Figma Motion Can Now Export Animations as Lottie. What Agencies Should Check Before Handoff

A motion comp can look finished right up until it reaches the next tool. Then a familiar curve changes, a shadow freezes in place, or a developer asks which file they’re supposed to use. Figma’s September 30 update gives agencies a reason to review that trip from design to production: Motion can now export supported animations as Lottie or dotLottie, alongside new reusable animation styles and editable text animation.

The additions could reduce repeated setup and make some handoffs more direct. But Figma Motion is still in open beta, and an export button isn’t the same as a production check. Teams will want to test the animation in the player or app that will use it before promising a client that the file is ready to ship. Figma’s Motion update announcement has the full feature list.

What Figma added to Motion

Figma announced the update on September 30, 2026. It adds custom animation styles, text animation that can target individual characters, words or lines, and export to Lottie or dotLottie. The text remains editable after animation is applied. Motion is still in open beta, so teams should expect features to change.

For an agency, the practical question is what those tools change in the handoff. Reusable styles could save a team from rebuilding the same entrance or transition in every file. Editable text could make it easier to adjust a headline without turning it into a pile of separate pieces. Lottie export could give developers an animation file to test in their product workflow.

Those are useful possibilities, not a guarantee that every animation will travel unchanged. The next step is to try them on the kind of work a team typically delivers, not only on a tidy sample made to show off a feature.

Reusable styles and editable text

Animation styles let teams save custom easing, duration and other variable-backed properties, then reuse them across designs. Styles can also be combined into larger patterns and published to libraries. That gives an agency a way to keep recurring motion decisions close to its other shared design resources, rather than relying on someone to remember exactly how the last button moved.

For example, a studio working on several screens for the same product could apply a shared style to a set of cards or notifications. The motion can stay consistent while the content and layout change. A team can still adapt the timing when a particular moment calls for something different; the point is to avoid starting from zero each time.

Text animation brings a different sort of flexibility. A designer can animate characters, words or lines while keeping the text editable in Motion. That may help when a client revises a heading late in the process, but agencies should check how edits behave in their own files. Does a longer replacement phrase still fit the timing? Does a line-based animation make sense after a translated version wraps differently? A quick copy change can reveal more than a dozen perfect previews.

Shared styles and editable text may also help clarify what developers are receiving: a repeatable motion treatment and text that can still change, rather than an animation that only works for one carefully fixed phrase. The receiving team’s requirements still matter, particularly when the design includes fonts, unusual effects or multiple text lengths.

What to test in a Lottie handoff

Start with a representative animation, export it, then open it in the Lottie player or application intended for production. Figma’s canvas preview is useful for design review, but it can’t confirm how the receiving runtime handles the file. Check timing, text, appearance and playback on the target devices before approval. The small differences tend to show up right when someone says, “It’s basically the same.”

Figma’s export guidance lists limits that make this check important. Shaders and video aren’t supported in Lottie export. Shaders and angular gradients are exported as flat images, while video needs a different export format. Drop shadows, noise and glass effects are partially supported: their appearance comes from the first frame and won’t update during playback. An effect that looks alive in the design may therefore behave more like a still decoration in the exported file.

Teams should also confirm which file the receiving workflow expects. A Lottie export is a raw JSON file and can contain one animation. A dotLottie export is a compressed archive that bundles image and font assets and can include multiple animations. Neither format is automatically the right choice for every project. Ask the developer or product team what their runtime accepts and what needs to travel with the animation.

A short handoff checklist can catch common surprises:

• Does the animation play in the production player, not just in Figma?
• Do timing, easing, text and visual effects match the approved design?
• Are any unsupported or partially supported effects being flattened or held on their first frame?
• Does the receiving team need Lottie JSON or dotLottie, and how many animations and assets must the file contain?
• Does the animation still hold up at the intended device sizes and with likely copy changes?

If an animation depends on an effect that doesn’t export as expected, the team can decide whether to simplify that effect, rebuild the motion for the target runtime or use another delivery format. That decision is easier before the file is tied to a release date.

A small beta pilot before client delivery

A low-risk pilot is a sensible way to learn where the new workflow helps. An agency could choose a representative animation, apply a shared style, try an editable text treatment and export both file types if the receiving team is unsure which it needs. Then it can record what played correctly, what required rebuilding and what instructions or assets developers needed alongside the file.

That record is useful beyond one project. It gives the studio a practical set of patterns that export well, plus a list of cases that need another route. Since Motion remains in open beta, teams should keep an alternate delivery plan for work with firm production requirements. No one needs a release-day surprise to discover that a favorite effect has been politely turned into a still image.

Figma’s update is a timely reason to test animation and delivery together. Reusable styles may cut repeated setup, editable text may make revisions easier to manage, and Lottie export may suit product workflows that need animation files. The useful measure is whether the whole path works: design, export, playback and handoff.

Inspire Studio provides a workspace for agencies and their clients, intended to help manage asset workflows. Visit Inspire Studio to learn more about its workspace.