Play ANI files in your browser
The animated mouse pointers of Windows, from the busy spinner to the cursor packs people share. Watch one play right here. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your cursor opens playing, each frame at the speed Windows shows it.
- Plays as Windows shows it • Each frame at its own time
- Pause and step frame by frame
- Drag to pan • Pinch or scroll to zoom
- Export • Save the frame as PNG or JPEG
About ANI
Windows has played animated cursors since the 1990s, for the busy pointer and any other in Mouse settings. Cursor packs come as .ani files, one for each pointer, often with an install.inf that sets them all.
An ANI is a RIFF file, like a WAV: a header with the number of frames and their speed, optional lists of each step's time and frame, and the frames themselves, each a cursor or an icon with its hot spot, the pixel that clicks.
Filepeek plays it as Windows does, every step at its own time in sixtieths of a second, with play, pause and step on the player. A cursor of one frame shows as a picture, and Export saves the frame on show as PNG or JPEG.
Windows animated cursor
.ani
Format
- MIME type
- application/x-navi-animation
- Made by
- Microsoft
Inside the file
- Built on
- RIFF, like WAV
- Frames
- Cursors or icons
- Timing
- In sixtieths of a second
- Hot spot
- The pixel that clicks
Opens in every browser
Browsers download ANI files. Filepeek plays them in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
- YouChromePlays through Filepeek
- YouEdgePlays through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxPlays through Filepeek
- YouSafariPlays through Filepeek
Apps that open ANI
- WindowsMouse settings, built in • RealWorld Cursor Editor, free
- MacNo app built in opens it
- iPhone and iPadNo app opens it
- AndroidNo app opens it
Questions
How do I install an .ani cursor?
In Windows, open Settings, then Bluetooth & devices, Mouse, Additional mouse settings. On the Pointers tab, pick a pointer and choose Browse to set the .ani. A pack with an install.inf installs from its right-click menu, with Install.
Can I use an .ani cursor on a Mac?
macOS doesn't use them. Filepeek plays one on a Mac so you can see it, and Export saves a frame as PNG.
Is it safe to open an .ani file?
Windows had a serious flaw in how it read animated cursors, fixed in 2007. Filepeek reads the file with its own code and draws each frame as a picture, so nothing in it runs.