Lottie Specification v1.0: A Milestone for Open-Source Animation

Lottie as a format has a long and rich history, with many startups and open-source projects popping up around it. Today, Lottie animations are used in thousands of apps, websites, other devices, and tools.

In 2023, LottieFiles and other industry leaders joined hands to officially form the Lottie Animation Community (LAC), an open-source organization under  the Joint Development Foundation (JDF), which is a  Linux Foundation project to foster open standards and collaboration. To this end, LAC strives to formalize, stabilize, enhance and maintain the Lottie animation format as an industry standard.

On September 17th 2024, LAC announced the release of Lottie Specification v1.0, marking a significant step forward in the world of animated vector graphics. This milestone represents the culmination of collaborative efforts within our open-source community and sets the stage for the future of cross-platform animation.

What this means for Lottie

The release of Specification v1.0 is a game-changer for Lottie. It provides:

1. Standardization: A formal, agreed-upon specification that ensures consistency across different implementations.
2. Interoperability: Enhanced compatibility between various renderers and tools.
3. Reliability: A stable foundation for developers and designers to build upon.
4. Industry Recognition: A significant step towards Lottie becoming an industry standard.

We try to maintain a list of features supported by the most predominant Lottie players and renderers out there. Have a look at our supported-features page for an idea of where we are as a format.

We’re also introducing specification version badges, for developers to display on their projects to indicate version compliance. Keep an eye out for this when picking out a player for your next project.

What's included in the specification

While all the features that are currently available in Lottie are not included in Lottie Specification v1.0, most of the common and popular features are included. Some of these include the following.

• Layers - Shapes, Solids, Images, Precomposition, Null
• Shapes - Rectangle, Ellipse, Path, Polystar
• Shape Styles and Modifiers - Fill, Stroke, Gradient Fill, Gradient Stroke, Trim Path
• Shape Grouping - Group, Transform
• Transforms - Position, Split Position, Rotation, Scale, Opacity, Skew, Skew Axis
• Assets - Pre-composition, Image
• Time Remap and Stretch
• Masks and Mattes
• Slots
  

The goal of this first version of the specification is not to be complete, but rather to serve as a baseline to build on top of. As such, you may find that some features you may be used to are missing from the specification. This does not however mean that these features are not available for use. Players are still free to choose to implement as many features as they want.

The following functionality is not covered under specification v1.0:

• Text Layers
• Layer effects
• Metadata
• Blend modes
• Expressions
• Additional modifiers

For more details on features present in specification versions, and upcoming improvements, take a look at the Roadmap.

Contributing to the standard

LAC and the specification operate under the principles of open-source and open participation. Everyone is welcome to comment, adopt and contribute to the standard.

Contribution starts at the LAC lottie-spec github repository

What's next

The release of v1.0 is just the beginning. LAC's roadmap includes:

1. Widespread Adoption: Promoting the specification to animation tools, frameworks, and platforms.
2. Continuous Refinement: Gathering feedback from the community to improve future versions.
3. Feature Expansion: Working on incorporating missing features in upcoming releases.
4. Educational Resources: Developing guides and documentation to support implementation.
5. Collaboration: Fostering partnerships with industry leaders to further Lottie's reach.

We invite the entire animation community to join us in this exciting journey. Whether you're a developer, designer, or animation enthusiast, your contributions can help shape the future of Lottie.

Stay tuned for more updates, and let's create amazing animations together!