Free CSS Animation Generator

Build CSS @keyframes animations visually · pick a preset or customise timing, transforms & easing. Copy production-ready code.

Presets

Settings

Preview

Box

Generated CSS

How It Works

  1. Choose an animation preset: select from common animations, fade, slide, bounce, spin, pulse, shake, and more.
  2. Customize timing and behavior: adjust duration, delay, easing function, iteration count, and fill mode.
  3. Copy the CSS: the complete @keyframes definition and animation shorthand property are ready to paste into your stylesheet.

Why Use CSS Animation Generator?

CSS animations bring interfaces to life, drawing attention to key elements, providing feedback, and creating polished user experiences. Writing @keyframes rules by hand requires knowing the correct syntax, easing names, and property combinations. This generator provides curated animation presets with live previews and lets you tweak every parameter, outputting production-ready CSS without requiring JavaScript or animation libraries.

Features

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between animation and transition in CSS?

CSS transitions trigger on state changes (hover, focus, class toggle) and animate between two states. CSS animations use @keyframes to define multiple states and run independently of user interaction, they can loop, reverse, and run automatically.

What is animation-fill-mode and why does it matter?

animation-fill-mode controls whether the element retains the animation's styles before it starts (backwards), after it ends (forwards), or both. Without forwards, the element snaps back to its original style when the animation completes.

Are CSS animations performance-friendly?

Animations that use only transform and opacity are GPU-accelerated and very smooth. Avoid animating layout properties like width, height, margin, or top/left, these trigger layout recalculations and can cause jank. Stick to transform and opacity for 60 fps animations.

What CSS animations actually do

CSS animations interpolate one or more CSS properties between defined keyframes over time, producing visible motion or change without JavaScript. The model has two pieces: @keyframes rules define what an animation looks like at percentage-based steps (0% to 100%), and the animation shorthand property (or its longhand siblings animation-duration, animation-delay, animation-timing-function, animation-iteration-count, animation-fill-mode) tells the browser how to play that keyframes definition. The browser handles all interpolation, easing, and frame timing in C++, typically GPU-accelerated for transform and opacity changes.

Animations differ from CSS transitions in two ways. Transitions fire when an element's state changes (a hover, a class toggle, a focus event) and interpolate between exactly two values: the old and the new. Animations run independently of state, follow an arbitrary number of keyframe steps, can loop indefinitely, can play in reverse, and can be triggered, paused, and resumed via CSS or JavaScript. Transitions are the right tool for "snap from A to B over half a second"; animations are the right tool for "loop this attention-grabbing pulse forever" or "play this entry sequence once when the element appears."

For modern web design, CSS animations replace a huge amount of what used to require JavaScript libraries. Spinners, fade-ins, slide-ups, attention pulses, success checkmarks: all are now standard CSS patterns. The trade-off is expressiveness for complex sequences. CSS animations can do a lot but stop being convenient around 5 to 7 keyframe steps with synchronized property changes; for storyboarded animations, scroll-linked sequences, or anything dynamic that depends on JavaScript state, dedicated libraries (GSAP, Framer Motion, Web Animations API) remain the better choice.

How this tool works under the hood

When you choose a preset (e.g., "bounce" or "fade-in") the tool loads a predefined @keyframes string into the preview area and applies the animation property to the preview box. The keyframes are real CSS, not a custom format: what you see is what you get to copy. Sliders update animation timing values (duration, delay, iteration count) by editing the inline animation property in real time, so the preview reflects every change instantly without page reload.

Easing function selection uses the standard CSS timing-function values: linear (constant speed), ease (default, slow start and end), ease-in (slow start), ease-out (slow end), ease-in-out (slow start and end), or cubic-bezier(x1, y1, x2, y2) for custom curves. The visible animation curve is computed by the browser's native timing-function implementation; the preview is the actual browser-rendered output, not a JavaScript simulation.

The code box shows the full CSS you need to drop into a stylesheet: both the @keyframes block and the .your-class { animation: ... } declaration. Click "Copy CSS" and both are written to your clipboard as a single text block. No file is generated, no server processes anything, and the tool has no backend to call. The preview, the code generation, and the clipboard write all happen in JavaScript on your device. Refresh the page and your custom configuration is gone unless you copied it first.

Brief history of web animation

Real-world workflows

Common pitfalls and what they mean

Privacy: everything runs in your browser

CSS generator tools come in two flavors: simple HTML pages running client-side JavaScript (private, fast) and cloud editors that save your projects (collaborative but with privacy trade-offs). This tool is the first kind. Your slider values, your selected preset, your generated CSS: all stay in your browser session. Refresh the page and the state is gone unless you copied the CSS first. No server stores your animation choices, no analytics tracks which presets you tested, and no account is needed.

The privacy property matters mostly for proprietary design work. A studio prototyping animations for a confidential client project, a developer working on an unannounced app's micro-interactions, or a designer iterating on a brand campaign: any context where the iteration history or in-progress design could leak information about the work. With this tool, there is nothing captured because nothing is sent. Open the browser's Network tab and you will see zero outbound requests during use; only the initial page load fetches the HTML and JavaScript.

When another tool is the right pick

Other frequently asked questions

How do I make an animation play only once?

Set animation-iteration-count: 1 (which is the default if not specified). To make the element stay in the animation's final state after it completes (rather than snapping back to the original style), also set animation-fill-mode: forwards. The combined shorthand is animation: fadeIn 0.5s ease-out forwards;.

Can I pause and resume an animation?

Yes, with animation-play-state: paused (or running). Toggle this property via JavaScript (e.g., on a button click) or in CSS via :hover for "pause on hover" patterns. The animation freezes at its current point and resumes from there when set back to running, no progress lost. This works the same in transitions but only the animation-play-state property exists for runtime pause control.

How do I trigger an animation on click or scroll?

For click triggers, toggle a CSS class via JavaScript: element.classList.toggle('animate-in'). The animation runs when the class is added. For scroll triggers, use IntersectionObserver to detect when the element enters the viewport and add the class then. For modern browsers, CSS Scroll-driven Animations let you tie animation progress directly to scroll position without JavaScript via animation-timeline: scroll().

Why does my animation flicker or stutter?

Most flicker/stutter issues come from animating layout-triggering properties (width, height, top/left) instead of transform-based equivalents. Switch left: 0 to transform: translateX(0) and the animation should smooth out. Other causes: overdraw from many semi-transparent layers, layout thrashing from JavaScript reading and writing styles in the same frame, or excessive shadows and filters on the animated element.

Should I use animations on accessibility-critical interfaces?

Use them, but respect prefers-reduced-motion. WCAG 2.1 guidelines recommend providing the option to disable non-essential motion. Wrap decorative animations in @media (prefers-reduced-motion: no-preference) so users who set the OS preference get a static experience. Essential feedback animations (loading indicators, error shakes) can be kept; purely decorative ones should be opt-in for sensitive users.

Can I use cubic-bezier for custom easing curves?

Yes. The cubic-bezier(x1, y1, x2, y2) timing function lets you define any easing curve with two control points. Each x value is between 0 and 1 (representing time), y values can be negative or greater than 1 (allowing overshoot and bounce effects). Use our Cubic Bezier tool or Lea Verou's classic cubic-bezier.com to visually pick a curve. Common preset alternatives: ease, ease-in, ease-out, ease-in-out, and the linear-aliased CSS variables cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.1, 0.25, 1) (default ease).

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