Meme Formats Explained in Plain Words

A meme format is a structure people already know how to read. The moment someone sees two stacked panels with a frowning reaction on top and a pleased one below, they know the bottom option is the "better" one before they've read a word. Knowing the formats lets you pick the right shape for a joke, and once you understand the shape, you don't need anyone else's picture to use it.

We describe the formats here in words only. Most famous meme images are photos or stills that belong to someone, so we'd rather show you the structure and let you fill it with your own photos, drawings or plain colors. Every format below can be built with the blank layouts in the Memetastic maker.

Top text, bottom text

The oldest image macro format: a single picture with a line of bold, outlined, all-caps text across the top and another across the bottom. The top line sets the scene and the bottom line delivers the twist. It grew out of early image boards and "advice animal" pictures, where the same image always stood for the same character type, like the overconfident one or the unlucky one.

It still works best when the picture sets up an expectation and the bottom line breaks it. Use the "Top & bottom" layout in the maker. If the joke fits in one line, delete the top text.

Caption above the picture

A sentence sits on a plain white band above the image, in normal sentence case, often starting with "me when" or "nobody:" or a short story setup. The picture below is the reaction. This format took over as memes moved from image boards to social feeds, because it reads like a post and leaves the picture untouched.

It suits longer, more conversational jokes. In the maker, choose "Caption above" and switch the text style to plain caption if it isn't already.

The comparison (worse vs. better)

Two panels, usually stacked. The top panel shows a rejection, the bottom panel shows approval, and each has a label beside it. The labels are the joke: the top one is the obvious choice, the bottom one is the absurd thing the character prefers.

You don't need a celebrity's face for this. A thumbs-down doodle and a thumbs-up doodle, two of your own selfies pulling faces, or simply a red panel and a green panel all read instantly. Use "Two panels" for stacked or "Side by side" for left and right.

Expectation vs. reality

Also two panels. The first shows the ideal, the second shows what actually happened. Product photos versus what arrived, the recipe picture versus your attempt, the plan versus the outcome. This is one of the few formats where your own photos are almost always funnier than anything you could borrow, because the reality has to be real.

Escalation (galaxy brain style)

Three to six panels, each labeled with an idea that is supposedly more enlightened than the last, while the ideas themselves get sillier. The images escalate too, traditionally from dim to blazing. The joke is the gap between the growing grandeur of the pictures and the decline of the ideas.

The four-panel grid in the maker covers this. A very simple version that works well: four gradients going from dull gray to hot pink, with text getting more ridiculous in each.

Labeled objects

One picture where several things in it get labels: a person, the thing they're looking at, the thing they're ignoring. The famous version involves people looking at each other, but the format is just "label the characters". It works with any photo that has two or three distinct subjects, including pets, kitchen objects and office supplies.

In the maker, add a text box for each label with the "+ Add text" button, shrink them, and drag each one onto its subject. Plain caption style with a white outline, or bold meme style at a small size, both work.

Reaction images

A single picture with no text at all, posted as a reply. The face or gesture is the whole message. Reaction images live or die on the picture, so this is the format where using your own camera roll makes the biggest difference. Take a few deliberately expressive photos of yourself or a willing friend and you'll have a reaction kit nobody can take down.

Text-only and "screenshot" formats

Some memes are only text on a flat background: a bold statement, a fake headline, a list. Others mimic a screenshot of a post or chat. The text-only version is easy to make with the solid or gradient templates. For screenshot-style memes, be careful not to fake a real person's post. Making up quotes and attributing them to a real person can mislead people, and some platforms treat it as impersonation.

Object or animal "speaking"

A picture of a thing or an animal with a caption written in its voice, often in all lowercase and with creative spelling. Your own pet photos are perfect for this, and they are a format where nobody ever runs out of material.

Which format for which joke

Formats change, structures don't

Specific memes come and go quickly. The structures underneath them have stayed remarkably stable for years: a setup and a twist, a comparison, an escalation, a label. If you learn to see the structure, you can make a fresh meme in any of them without waiting for the next viral picture, and without borrowing anyone else's.

For tips on making the text itself land, see how to make a meme that reads at a glance. If you're wondering where using other people's pictures crosses a line, read our copyright and fair use basics.

Quick answers

Open the meme maker