How to create a Custom Audience with a customer file

Last updated: September 2025

Customer File audience helps find users in the TikTok system that match with the IDs on your uploaded list. Your uploaded list can contain identifiers such as email address, phone, or Mobile Advertising IDs (MAIDs).

Before you begin

Prepare your Customer File by following these requirements and specifications:

  • File format is in CSV or TXT.

  • File size is less than 1GB.

  • File must contain at least 1000 entries.

  • Prepare the file as per the specifications for a Customer File (also found in the additional information section).

  • Make sure to have a header row describing the ID: Email address, phone, or MAID.

  • Create your file with one line per ID.

  • View the example in about Customer File audiences , or download the template here: Customer File Template.


How to create a Custom Audience with a Customer File

To create a Custom Audience with a Customer File:

  1. Go to TikTok Ads Manager.

  2. Click the Tools tab.

  3. Select Audience Manager.

  4. Click the Create Audience button.

  5. Choose Custom Audience.

  6. Choose Customer File.

  7. Upload your Customer File.

  8. Name your audience.

  9. Click Confirm.


Note: It can take 24-48 hours for the custom audience to generate after the upload.

Once uploaded, TikTok will look for users within the system that match the IDs on the uploaded file. Once matched, a Custom Audience will be generated and your uploaded file will be promptly deleted.

Learn more about Custom Audiences.

Additional information about supported IDs and formats for a Customer File

Learn more about Customer File audiences.

ID Type

Required Header Description

Recommended Format - Original Value

Recommended Format - Hashed

Example 1 - Original Value

Example 2 - Hashed

Email

Email or Email_SHA 256

- Remove spaces


- All lowercase

- Remove spaces


- Convert all characters to lowercase


- SHA 256 hashing required

johndoe@gmail.com

Normalized: "janedoe@gmail.com"


Hashed: d6117306485ed0e50afab3ac871e98f81699151f30281527d63ff5f233656c69

Phone

Phone or Phone_SHA 256

- E164 format: "+"[country code][phone number]

- E164 format: "+"[country code][phone number]



- SHA 256 hashing required


Also Supported

- Without "+"

- Without "+" & "country code"

US: +16577770000


INTL: +37493828222

Normalized:

US: +16577770000

INTL: +37493828222


Hashed: 65b7e6dcf6f4310f8d7cbfbd78289a753062fb054d6664fb9aaac5df66a422d4

MAID

MAID or MAID_MD5 or MAID_SHA 256

- Use GAID (Android) or IDFA (iOS)


- Case: all uppercase or all lowercase


- Remove any spaces at the beginning or end

- Case: all uppercase or all lowercase


- Remove any spaces at the beginning or end


- SHA 256 or MD5 hashing required

aece52e7-03ee-455a-b3c4-e57283966239

Normalized: 5f3a2b18-9c4d-4e7f-b8e2-17d3a1e69b25


Hashed:

83dc3f5f32b9472613b0f038d36f22585a609d018af6f6067f50da318bf354bd

Note:

  • Your file will be hashed automatically if there are original values or values that are not hashed.

  • Apple's Identifier For Advertising (IDFA) or Google Advertising ID (GAID) can be combined in the same file, with each entry on a separate line.

  • Each header can appear a maximum of 3 times in one file for a file with multiple IDs.