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Export Settings

The Export Settings control how EmoteLab records, encodes, and saves animated emotes and static images. This page explains what each option does and how it affects your output.

Save Location​

The folder where all exported files are written.

By default, EmoteLab uses a folder inside your Documents directory:

C:\Users\<username>\Documents\EmoteLab\Export

If you enter a custom path:

  • The folder must already exist or the change will be rejected.
  • Both animated exports (GIF, APNG, WebP, WebM, and Image Sequence) and static image exports (PNG) will be saved there.
  • The Open Export Folder button in the Animation Player opens this exact folder.

If the Documents folder cannot be accessed for some reason, EmoteLab falls back to Unity’s persistentDataPath.

tip

Copy the folder path from the File Explorer address bar and paste it here to avoid typing errors.

Animation export settings​

Export presets​

  • Presets: A dropdown that lets you load predefined export configurations from JSON files.
note

Presets set format and image dimensions (width × height in pixels). Platforms may also enforce file size limits (in KB or MB). If your export is rejected for being too large, reduce the file size by choosing a lower FPS or limiting the frame count by enabling Limit Max. Frame Count.

Recorder settings​

These settings control how animations are sampled and what size their frames are when exporting.

  • Width / Height: Controls the pixel resolution of the recorded animation.

    • Must be between 4 and 2048.
    • Larger sizes give sharper output but produce larger files and take longer to encode.

  • FPS: Frames per second.

    • The options depend on the selected encoder.
    • A higher FPS makes motion smoother but also increases file size and encoding time.

  • Limit Max. Frame Count: When enabled, EmoteLab enforces a maximum number of recorded frames.

  • Max. Frame Count: Sets the hard upper bound on how many frames will be recorded.

    • Only active when Limit Max. Frame Count is enabled.
    • Use this for platforms that limit how many frames an animation can contain.
tip

Export settings involve a trade-off: small file size, high FPS, and high resolution cannot all be maximized at once. Choosing lower resolution or FPS (or limiting frame count) keeps files smaller; raising them improves quality at the cost of file size. High resolution and high FPS also require more resources from the encoder, so the export process can take longer. Pick what matters most for your use case.

Encoder (Export Format) Selection​

Encoder selection controls how the recorded frames are turned into a final animation file. The following encoders are supported: GIF, APNG, WebP, WebM, and Image Sequence (PNG).

  • GIF
    • Widely supported across platforms and apps.
    • Limited to a 256-color palette and no semi-transparency.
    • Files are often large.
  • APNG
    • An image format with animation and alpha support (supports semi-transparency).
    • Quality is higher than GIF.
    • Files are typically larger.
    • Support is less universal than GIF.
  • WebP
    • An image format with animation and alpha support (supports semi-transparency).
    • Quality is higher than GIF even with lossy compression.
    • Typically smaller than GIF, with growing but still incomplete platform support.
  • WebM
    • A compressed video format.
    • Usually much smaller than GIF/APNG with good quality.
    • Suited to web playback rather than chat emotes.
    • If you want to export a video for web playback (like the one on the homepage), choose WebM.
  • Image Sequence
    • Exports a lossless sequence of still frames in PNG format.
    • The image sequence is saved as a folder with individual frame PNG files.
    • Choose this when the animation will be used for video composition, such as editing in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Encoder Specific Settings​

Each encoder has its own settings. The sections below explain how to configure them. Lossless formats such as APNG and Image Sequence have no extra encoder options.

GIF​

info

GIF uses a limited palette (up to 256 colors per frame), so the encoder must reduce colors from your source. The options below control how that is done. GIF does not support semi-transparency; each pixel is either fully transparent or fully opaque. Only certain frame rates are available. The format is widely supported, but files are often large and color fidelity is limited.

  • Palette Algorithm

    • Octree: general purpose color quantization found in most encoders. May be more suitable for noisy and colorful images.
    • Enhanced octree: more likely to keep colors which occupy more area in an image. Suitable for "clean" artstyles such as CoffeeBean model.
    note

    "Enhanced" is only a name and it does not mean this algorithm performs better in all cases. Results depend on your image. The "enhanced" variant is tuned for cartoon-style art; for other styles, Octree may look better.

  • Alpha Threshold

    • Controls which pixels are written as transparent or opaque in the GIF.
    • Pixels with alpha at or below the threshold → transparent; alpha above → opaque.
    • Semi-transparent pixels usually appear near the edges of the image (from filtering, anti-aliasing, and scaling), so this setting mainly affects edge appearance. If you see a light or dark halo around the character, try increasing the value. Alpha threshold effect on GIF edge transparency

  • Enable Dithering

    • When enabled, the encoder applies dithering while mapping full-color frames into the limited palette.
    • Helps hide banding in gradients and large flat areas.
    • Can introduce a visible artifact—for example, a fine dotty or speckled pattern on the image (shown in the image below). Whether you notice it depends on the colors and content of the emote (e.g. more noticeable on solid or flat areas, less so on busy or gradient regions). Disable dithering if you prefer a cleaner look and can accept more banding. dotty pattern due to dithering

  • Use Global Color Table

    • When enabled, a single shared palette is used for all frames:
      • Usually produces smaller files and can play back more efficiently.
      • All frames must share the same 256 colors, which can slightly reduce quality in scenes with very different colors across frames.
    • When disabled, each frame can use its own palette:
      • Better per-frame color fidelity.
      • Typically larger file size.

  • Sampling Rate

    • Controls how densely the encoder samples pixels across frames when building the global palette:
    • Lower values sample fewer pixels (faster, smaller palette computation, but potentially less accurate colors).
    • Higher values sample more pixels (better color representation, at the cost of extra processing).

APNG​

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APNG extends the PNG specification. Both .png and .apng are valid extensions. EmoteLab writes .png; that does not change the file contents or playback. If you prefer .apng, rename the file extension.

Lossless. No encoder-specific settings.

WebP​

  • Lossless: Whether to use lossless or lossy compression.
  • Quality: When lossless is enabled, higher quality means a smaller file size and slower encoding at the same visual quality. With lossless disabled, higher quality means less compression, a better look, and a larger file size.
  • Loop Count: How many times the animation repeats. Use 0 to loop forever.

WebM​

info

EmoteLab uses the VP9 codec and BT.709 color space for WebM. If the color looks incorrect in external applications, it is likely due to color space mismatch. To fix this, select BT.709 explicitly in external app footage settings.

  • CQ Level: Lower CQ Level means less compression, a bigger file, and better quality. Higher CQ Level means more compression, a smaller file, and worse quality.
  • Speed: Controls how much effort the encoder puts into compressing the video. Lower speed means a slower encode, better quality, and usually a smaller file.

Image Sequence​

Lossless PNG frames. No encoder-specific settings. The export is a folder of sequential PNG files, not a single still image. Use Static image export if you only need one frame.

Static image export settings​

  • Image Width / Image Height: Controls the resolution of the exported PNG still frame.

The static image is saved as a PNG file into the same Export Location folder, with a filename based on the current model.