Lottie JSON

Lottie JSON is the original Lottie animation format. It represents animations as a plain JSON file describing vector graphics and their motion over time, with support for image assets and After Effects expressions.

Extension: .json
MIME type: application/json

Background

The Lottie format was created by Hernan Torrisi via his Bodymovin plugin for Adobe After Effects. The plugin walks through an After Effects composition and transforms the animation into a JSON structure. Airbnb engineers subsequently built iOS and Android renderers (naming them "Lottie"), and the format saw rapid adoption across the industry.

Capabilities

A Lottie JSON file supports:

Vector shapes (paths, ellipses, rectangles, stars)
Raster image assets (embedded as Data URIs or referenced by path)
Text layers with custom fonts
Masks and mattes
Effects and After Effects expressions
Pre-compositions (nested animations)

Limitations vs dotLottie

Limitation	Resolution
Single animation per file	Use dotLottie for multi-animation bundles
No built-in compression	Use dotLottie for smaller file sizes
Image assets stored as Data URIs	dotLottie extracts assets into `i/`
No theming or interactivity	Use dotLottie with themes and state machines

Learn More

Lottie JSON Specification — Complete technical specification for the format
dotLottie Format — The modern container format built on top of Lottie JSON
Official Lottie Docs — Community specification