Best Lottie Animation Resources for Developers
Building a project that needs animations? You don't have to create everything from scratch. The Lottie ecosystem has grown into a rich collection of free animation libraries, creation tools, player libraries, and community platforms. This guide covers the best resources available, organized by what you need them for.
Free Animation Libraries
These platforms offer ready-to-use Lottie animations that you can download and drop into your project. Most provide free tiers with generous selections.
LottieFiles
LottieFiles is the largest Lottie animation marketplace and community. It hosts over 100,000 animations created by designers worldwide. The free tier gives you access to thousands of animations for personal and commercial use. Each animation has a preview player, customizable colors, and multiple download formats (JSON, dotLottie, GIF).
What makes LottieFiles especially useful is its built-in editor. You can change colors, adjust speed, and trim animations directly in the browser before downloading. This saves time when you need an animation that almost fits your design but needs minor tweaks. The platform also provides an optimization tool that reduces file sizes without visible quality loss.
IconScout
IconScout offers a curated collection of Lottie animations alongside their icon and illustration library. Their animations tend to be polished and consistent in style, which is helpful when you need multiple animations that look like they belong together. The free selection is smaller than LottieFiles but the quality is consistently high.
Lordicon
Lordicon specializes in animated icons. Their library contains over 1,500 animated icons in a consistent flat design style. Each icon comes with multiple animation triggers (hover, click, loop, morph) and customizable colors. The free tier includes a generous selection, and the animations are specifically designed for UI use cases like navigation, actions, and status indicators.
useAnimations
useAnimations is a collection of micro-animations built specifically for UI interactions. Think hamburger menu toggles, loading states, social media icons, and action buttons. All animations are free and open source under the MIT license. The library provides React and Vue components for easy integration, plus raw Lottie JSON files for other frameworks.
LottieFlow
LottieFlow offers a smaller but carefully curated set of free Lottie animations focused on common web patterns: hero sections, feature highlights, testimonials, and call-to-action elements. The animations are designed to work well on landing pages and marketing sites. Each animation comes with suggested implementation patterns and responsive sizing guidelines.
Creation and Design Tools
When you need custom animations that match your brand, these tools help you create them from scratch or modify existing ones.
Adobe After Effects + Bodymovin
The original and most powerful Lottie creation workflow. After Effects gives you full control over every aspect of the animation: complex path animations, masks, mattes, expressions, and multi-layer compositions. The Bodymovin plugin exports your work as Lottie JSON. This combination handles the widest range of animation complexity, but it requires an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription and After Effects expertise.
LottieFiles Editor
The LottieFiles platform includes a browser-based animation editor. It's not as powerful as After Effects, but it handles simple animations well: shape morphing, color transitions, basic path animations, and text effects. The editor is free to use and requires no software installation. It's a good starting point for developers who want to create simple animations without learning After Effects.
Haiku Animator
Haiku Animator (now part of Diez) is a standalone desktop application for creating animations that export to multiple formats including Lottie. Its timeline-based interface is more approachable than After Effects for developers who are comfortable with code but new to motion design. Haiku also supports importing designs from Figma and Sketch.
Figma Plugins
Several Figma plugins can convert designs and simple animations to Lottie format. LottieFiles has an official Figma plugin that exports frames and simple transitions. The Motion plugin supports more complex animations with keyframe control. These plugins are useful when your design workflow is centered on Figma and you want to avoid switching to After Effects for simple animations.
Rive
Rive (formerly Flare) is a dedicated animation tool that supports Lottie export alongside its own runtime format. Rive's strength is interactive animations with state machines, where the animation responds to user input in real time. The free tier is generous for individual developers. While Rive's native format offers more features, the Lottie export covers standard animation needs well.
Player Libraries by Platform
You need a player library to render Lottie animations in your application. Here are the best options for each platform:
Web
- lottie-web: The official player by Airbnb. Supports SVG, Canvas, and HTML rendering. Most feature-complete but also the largest (~250 KB minified).
- @lottiefiles/lottie-player: A web component wrapper that works with any framework. Includes built-in controls and theming.
- lottie-react: A React-specific wrapper around lottie-web with hooks for playback control.
- vue-lottie: Vue.js component for Lottie animations with reactive props for playback control.
- @dotlottie/player-component: Supports the newer dotLottie format with smaller file sizes and bundled assets.
Mobile
- lottie-ios: Native iOS player using Core Animation. Maintained by Airbnb.
- lottie-android: Native Android player. Also maintained by Airbnb.
- lottie-react-native: React Native bridge for both iOS and Android.
- lottie (Flutter): Flutter package that renders Lottie animations using the Skia engine.
Optimization and Testing Tools
LottieFiles Optimizer
Upload a Lottie JSON file and the optimizer strips unnecessary data, simplifies paths, and reduces precision where it won't affect visual quality. Typical reductions range from 20% to 60% depending on the animation. The tool is free and runs in the browser.
JSON Animation Viewer
Our own JSON Animation Viewer lets you preview any Lottie file instantly by dragging it into the browser. It's useful for quick validation during development: check that an animation plays correctly, verify dimensions, and test at different sizes. Everything runs locally, so your files stay private.
Lottie Editor by LottieFiles
Beyond basic preview, the LottieFiles editor lets you inspect individual layers, modify colors, adjust timing, and test interactivity. It's particularly useful for making last-minute adjustments without going back to After Effects.
Bodymovin Compatibility Checker
Before exporting from After Effects, the Bodymovin plugin includes a compatibility checker that flags features in your composition that won't translate to Lottie. Running this check before export saves time by catching issues early rather than discovering them during testing.
Learning Resources
Documentation
- Official Lottie Documentation covers the format specification, supported features, and platform-specific guides.
- LottieFiles Blog publishes tutorials, case studies, and best practices regularly.
- The lottie-web GitHub repository has detailed API documentation and examples in the wiki.
Our Guides
We've written several in-depth articles to help you get started:
Community and Support
GitHub
The official Lottie repositories on GitHub are active and well-maintained. Issues are a good place to report bugs, ask questions, and find workarounds for known limitations. The lottie-web repository alone has over 30,000 stars and an active contributor community.
LottieFiles Community
The LottieFiles platform has a community section where designers and developers share work, ask questions, and collaborate. It's a good place to find inspiration, get feedback on your animations, and connect with other people working with Lottie.
Stack Overflow
The "lottie" tag on Stack Overflow has thousands of questions and answers covering common implementation issues, platform-specific quirks, and optimization techniques. If you're stuck on a specific problem, chances are someone has already asked about it there.
Putting It All Together
The Lottie ecosystem gives you everything you need to add professional animations to your projects. Start by browsing free animation libraries for ready-made assets. Use our JSON Animation Viewer to preview and validate files. When you need custom animations, pick the creation tool that fits your skill level and workflow. Integrate with the appropriate player library for your platform, optimize for production, and ship.
The barrier to entry has never been lower. With free animations, free tools, and open-source player libraries, you can add polished, performant animations to any project without spending a dollar.