Last reviewed 31 Jul 2026

Applies to

VRChat Avatars SDK PC avatars Android and iOS avatars

Difficulty Intermediate

VRChat Avatar Optimization Checklist

Use the SDK Builder and VRChat's Avatar Stats to identify which measurements lower the avatar's Performance Rank. Optimize the reported problem instead of treating triangle count as the only cost.

VRChat recommends aiming for a Good rank; Medium is also acceptable. Performance Rank is a static assessment of avatar properties, so it is a useful screening tool rather than a complete runtime profiler.

Run a Measured Pass

Record the current stats, change one major cost, then rebuild and compare the result.

Open the avatar in the SDK Builder and record every stat lowering its rank.
Fix mesh Read/Write, texture memory, material slots, and renderer counts first.
Review PhysBones, contacts, constraints, particles, cloth, lights, and audio.
Build separate mobile assets or per-platform overrides when needed.
Upload and confirm the shipped stats inside VRChat.

Mobile visibility

On Android and iOS, the default Minimum Displayed Performance Rank is Medium. Poor and Very Poor avatars are hidden by default, and Very Poor mobile avatars cannot avoid all component restrictions through Show Avatar.

Record the Baseline

Open VRChat SDK > Show Control Panel, select Builder, and find the avatar's performance information.

Record:

overall Performance Rank
triangles and bounds
texture memory
skinned and basic mesh counts
material slots
PhysBone components, affected transforms, colliders, and collision checks
contacts
constraint count and dependency depth
animators and bones
lights, particles, trails, cloth, physics components, and audio sources
download and uncompressed size after a build

After upload, VRChat's Avatar Stats screen shows the rank contribution of individual measurements and the original versus performance-filtered result.

Performance Rank, Size, and Runtime Removal

These are separate systems:

System	What it measures	Result
Performance Rank	Static counts such as triangles, texture memory, renderers, material slots, dynamics, constraints, and effects	Can affect whether the avatar or individual components are shown.
Avatar size limits	Compressed download size and uncompressed asset-bundle size	Upload is prevented when a platform limit is exceeded.
Mobile component limits	Hard limits for PhysBones, contacts, and constraints	Limited components are removed when the cap is exceeded.
Mobile unsupported components	Components that do not run on mobile avatars	The components are disabled on Android and Quest.

Build & Test does not enforce avatar size limits. A local test can therefore succeed even when the later upload is rejected for size.

Current Upload Size Limits

Platform	Maximum download size	Maximum uncompressed size
Android	10 MB	40 MB
PC	200 MB	500 MB

The SDK reports these values during publishing and shows the resulting sizes after a build. Download size and texture memory are not interchangeable: a compact downloaded bundle can still expand into substantial texture memory.

Fix Rank-Breaking Conditions First

Before reducing visual detail, check two rules that can invalidate the measurement:

All GameObjects and components count toward Performance Rank, including disabled objects.
If Mesh Read/Write is disabled on any avatar mesh, the SDK reports the triangle stat as unavailable, assigns a Very Poor rank, and requires the problem to be fixed before upload.

Delete unused outfit objects and test systems instead of merely disabling them when they no longer belong in the avatar.

Optimize Textures and Materials

Texture memory and material slots are separate ranked measurements.

For textures:

reduce Max Size in Unity's texture import settings where the visual difference is acceptable
use fewer texture files
remove unused maps
combine compatible maps when the shader supports packed channels
use appropriate texture compression
check the texture-memory result after the import settings are applied

For materials:

remove unused material slots from meshes
reuse a material where surfaces genuinely share the same shader and maps
atlas compatible surfaces when that reduces both texture and material cost
remember that repeated slots still count even when they reference the same material
include particle, trail, and line-renderer material slots in the total

Reduce Renderer and Mesh Cost

VRChat's optimization guidance recommends no more than one Skinned Mesh Renderer and three static Mesh Renderers where the avatar design permits it.

Review:

separate clothing and accessory skinned meshes
hidden or duplicate body geometry
unused mesh variants
static props that can share a mesh
submeshes created by excess material slots
blend shapes that are never used

Merging meshes can reduce renderer count, but confirm that required blend shapes, bones, materials, and outfit toggles still work after the change.

Review Dynamics and Constraints

Performance Rank counts PhysBones, affected transforms, colliders, collision checks, contacts, constraint count, and constraint depth independently.

