- Three places to get free Lottie animations
- Free Lottie sources compared
- What the LottieFiles licence lets you do
- The catch: Lordicon's free icons need credit
- How to add a free Lottie animation to your website
- Why use Lottie instead of a GIF or video
- Where Lottie animations work best on a small business site
- My advice
- Frequently asked questions
The biggest source of free Lottie animations is the LottieFiles community library, where public animations are free to use, including for commercial work, without credit. Lordicon is excellent for free animated icons, but its free licence requires you to credit the author, and IconScout has a large Lottie library with a free section.
Lottie animations are the small, smooth moving graphics you see on modern websites and apps: a ticking checkbox, a loading spinner, an animated icon on a pricing page. They're far lighter than video, which is why designers and developers love them. Here's where to get them free, and what each licence lets you do.
Three places to get free Lottie animations
- LottieFiles: the largest home for Lottie, with a free community library and tools to preview, edit and embed animations. It offers optimised dotLottie and JSON formats.
- Lordicon: animated icons rather than full scenes. Free icons can be used commercially, as long as you credit the author.
- IconScout: says it has more than 1.6 million lightweight Lottie animations for web, iOS and Android, alongside a free assets section.
Free Lottie sources compared
| Library | Commercial use | Credit needed | Can you edit it | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LottieFiles (public files) | Yes | No, but encouraged | Yes, edits stay under the same licence | Web and app animations of every kind |
| Lordicon (free licence) | Yes | Yes, author credit required | Limited, check the licence | Animated UI icons |
| Lordicon (PRO licence) | Yes | No | Within the licence terms | Icon-heavy products |
| IconScout (free section) | Check the asset | Check the asset | Check the asset | Large choice in one place |
What the LottieFiles licence lets you do
Public animations on LottieFiles come under the Lottie Simple License. It grants permission, free of charge, to download, reproduce, modify, publish, distribute and display the files, including for commercial purposes. Using an animation without crediting its creator is allowed, though LottieFiles strongly encourages attribution, and if you do credit someone, the credit should be visible to the end user.
There are two conditions people miss. First, if you modify a file, your edited version counts as a derivative work and has to be distributed under the same licence. Second, the licence doesn't give you the right to collect or compile files from LottieFiles to build a similar or competing service. So you can use animations freely in your own site or app, but you can't scrape a library of them to start your own.
The catch: Lordicon's free icons need credit
Lordicon is the one that catches people out, because its icons look like the kind of thing you'd drop into a site without thinking. Its free licence is based on Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0, modified so that commercial use is allowed. But author attribution is required. If you'd rather not add a credit, Lordicon's Standard PRO licence doesn't require one and covers both paid and free icons.
IconScout handles licences per asset and per project, so check the licence shown on each animation before you use it.
How to add a free Lottie animation to your website
- Search the library for what you need, for example "success tick" or "loading".
- Check the licence on that animation and note whether credit is required.
- Download it as a Lottie JSON or dotLottie file. LottieFiles says its optimised formats can reduce file sizes.
- Recolour it to your brand if the tool allows. Remember edited LottieFiles animations stay under the same licence.
- Embed it with a Lottie player or your website builder's Lottie block, or use the embed options LottieFiles offers for tools such as WordPress and Notion.
- If credit is required, add it somewhere a visitor can see it, such as your footer or credits page.
If you need static icons as well, I've put together free icons you can use commercially, and for longer animated content my list of free animation software covers tools for making your own.
Why use Lottie instead of a GIF or video
Lottie files are vector animations, so they stay sharp at any size and work across web, iOS and Android, which is exactly how IconScout describes its library. LottieFiles says its optimised dotLottie and JSON formats can reduce file sizes, which keeps pages quick to load. A GIF of the same animation is usually blurry at larger sizes, and a video is heavier still.
They're also easier to brand. Because the colours live in the file rather than being baked into pixels, you can often recolour a free animation to match your brand before you use it. Just remember that on LottieFiles your edited version stays under the same licence as the original.
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Where Lottie animations work best on a small business site
- A tick or confetti moment after someone joins your email list
- A small animated icon beside each service on your services page
- A friendly loading animation in a booking or checkout step
- A subtle animated arrow drawing attention to your main call to action
One last practical tip: before you add any animation, test the page on a mid-range phone. If the animation stutters or delays the content people came for, swap it for a smaller one or a static icon.
My advice
Start with LottieFiles for almost anything: the licence is generous, commercial use is allowed and you don't have to credit anyone. Use Lordicon when you want polished animated icons, but either add the credit or pay for PRO. And keep animation light: one or two small Lottie touches on a page look professional, a dozen look like a template.
Frequently asked questions
Are Lottie animations free for commercial use?
Public animations on LottieFiles are, under the Lottie Simple License, which allows commercial use. Other libraries have their own licences, so check each one.
Do LottieFiles animations need a credit?
No. The Lottie Simple License says using files without crediting the creator is permitted, though attribution is strongly encouraged.
Are Lordicon icons free?
Lordicon has free icons that can be used commercially, but the free licence requires author attribution. Its Standard PRO licence removes the credit requirement.
Can I edit a free Lottie animation?
Yes on LottieFiles, but your edited version is a derivative work and must be distributed under the same Lottie Simple License.
What is a dotLottie file?
It's an optimised Lottie format. LottieFiles offers optimised dotLottie and JSON formats and says they can reduce file sizes.
