TGS to TXT Converter

TGS to TXT Conversion Explained

Converting .TGS to .TXT changes a compressed vector animation into readable text code. A .TGS file is a Telegram Animated Sticker. Technically, it is a JSON file containing Lottie animation data that has been compressed using gzip. A .TXT file is a standard plain text document.

When you convert .TGS to .TXT, you decompress the archive to expose the raw JSON code. You gain the ability to read, search, and edit the exact coordinates, layer names, and hex color codes of the animation. You lose all visual playback. You cannot view the sticker as an image or animation in a text editor. This conversion is a bad idea if you want to share the sticker visually; it is strictly for code inspection and debugging.

Typical Tasks and Users

This conversion serves specific technical workflows rather than general media sharing:

• Animation Developers: Debugging Lottie JSON structures to find rendering errors or unsupported features.
• UI/UX Designers: Extracting specific hex color codes, frame rates, or layer dimensions from an existing Telegram sticker.
• Version Control Users: Uncompressing the animation into text so that changes can be tracked line-by-line in Git repositories.
• System Administrators: Converting the binary .TGS file into a base64-encoded text string to embed the file directly into a database or script.

Software & Tool Support

Different tools handle the visual playback of .TGS and the text editing of .TXT:

• .TGS Playback & Creation: Telegram natively renders the format. Designers create them using Adobe After Effects combined with the Bodymovin-TG plugin. You can also preview them using LottieFiles tools.
• .TGS Decompression: Because the file is gzipped, command-line tools like GNU gzip or archive managers like 7-Zip can extract the underlying JSON data.
• .TXT Editing: Once decompressed, the text can be opened in Notepad++, Visual Studio Code, or any standard text editor.

Pros and Cons of the Conversion

Pros:

• Editability: You can manually change animation parameters, such as swapping a color code across the entire file using find-and-replace.
• Transparency: Exposes the exact mathematical paths and metadata used to build the sticker.
• Version Tracking: Plain text allows developers to track code changes over time, which is impossible with compressed binary files.

Cons:

• Loss of Playback: A .TXT file will not animate or display graphics in any standard media viewer.
• File Size Increase: Uncompressing the gzip archive makes the resulting text file significantly larger than the original .TGS file.
• Fragility: Editing the raw text requires strict adherence to JSON syntax. A single missing comma will break the animation completely.

Conversion Difficulties & Why Convert.Guru

The main difficulty in converting .TGS to .TXT is the compression layer. You cannot simply rename a sticker.tgs file to sticker.txt. If you do, opening the file will display unreadable binary gibberish. The conversion pipeline requires decompressing the gzip layer, extracting the JSON payload, formatting the code with proper line breaks (pretty-printing), and saving it with UTF-8 character encoding.

Convert.Guru handles this exact pipeline automatically. It safely decompresses the .TGS file, formats the underlying Lottie JSON data into readable text, and outputs a clean .TXT file. This prevents encoding errors and eliminates the need to use command-line extraction tools.

TGS vs. TXT: What is the better choice?

Which format should you choose?

Choose .TGS if your goal is to display an animated sticker in Telegram, a mobile app, or a Lottie-compatible web player. It is highly optimized for fast loading and smooth playback.

Choose .TXT only if you need to read, debug, or modify the raw animation code.

Avoid this conversion entirely if you want to use the sticker as a standard image or video. If you need visual compatibility outside of Telegram, convert the .TGS file to .WEBP or .GIF instead.

Conclusion

Converting .TGS to .TXT makes sense only for developers and designers who need to inspect or edit the raw Lottie JSON code behind a Telegram sticker. The biggest limitation to watch for is the complete loss of visual playback, as text editors cannot render vector animations. Convert.Guru provides a reliable, browser-based solution for this exact task, safely decompressing the archive and formatting the code into clean text without requiring specialized software.