Check:

whether each PhysBone chain is still visible and necessary
how many transforms each PhysBone affects
whether colliders overlap multiple chains unnecessarily
whether contact receivers need to be networked or can use local filtering
whether long constraint dependency chains can be simplified
whether Unity constraints can be replaced with VRChat Constraints

VRChat recommends VRChat Constraints over Unity Constraints for avatars. Unity constraints are automatically converted at runtime, but the VRChat components are designed for the avatar system.

Review Effects and Extra Components

Inspect every:

Particle System
Trail Renderer
Line Renderer
Light
Cloth component
Audio Source
physics collider and Rigidbody
additional Animator

The rank considers component counts and, for particles, settings such as active particle totals, mesh-particle triangles, trails, and collision. Remove an effect that is no longer used rather than leaving it disabled in the hierarchy.

Mobile Performance Targets

The official mobile ranking table covers Android and iOS devices, including phones, tablets, and Meta Quest. The core thresholds below show why a separate mobile version is usually required.

Measurement	Good rank maximum	Medium rank maximum	Hard mobile cap
Triangles	10,000	15,000	Not a component cap
Texture memory	18 MB	25 MB	Not a component cap
Skinned Meshes	1	2	Not a component cap
Material Slots	1	2	Not a component cap
PhysBone components	4	6	8
PhysBone affected transforms	16	32	64
PhysBone colliders	4	8	16
PhysBone collision checks	16	32	64
Contacts	4	8	16
Constraints	60	120	150
Constraint depth	15	35	50

If a mobile avatar exceeds a hard PhysBone, contact, or constraint cap, VRChat removes all limited components in that category even when a user chooses Show Avatar.

Consult the complete official Performance Ranks table before publishing because it also covers bounds, basic meshes, animators, bones, particles, trails, line renderers, and raycasts.

Mobile Shaders and Unsupported Components

Android and Quest avatars can use only the avatar shaders included with the current SDK under VRChat/Mobile.

The following avatar components are disabled on Android and Quest:

Dynamic Bones
Cloth
avatar Cameras
Lights
post-processing
Audio Sources
Rigidbodies, physics Colliders, and Joints
Unity Constraints
custom FinalIK components

Particle Systems are supported only within strict limits. Use VRChat Constraints instead of Unity Constraints and PhysBones instead of Dynamic Bones.

VRChat's iOS documentation directs creators to the same mobile optimization and limitation guidance. Validate iOS builds separately through the SDK because platform setup and testing differ.

Impostors Are Supplementary

VRChat automatically generates impostors for uploaded avatars, including cases where a Windows-only avatar needs a representation on Quest. Avatar owners can also request generation or regeneration from the avatar's page on the VRChat website.

An impostor improves fallback representation, but it does not make the original avatar cross-platform or remove the need for an optimized mobile build.

Optimization Problems

The SDK reports Mesh Read/Write Disabled.

Select every mesh used by the avatar and enable Read/Write in its import settings. VRChat cannot calculate the triangle count otherwise, assigns a Very Poor rank, and requires the issue to be corrected before upload.

The download is small but texture memory is high.

Download size measures the compressed asset bundle, while texture memory estimates the textures after loading. Reduce texture dimensions, unused maps, and unnecessary texture files, then rebuild and compare the texture-memory stat.

Disabled outfits still affect the rank.

Disabled GameObjects and components still count. Remove unused outfit objects from the uploaded avatar or create separate avatar variants when those assets are not needed together.

The mobile avatar loses all PhysBones or contacts.

Check the hard mobile component caps, not only the overall rank. Exceeding a cap removes all limited components in that category, even if the user manually shows the avatar.

The PC avatar works but mobile effects disappear.

Check Android Content Limitations. Mobile avatars disable several PC components and restrict shaders and particles, so prepare supported replacements or remove the unsupported feature from the mobile version.

Build and Test succeeds but the upload is rejected for size.

Build and Test does not enforce upload size limits. Reduce the assets contributing to download and uncompressed bundle size, then use the publishing build to check the platform limit again.

Final Measurement Pass

Reopen the SDK Builder and compare every recorded stat.
Confirm Mesh Read/Write no longer blocks triangle measurement.
Verify texture memory, renderer count, and material slots improved.
Recheck PhysBones, contacts, constraints, and effects.
Build each supported platform separately.
Confirm the download and uncompressed sizes remain below the platform limits.
Test expressions, toggles, dynamics, and viewpoint after mesh or hierarchy changes.
Upload and inspect the resulting Avatar Stats inside VRChat.