stickers, which commonly use WebP images, .tgs stickers are compressed animation files that can loop continuously in chats. Telegram’s technical documentation describes them as gzipped Bodymovin JSON files playable with the rlottie library.
A common mix-up is confusing .tgs with GIF, PNG, or WebP. GIF is a general bitmap-animation format, PNG is normally static, and WebP is widely used for Telegram’s ordinary image stickers. Telegram also supports video stickers, which use WebM rather than .tgs. Animated stickers are subject to technical limits, including short animation durations and compact file sizes, so they load quickly on mobile connections.