Entry effects and avatar frames: what they are and how apps use them

An entry effect is a short animation that plays when a user joins a live room, often as a VIP or level reward. An avatar frame is a decorative border around a user's profile picture. Both can be made as SVGA files and played with an SVGAPlayer library, and avatar frames also come as PNG, GIF or WebP images.

What is an entry effect?

An entry effect, also called an entrance effect, is an animation that plays when a user joins a live-streaming or voice-chat room, so everyone already in the room sees the arrival. Popular designs include vehicles, such as sports cars, motorcycles, jets and helicopters, as well as playful or seasonal arrivals. You can browse ready-made examples in SVGA Entry Effects.

When does an entry effect play?

It plays when the app sees that a qualifying user has joined the room. The app decides who qualifies, for example by VIP level, ranking, an event prize or a store purchase. Those rules live in the app's code, not in the animation file, so the same file can serve as a VIP perk in one app and a paid store item in another.

How long does an entry effect run, and does it loop?

The length depends on the file. Each SVGA file stores its frame count and frame rate, and the duration is frames ÷ fps. Set an entry effect to play once: a loop count of 1 on Android and iOS, or forward() instead of repeat() in Flutter. A loop count of 0 means the animation loops forever, which suits avatar frames rather than entrances.

Entry effects vs entrance cars and banners

An entrance car is simply an entry effect designed as a vehicle that drives or flies across the room. A join banner, a strip of text announcing the user's name, can be a separate element drawn by the app, or part of the entry effect itself if the file has a text slot for the name (see "Putting the username or avatar into the animation" below).

What is an avatar frame?

An avatar frame, or profile frame, is a decorative border that sits around a user's profile picture. Apps use frames as store items, VIP rewards or event prizes, so a user's status shows wherever their picture appears. You can browse royal, floral, neon and festive styles in Avatar Frames.

Where do avatar frames appear?

Wherever the app shows the profile picture. Examples include the profile page, the seat or mic list in a voice room, the viewer list and chat messages. Each place shows the picture at a different size, so check how a frame looks at the smallest size your app uses.

Animated vs static frames

SVGA frames play as animations, and apps normally loop them. PNG frames are static images that show in a standard image view, with no player library. GIF and WebP frames can be animated or static, and they need an image view that supports the format. Static frames are the simplest to add. Animated frames draw more attention, which suits higher VIP tiers and event prizes.

What size should an avatar frame be?

A frame should match the size and shape your app uses for profile pictures, with the picture sitting inside the frame's opening. Check each frame against your own avatar layout on small and large screens before you release it.

How do entry effects and avatar frames differ from virtual gifts?

	Virtual gift	Entry effect	Avatar frame
What triggers it	A viewer sends it to a host	A user joins a room	It's shown with the user's profile picture
Who sees it	Everyone in the room	Everyone in the room	Anyone who sees that profile picture
Once or looping	Plays once	Plays once	Loops (SVGA, animated GIF or WebP) or static (PNG)
Where it appears	Over the live video	Over the room when the user arrives	Around the profile picture
Typical role	Viewers send gifts to support hosts	VIP perk, ranking reward or store item	Store item, VIP reward or event prize

For the gifts themselves, see SVGA Gifts.

How do apps play them technically?

Layering over video or the room UI

Entry effects and animated frames play in a player view placed above the video or room UI. The view has a transparent background and lets touches pass through, so the stream and controls stay usable. SVGA files store PNG images with transparency, so soft edges and glows blend over the video. The setup code for Android, iOS, Flutter and the web is in How to Add SVGA Gifts to Your App.

Putting the username or avatar into the animation

SVGAPlayer can replace a named image in the file with a bitmap, such as the user's avatar, or draw text, such as their name, on a named element. On Android this is SVGADynamicEntity with setDynamicImage(bitmap, forKey) and setDynamicText(text, textPaint, forKey). On iOS it's setImage:forKey: and setAttributedText:forKey: on SVGAPlayer. In Flutter it's setImage and setText on SVGADynamicEntity. The key is the element name the designer gave that layer, so the feature only works with files made with those slots.

Performance on low-end phones

Entry effects often play while other gifts are on screen, so performance matters. Queue animations instead of stacking them, download files before they're needed, release finished players and test the largest files on the slowest phone you support. SVGA File Size and Performance covers what makes a file heavy.

How do apps use them to drive revenue?

Entry effects and avatar frames give users a visible status that others in the room notice. Common ways apps use them:

• As items in an in-app store, bought with the app's own currency
• As part of VIP or membership tiers, where higher tiers unlock more striking entrances and frames
• As prizes for events, leaderboards and ranking contests
• As level rewards that users unlock over time
• As limited-time seasonal items around festivals

How can you test an entry effect or frame before release?

Start with the free preview on each product page, which plays an MP4 preview video of the item. For SVGA files, drop the .svga file into our SVGA Player. Your .svga file plays locally in your browser and is never uploaded to our servers. The player plays SVGA 2.x files only, and the page also has free sample SVGA gifts to download. Then play the file in a test build of your app over a real room, at every size where it appears.

Where can you get SVGA entry effects and avatar frames?

• SVGA Entry Effects: vehicle entrances and themed arrivals, all SVGA files.
• Avatar Frames: royal, floral, neon and festive frames in SVGA, PNG, GIF and WebP.
• Entry Car Package: vehicle entry effects as one bundle, $88 instead of $110.
• Livestream App Starter Package: gifts, avatar frames and entry effects for a new app, $112.80 instead of $141.
• Themed picks in the cars and luxury collections.

New to the format itself? Read What Is an SVGA File?.

Planning a whole gift catalog? See Virtual gifts for live-streaming and voice-chat apps.