What Is 'BFDI Mouth' And How Did It Make Its Way Into So Many YouTube Videos?

You know that one cartoon mouth that appears again and again in all sorts of YouTube thumbnails and videos? Yes, that one. That's BFDI Mouth, an asset from a popular YouTube web series that YouTubers have unknowingly using in their videos for years. Learn where BFDI Mouth is from and why it's so iconic in this brief explainer.

What Is ‘BFDI Mouth’?

BFDI Mouth is the informal name of an entire set of mouth assets used in the YouTube animated series Battle for Dream Island created by JackNJellify. The series and its sequels follow a group of anthropomorphic objects who compete in the titular challenge.

While BFDI Mouth can refer to any of the many mouth animations that appear in the series, the most iconic of them all is inarguably the open smile which you can see below on the left.

Where Does ‘BFDI Mouth’ Come From?

The BFDI Mouth made its first appearance in the 2008 animated video "I Can Make a Difference" by JackNJellify which predates the first Battle for Dream Island episode by two years. However, the assets are best known for the series, taking their name after them. The very first episode of the famous show premiered on January 1st, 2010.

How Did 'BFDI Mouth' Got So Popular?

The main reason BDFI Mouth has achieved such major spread as an asset is Jacknjellity, the creators of BFDI, making all the assets of the show publicly available! During the 2010s, the asset library released by the animated was uploaded to various PNG repository websites such as PNG Wing, PinClipArt and StickPNG, where the mouth assets were tagged "cartoon mouth" among other things.

From there, it was only a matter of a couple of lazy online searches before the PNG mouths ended up in all sorts of YouTube videos (and also in Roblox), used to create exaggerated facial expressions and for other purposes.

When Did 'BFDI Mouth' Become A Meme?

The trend of spotting BFDI assets in the wild has been around since 2019, first within the BFDI community, mainly in the /r/BFDI_assets subreddit, and recently becoming more popular as more and more people noticed that that cartoon mouth keeps popping up in their YouTube videos.

In November 2022, JackNJellify released a special episode "Why is the BFDI Mouth everywhere?" that showcased the universal use of BFDI mouths on the internet. The episode, which featured instances of BFDI mouth being used by YouTubers such as MatPat and Nostalgia Critic, gained over 2 million views on YouTube.

The trend saw a significant uptick in popularity in 2023 as users started deliberately editing the BFDI mouth into GIFs and videos.

Can I Use 'BFDI Mouth' In My Videos?

Yes, you can use BFDI mouth and other assets from the show, too! They were publicly released by the creators of the show and can't be copyrighted.

For the full history of BFDI Mouth, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.