LottieFiles API
A platform for hosting, managing, and delivering Lottie JSON animations, with an API and JavaScript players for embedding lightweight vector animations in web and mobile apps.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
TLS enforced on all API and CDN endpoints. API tokens are account-level with no fine-grained scoping. Lottie JSON files are parsed by client-side JavaScript players — malicious Lottie files can exploit player vulnerabilities; always validate animation sources. Open-source player libraries have active maintenance.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
You need lightweight, scalable vector animations in a web or mobile app and want a large marketplace of ready-made assets alongside an embedding player with JavaScript playback control.
Avoid When
Your animation complexity exceeds what Lottie supports (3D, particle systems, complex video compositing), or you need to keep all assets fully self-hosted without external CDN dependencies.
Use Cases
- • Embedding interactive Lottie animations in web apps via the @lottiefiles/lottie-player or dotlottie-player web component — generatable by agents as standard HTML/JS
- • Fetching and serving Lottie animation JSON files from the LottieFiles CDN to avoid self-hosting animation assets
- • Agents generating UI code that includes loading spinners, onboarding illustrations, and micro-animations sourced from the LottieFiles marketplace
- • Using the LottieFiles GraphQL API to search and retrieve animations programmatically for agent-driven content pipelines
- • Converting After Effects animations to Lottie format via the LottieFiles plugin workflow for use in agent-generated app templates
Not For
- • Video or raster animation playback — Lottie is vector/JSON-based and not suitable for complex video content
- • 3D animations — Lottie supports 2D vector shapes only; Three.js or Spline are better fits for 3D
- • Games requiring frame-by-frame sprite animation — game engines with sprite sheet support are more appropriate
Interface
Authentication
API access requires a LottieFiles account and API token from the dashboard. The GraphQL API uses bearer token authentication. Public animations from the marketplace can be embedded without auth via CDN URLs.
Pricing
Public animations are freely embeddable via CDN. The private animation hosting, team workspace, and higher API limits require a paid plan. The core Lottie player libraries (lottie-web, dotlottie-player) are open source and free.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ LottieFiles has two distinct player formats: legacy .json (lottie-web) and newer .lottie (dotlottie) — agents must use the correct player library for each format
- ⚠ CDN URLs for private animations require authentication headers — agents often generate public embed code that fails for private workspace animations
- ⚠ The dotlottie-player web component registers as a custom element and requires the script to load before the element can be used — agents omit the script import
- ⚠ Animation IDs in the GraphQL API differ from the URL slugs visible in the LottieFiles web interface — agents confuse these when constructing API queries
- ⚠ Lottie animations can reference external assets (images embedded as base64 or external URLs) — agents assuming all animations are self-contained may generate broken embeds
Alternatives
Full Evaluation Report
Detailed scoring breakdown, competitive positioning, security analysis, and improvement recommendations for LottieFiles API.
Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-06.