Lottie (file format)

File format for vector graphics animations

Lottie

Filename extensions|

.json, .lot

Internet media type|

video/lottie+json

Developed by| Hernan Torrisi
Initial release| 2015
Type of format| Vector animation
Extended from| JSON, Adobe After Effects
Extended to| dotLottie
Website| lottie.github.io
Lotte Reiniger in 1939

Lottie is a file format for vector graphics animation, and is named after Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger, a German pioneer of silhouette animation.[1]

## Description

[edit]

Lottie is based in JSON but Lottie files use keys of 1–2 characters in length and are not readable by humans. It is intended as a lighter alternative to animated GIFs and APNG files for use in the web and mobile and desktop applications. Being vectorial it is independent of the device resolution. It can also include raster graphic elements. It also allows for the inclusion of interactive elements.[1]

The different player implementations have tradeoffs between CPU, GPU and memory usage.[2]

## History

[edit]

2015 - Hernan Torrisi released a plugin named Bodymovin[3] for the animation software Adobe After Effects that serialized animations as JSON to be rendered at runtime. It supports some but not all of the features of the internal format of After Effects.[4] Additionally, Torrisi released a renderer for the format with a JavaScript-based player for modern browsers. [1] [5]

2017 - it was the work of engineers Brandon Withrow (iOS), Gabriel Peal[6] (Android), and Leland Richardson (React Native) along with lead animator Salih Abdul-Karim at AirBnB that saw the creation of the first Lottie libraries[7] to render the animations in different platforms.[8]

Other companies have provided support for more platforms.[1]

2018 - Microsoft and the .NET Foundation released a library[9] for rendering Lottie on Windows.

2019 - further support for Lottie was by Qt[10] with the release of a QML API for rendering Lottie. Later that same year, Samsung released rLottie[11] which is a platform independent C++-based renderer for Lottie, and added Lottie support in Tizen. A Python framework to work with the format was also released this year.[12]

2020 - dotLottie was created. This open-source file format combines multiple Lottie files and all their supporting resources into a single file.

2023 - ThorVG began to support the Lottie rendering feature. [13]

2024 - The Lottie Animation Community has been established to standardize the file format.[14]

2024 - The npm package lottie-player, that allowed playing animations in hosting web pages, was temporarily compromised to insert code that targeted cryptocurrency holders.[15]

## Example

[edit]

This code will produce a 512 pixel image of the above circle:

"v": "5.7.1",
"ip": 0,
"op": 180,
"nm": "Animation",
"fr": 60,
"w": 512,
"h": 512,
"layers": [

"ddd": 0,
"ty": 4,
"ind": 0,
"st": 0,
"ip": 0,
"op": 180,
"nm": "Layer",
"ks": {
"a": {
"a": 0,
"k": [
256,
256

"p": {
"a": 0,
"k": [
256,
256

"s": {
"a": 0,
"k": [
100,
100

"r": {
"a": 0,
"k": 0

"o": {
"a": 0,
"k": 100

"shapes": [

"ty": "el",
"nm": "Ellipse",
"d": 1,
"p": {
"a": 0,
"k": [
256,
256

"s": {
"a": 0,
"k": [
256,
256

"ty": "st",
"nm": "Stroke",
"o": {
"a": 0,
"k": 100

"c": {
"a": 0,
"k": [
0.114,
0.157,
0.282

"lc": 2,
"lj": 2,
"ml": 0,
"w": {
"a": 0,
"k": 20

"ty": "fl",
"nm": "Fill",
"o": {
"a": 0,
"k": 100

"c": {
"a": 0,
"k": [
0.196,
0.314,
0.690

"r": 1

## The dotLottie file format

[edit]

dotLottieFilename extension|

.lottie

|

Internet media type| video/lottie+json
Initial release| 2020
Type of format| Vector animation
Container for| Lottie
Extended from| Zip file
Website| dotlottie.io

In 2020, the dotLottie file format was proposed as a standard way to pack Lottie files with other resources. The file is actually a zip file compressed with the deflate method. It includes a manifest file and preview images to ease the manipulation of the files. [4]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d "What is a Lottie animation? - LottieFiles". lottiefiles.com. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
2. ^ Biørn-Hansen, Andreas; Grønli, Tor-Morten; Ghinea, Gheorghita (5 May 2019). "Animations in Cross-Platform Mobile Applications: An Evaluation of Tools, Metrics and Performance". Sensors. 19 (9): 2081. Bibcode:2019Senso..19.2081B. doi:10.3390/s19092081. PMC 6539844. PMID 31060290.
3. ^ Torrisi, Hernan (15 December 2021). "bodymovin-extension". GitHub. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
4. ^ a b "Introducing dotLottie". dotlottie.io. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
5. ^ "bodymovin-extension". December 15, 2021 - via GitHub.
6. ^ Behind the Creation of Lottie, retrieved 2022-02-17
7. ^ "Lottie Docs". airbnb.io. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
8. ^ "Lottie". Lottie. AirBnB. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
9. ^ "Lottie-Windows". December 15, 2021 - via GitHub.
10. ^ "Announcing QtLottie". www.qt.io.
11. ^ "rlottie: A New Approach to Motion Graphics". YouTube.
12. ^ "python-lottie Changelog". 24 December 2023 - via GitLab.
13. ^ "thorvg 0.10.0 release note" - via Github.
14. ^ "Lottie as a standard with Lottie Animation Community (LAC) format specification body".
15. ^ Lakshmanan, Ravie (Oct 31, 2024). "LottieFiles Issues Warning About Compromised "lottie-player" npm Package". The Hacker News. Retrieved 1 November 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website by the Lottie Animation Community
* A Human's guide to the Lottie format Extensive documentation of the format

* v
* t
* e

Vector graphics markup languages and file formats

By type|

| 2D|

* Asymptote
* CGM
* DrawingML
* Graphics Layout Engine
* GeoGebra
* HVIF
* Lottie
* MetaPost
* PGF/TikZ
* PGML
* PSTricks
* Remote Imaging Protocol
* SVG
* SWF
* VML
* WMF
* EMF
* XAML
* Xar

|

3D|

* 3DMLW
* 3DXML
* Asymptote
* COLLADA
* DWF
* GeoGebra
* glTF
* IGES
* JT
* OpenGEX
* PRC
* STEP
* STL
* U3D
* VRML
* X3D
* XAML
* XVL
* xVRML

See also|

* Web3D
* Web3D Consortium
* Linden Scripting Language

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