Comparison
Lottie vs SVG animation
Both are vector. The difference is tooling and reach: Lottie is authored visually and plays the same across web and native; animated SVG is web-only and usually hand-built.
| Lottie | SVG animation (SMIL/JS) | |
|---|---|---|
| Authoring | Visual editor | Hand-edit / scripting |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Portability | Web + iOS/Android/Flutter | Web only |
| Interactivity | Player API | JS / SMIL |
| Browser support | Consistent via player | SMIL patchy |
| File | JSON | SVG |
Which should you use?
Pick Lottie
Use Lottie when motion is complex, designed visually, or needs to run on native apps too.
Pick SVG animation (SMIL/JS)
Use animated SVG for tiny, web-only effects you’re happy to hand-code.
Make a Lottie, free
Design it in the studio and export .json or .lottie.
FAQ
- Isn’t Lottie just animated SVG?
- No — Lottie is a JSON description played at runtime by a player (which can render to SVG or canvas). It’s more portable and tool-friendly.
- Does Lottie work on native apps?
- Yes — the same file plays on iOS, Android, React Native, and Flutter, which plain animated SVG can’t.