libpag is a rendering library for PAG (Portable Animated Graphics) files that renders After Effects animations natively across multiple platforms including iOS, Android, OpenHarmony, macOS, Windows, Linux, and the Web.
The tool solves the problem of efficiently delivering complex animations created in After Effects to production applications. Rather than converting animations to video or JSON formats, libpag uses a proprietary binary file format that decodes significantly faster and compresses to roughly half the file size of equivalent JSON animations. The library supports both vector-based and raster-based animations, including third-party plugin effects from After Effects, allowing designers to export complete animations with embedded bitmaps and media in a single file without additional attachments.
Developers should choose libpag if they need to deploy After Effects animations across multiple platforms with minimal file overhead and maximum fidelity to the original design. The tool suits projects where animations are created by designers in After Effects and need to reach production with full feature support, particularly those requiring runtime editing capabilities such as text replacement, image swapping, or layer structure modification. The project includes PAGExporter, a plugin for After Effects, and PAGViewer, a preview and performance monitoring application, both available on macOS and Windows. The README does not compare libpag to alternative animation solutions.
The project demonstrates substantial adoption in production environments, with almost all open issues raised by outside users rather than the core team, indicating a real-world user base reporting genuine problems and use cases.
