What is a Lottie animation?

A Lottie animation is a lightweight, scalable, and high-quality animated graphic used to enhance digital experiences. Designed in Adobe After Effects and exported as lightweight JSON files, they load quickly and integrate effortlessly into websites, apps, emails, social media, and more. Unlike traditional animation formats, they're resolution-independent, so they always look crisp without slowing performance. Plus, Lottie animations are interactive—you can trigger animations through clicks, scrolling, or hovering. This interactivity makes your content more engaging and dynamic to your audience.

How do Lottie animations differ from GIFs?

Lottie animations outshine GIFs by being faster, lighter, and higher-quality. Instead of relying on heavy bitmap frames like GIFs, they use vector-based graphics exported as compact JSON files. This means they stay sharp at any size and are resolution-independent and incredibly lightweight.

Are Lottie animations free to use?

Yes, Lottie animations are free to use for both personal and commercial purposes. You can browse more than 400,000 free and premium animations and add them to any Canva design. However, a LottieFiles account is required to access some of its features (e.g., workspaces, premium animations).

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Put your design in motion with Lottie animations

Bring energy and motion to your Canva projects with Lottie animations in just one click. Choose from thousands of eye-catching designs perfect for any presentation, email, or social post.

Find a Lottie animation

How to use a Lottie animation

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Choose an animation

Select an animation from the gallery and click “Add to design.”

Edit your design

Make some quick touch-ups on your animation using our beginner-friendly editor.

Download your design

Finally, download your Canva design as a GIF or MP4.

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Spark instant reactions and memes

Draw attention and spark instant engagement with playful Lottie animations. Add a touch of fun, personality, and emotion to your social media posts, chats, or projects. These eye-catching visuals make it easy for your projects to stand out, improve interactions, and create content your audience will want to share.

Energize your social media content

Take your social media posts up a notch by making them interactive, expressive, and shareable with free Lottie animations. Make use of the Magic Resize (Pro)⁠(opens in a new tab or window) feature to resize your design to fit the required dimensions of each social media platform. Once you’re done with your design, share it to your socials right from Canva.

Craft dynamic user interfaces

Effortlessly add intuitive Lottie animations—such as loading spinners, playful button effects, swipe gestures, and animated onboarding—to enhance navigation, clarify actions, and guide users through an interactive experience.

Create impactful, unforgettable emails

Make standout emails and leave a lasting impression. Use free Lottie files to bring them to life with engaging and colorful animations. If you want to add pictures to your email marketing campaigns, use the Photo Animation⁠(opens in a new tab or window) feature to turn stills into motion. Maintain a cohesive brand identity by seamlessly adding logos, colors, icons, imagery, and more from your personalized Brand Kit (Pro)⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

How to add Lottie animations to your design

Frequently asked questions

A Lottie animation is a lightweight, scalable, and high-quality animated graphic used to enhance digital experiences. Designed in Adobe After Effects and exported as lightweight JSON files, they load quickly and integrate effortlessly into websites, apps, emails, social media, and more.

Unlike traditional animation formats, they're resolution-independent, so they always look crisp without slowing performance. Plus, Lottie animations are interactive—you can trigger animations through clicks, scrolling, or hovering. This interactivity makes your content more engaging and dynamic to your audience.
Lottie animations outshine GIFs by being faster, lighter, and higher-quality. Instead of relying on heavy bitmap frames like GIFs, they use vector-based graphics exported as compact JSON files. This means they stay sharp at any size and are resolution-independent and incredibly lightweight.
Yes, Lottie animations are free to use for both personal and commercial purposes. You can browse more than 400,000 free and premium animations and add them to any Canva design. However, a LottieFiles account is required to access some of its features (e.g., workspaces, premium animations).

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