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SVG Animation vs Lottie — Website Animation Comparison

SVG animations use CSS or JavaScript directly. Lottie plays After Effects animations in the browser as JSON. Compare both for your website animation needs.

SVG Animation — Direct Web Animation

SVG elements animate natively with CSS transitions, keyframes, or JavaScript (GSAP). No additional library needed for simple animations.

  • Simple hover effects: CSS transition on SVG paths
  • Path drawing: stroke-dashoffset animation in CSS
  • Complex timelines: GSAP for professional animation control
  • No runtime dependency for basic CSS animations
  • File size: SVG code is inline or external — animation is CSS/JS (very small)

Lottie — After Effects Animations in JSON

Lottie plays Adobe After Effects animations exported as JSON via the Bodymovin plugin. Results are highly polished motion graphics.

  • Lottie: JSON file exported from After Effects via Bodymovin plugin
  • Playback: lottie-player library (~37KB gzip) renders JSON animation
  • Use case: complex animated icons, loading animations, onboarding illustrations
  • Quality: professional motion design quality unachievable with CSS alone
  • Tools: LottieFiles.com has 50,000+ free Lottie animations to use

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lottie or SVG better for website animations?

CSS SVG animation for simple hover effects and icon animations. Lottie for complex motion graphics, animated illustrations, and polished product demos that require After Effects-level quality.

Does Lottie work on mobile browsers?

Yes — Lottie (lottie-web) works on all modern mobile and desktop browsers. It's GPU-accelerated and performant even on older mobile devices.

Can I create Lottie animations without After Effects?

Yes — Jitter.video, Rive, and Haiku Animator create Lottie animations without After Effects. LottieFiles also has a Figma plugin for exporting Lottie directly from Figma designs.

What's the file size difference between SVG and Lottie animations?

Simple SVG animation: under 5KB. Lottie JSON for complex animation: 20–200KB plus the 37KB Lottie player library. For simple animations, SVG is more lightweight. For complex motion, Lottie is worth the overhead.

Related guides

Try the converterFree online image to SVG toolHow to convertStep-by-step conversion guideSVG for webWeb developer SVG guideInkscape guideFree SVG editor reference

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