Aseprite to GIF — One Animated GIF per Tag
An .aseprite file keeps each animation as a tag. Drop it here and export "Animated GIF": you get one GIF per tag, named after the tag, with every frame shown for its own duration, the frames lined up on the pivot, and reverse or ping-pong already written out as frame order.
- GIF / APNGDecoded· Pillow
- Godot 4Verified· Godot 4.7.2
- Unity 6Verified· Unity 6000.5.3f1
- Phaser 3 / 4Verified· Phaser 3.90 + 4.2
- PixiJS 8Verified· PixiJS 8.21
- Aseprite JSONVerified· Phaser load.aseprite · PixiJS 8.21
- .asepriteVerified· Aseprite 1.3.18
- Spine / libGDXVerified· spine-canvas 4.2
- Starling / Sparrow XMLVerified· Phaser 4.2
- LÖVEVerified· LÖVE 11.5
- DefoldBuilt· Defold bob.jar 1.13.1
- GameMakerUNVERIFIED
- CSS spritesVerified· Chromium
What it does
- One GIF per tag, named <file>_<tag>.gif, frames in playback order on one pivot-aligned cell so nothing jumps.
- The tag's repeat count carries over: 0 loops forever, 3 plays three times, 1 plays once.
- Delays are stored in GIF's hundredths of a second. Browsers and Discord show 0 or 1 hundredth as 10, so the shortest delay written is 2 (20 ms), and every rounded delay is listed after export.
- Transparency is one palette entry: alpha 128 and above is opaque, below is transparent. Each frame is a full frame with disposal "restore to background", so transparent frames never pile up.
- Up to 255 colours, which covers almost all pixel art, the palette is exact; above that, median cut over all frames or per frame, nearest colour, no dithering.
How to do it
- Drop the .aseprite file and press Enter to watch each tag on the Timeline.
- Adjust what the GIF should do: a frame's duration in the Frame panel, the direction or repeat in the Animation panel.
- Open Pack & Export and choose Animated GIF (global or per-frame palette), APNG or WebM video.
- Export and read the notes: they list rounded delays, a reduced palette or softened edges, tag by tag.
GIF, APNG or WebM for an Aseprite animation
| Animated GIF | APNG | WebM video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transparency | 1-bit (alpha ≥ 128 opaque) | full alpha, exact | none: solid background |
| Colours | exact up to 255, else median cut | every pixel exact | lossy video (VP9, VP8 fallback) |
| Timing | hundredths of a second, at least 20 ms | milliseconds per frame | each frame's own duration |
| Pixel size | 1:1 | 1:1 | 4× nearest-neighbour |
| Files | one per tag | one per tag | one per animation |
| Checked by | Pillow decodes every frame and delay | Pillow, exact frames | Chromium plays it; ffprobe counts the frames |
Engine exports and how each was checked
"Verified" means the exported files were loaded by the real engine or tool on real CC0 assets and the result was compared with the source. Anything that was not loaded is labelled as such.
| Target | Files | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Godot 4 | .tres SpriteFrames · .tscn AnimatedSprite2D · .png.import | Verified Godot 4.7.2Loaded by Godot; every animation frame drawn and compared with the source file. The scene uses Nearest filtering; rotation is never used. |
| Unity 6 | .unity.json · Editor/NerulioSpriteImporter.cs · AnimationClip | Verified Unity 6000.5.3f1Batch mode: sprite rects, pivots, pixels, clip keys and durations checked. |
| Phaser 3 / 4 | atlas JSON (multiatlas) · .anims.json | Verified Phaser 3.90 + 4.2Frames and animations drawn by both versions. |
| PixiJS 8 | spritesheet JSON · animations · anchor · meta.scale | Verified PixiJS 8.21Rotated and multi-page atlases included. |
| Aseprite JSON | hash / array · frameTags · slices | Verified Phaser load.aseprite · PixiJS 8.21Tags keep their direction and repeat count. |
| .aseprite | layers · tags · durations · slices | Verified Aseprite 1.3.18Opened and rendered by the Aseprite command line. |
| Spine / libGDX | .atlas | Verified spine-canvas 4.2Every region drawn by the Spine runtime, rotated and trimmed; libGDX itself was not run. |
| Starling / Sparrow XML | XML per page | Verified Phaser 4.2Phaser 3.90 draws trimmed XML frames wrongly (its own bug); the "Sparrow XML (Phaser 3)" preset turns trim off and passes in 3.90 and 4.2. |
| LÖVE | Lua quads · nerulio_atlas.lua · main.lua | Verified LÖVE 11.5Every frame drawn and every animation stepped through the shipped helper. |
| Defold | .atlas · .tilesource | Built Defold bob.jar 1.13.1Built by Defold's command-line builder; the built texture's UVs were read back. |
| GameMaker | spr_<name>_stripN.png · gamemaker.json | UNVERIFIEDNot loaded in GameMaker (no headless GameMaker). The strips are cut the way its strip importer cuts them. |
| CSS sprites | .css · preview .html | Verified ChromiumEvery class drawn from the shipped stylesheet. |
| GIF / APNG | one file per animation | Decoded PillowEvery frame and delay decoded again after export; APNG is exact. |
Evidence
GIF decoder: 408 of 408 frames identical to Pillow on 29 real GIFs; APNG 132 of 132 on 16 files. .aseprite: 231 corpus files imported, re-written and reopened in Aseprite 1.3.18 with the same tags, durations and pixels (231/231). Exports: 49 runs in the real engines on real CC0 assets, 47 pass — the 2 failures are Phaser 3.90's trimmed-XML bug, which the Phaser 3 preset avoids.
Limits
- A grid or island guess is a preview with a confidence; nothing is cut until you press Apply, and every choice has one-click alternatives.
- .aseprite files whose layers do not compose exactly (e.g. group opacity) are imported flattened, and the Import panel says why.
- Rotated frames in an imported atlas stay rotated; their export is UNVERIFIED.
- Images up to 32,768 px per side (268 million pixels), subject to your browser's memory.
Questions
My GIF edges look jagged, but the Aseprite preview was smooth. Why?
GIF cannot store partial transparency. Pixels at alpha 128 or more are written opaque and the rest transparent, and the export says when that happened. APNG keeps soft alpha exactly and stores delays in milliseconds.
Why does a 16 ms frame play slower in the GIF?
GIF stores hundredths of a second, and 0 or 1 hundredth is shown as 10 by browsers and Discord. The export writes at least 2 hundredths (20 ms) instead and names every frame whose delay was rounded.
Can I post a bigger version?
The GIF and APNG keep the file's pixel size. The WebM export scales 4× with nearest-neighbour on a solid background, so the pixels stay square in a video player.
Is it free, and do I need an account?
Everything on these pages is free and works without an account. There is no watermark and no export that is held back.
Are my sprites uploaded?
No. The Studio decodes, packs and exports in this browser tab. Projects are autosaved in the browser (IndexedDB) and can be saved as a .nerulio file.
Does it need Aseprite or an engine plugin installed?
No. .aseprite files are read and written in the browser, and each engine bundle carries what that engine needs (for Godot, the import settings and scene; for Unity and the Godot TileSet, a small editor script).