What Is a VTuber?

If you've seen a cartoon character chatting live over a game on Twitch or YouTube, you've seen a VTuber. There's a real person behind it, talking into a mic and sitting in front of a webcam. Viewers just see the character.

What does VTuber mean?

VTuber is short for virtual YouTuber. Wikipedia defines one as an online entertainer who uses a virtual avatar made with computer graphics. The name stuck even though VTubers now stream on Twitch, TikTok, Kick and everywhere else, and "VTubing" just means streaming as an avatar.

The person is usually anonymous. The character has its own name, look and personality, and fans talk about the character, not the person. Some VTubers keep the same character for years; others retire one and start fresh.

How does VTubing work?

Every VTuber setup has the same four parts, whether it costs nothing or thousands of dollars:

The tracking step is the clever part. The software finds points on your face (the corners of your eyes and mouth, your nose, your jaw) many times a second, and turns them into numbers: how far your head is turned, how open your mouth is, whether you're blinking. The avatar is built with matching moving parts, so those numbers drive it directly. Nothing is animated by hand.

Better setups add more. An iPhone's face sensor tracks small expressions more precisely than a webcam. Some VTubers add hand tracking, or full-body tracking for 3D models. But a plain laptop webcam is enough to start.

What kinds of VTuber are there?

2D is the classic anime look. An artist draws the character in separate layers (each eye, eyelid, strand of hair) and a rigger sets up how each layer moves in Live2D Cubism. 3D models are usually VRM files, an open format for 3D avatars kept by the VRM Consortium in Japan. You can make one for free in VRoid Studio.

PNGTubers skip tracking entirely. Wikipedia describes them as VTubers who use sprites instead of a rigged model: one picture when you're quiet, another when you talk. It's the cheapest way in, and plenty of big streamers use it on purpose. AI VTubers are the newest kind: the character is voiced and written by an AI, sometimes with a person guiding it.

Where did VTubers come from?

• 2016: Kizuna AI's YouTube channel starts on 29 November. She was the first to call herself a "virtual YouTuber", and the term spread from there.
• 2017–2018: agencies form. Cover's Hololive debuts its first VTuber, Tokino Sora, in September 2017 and its first group in 2018. Nijisanji launches in 2018, built around Live2D models and live streaming.
• 2018: the number of active VTubers grows from about 2,000 to 4,000 between May and mid-July, according to Wikipedia's figures.
• 2020: more than 10,000 VTubers by January, and VTubing spreads well beyond Japan.
• Today: alongside the big agencies there are many independent VTubers, and plenty start with free tools.

What software do VTubers use?

Desktop apps give you more control: better tracking with an iPhone, props, hotkeys, physics. Browser tools are the fastest way to try the idea, with nothing to install. You can always move to a desktop app once you know you like it.

Is a VTuber the same as a face filter or a face swap?

No, though all three change what the camera shows. A face filter adds something to your real face: ears, makeup, a blurred background. A VTuber replaces you with a drawn or 3D character, and the audience knows it's a character. A live face swap keeps your real head, hair and room but puts another realistic face on yours, so you can look like anyone you want in a call or stream. If you want to look like a different person rather than a cartoon, live face swap is the tool, not VTuber software.

What do VTuber words like debut and graduation mean?

• Model or rig: the avatar file and the setup that lets it move.
• Rigger: the artist who makes a model move, often not the same person who drew it.
• Debut: the first stream as a new character.
• Toggle: a hotkey that switches an outfit, prop or expression.
• Graduation: when a VTuber retires a character and stops streaming as it.
• Reincarnation: a creator coming back later as a new character.

How can you try being a VTuber today?

You don't need a model, an artist or any downloads to see what it feels like. Open our VTuber Maker, allow your webcam, and the sample avatar starts copying you in under a minute. Our step-by-step avatar guide covers getting your own character and putting it in OBS or a call.