ANI (file format)

This article is about the file format. For other uses, see Ani (disambiguation).

The ANI file format is a graphics file format used for animated mouse cursors on the Microsoft Windows operating system.^[2]

ANI

Filename extension	.ani
Internet media type	application/x-navi-animation
Magic number	ACON (4 bytes, ASCII)
Developed by	Microsoft
Type of format	animated raster image format for mouse cursors[1]

The format is based on the Microsoft Resource Interchange File Format, which is used as a container for storing the individual frames (which are standard Windows icons) of the animation.

File structure

Animated cursors contain the following information: (in order of position in the file)

• Name (optional)
• Artist information (optional)
• Default frame rate
• Sequence information
• Cursor hotspot
• Individual frame(s), in ICO format
• Individual frame rates (optional)

Frame rates are measured in jiffies, with one jiffy equal to 1/60 of a second, or 16.666 ms.

Sequencing

Sequence information present in the file determines the sequence of frames, and allows frames to be played more than once, or in a different order than that in which they appear in the file. For example, if the animation contains three different images numbered 1, 2 and 3, and the sequence is 1-2-3-2-1, (five frames) then only three icons need to be stored in the file, thereby saving storage space.

See also

• Pointer (user interface)
• ICO (file format)