What is the ASEPRITE file format?
An .aseprite file is the native project format of Aseprite, an animated sprite editor and pixel art tool from Igara Studio. Instead of a single flat picture, it stores a full sprite: multiple animation frames with their durations, layers and layer groups, blend modes, the color palette, animation tags, and slices. Aseprite supports RGBA, grayscale, and indexed color, and version 1.3 added tilemaps and tilesets to the same file.
Internally the format is binary and little-endian. It opens with a 128-byte header carrying the magic number 0xA5E0, the frame count, canvas size, and color depth, followed by one block per frame. Each frame holds typed chunks for layers, cels, palettes, tags and slices, and the pixel data inside each cel is DEFLATE-compressed. The .ase extension is the identical format under a different name, so the two are interchangeable.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWAn .aseprite file is passive image data with no scripting or macro capability, so simply opening one cannot execute code. The only realistic risk is a malformed file triggering a parser bug in older editor builds. Keep Aseprite or LibreSprite updated and obtain files from sources you trust.
Format details
in a nutshell- Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ase) - The related
.aseextension is also used by Adobe for color swatch libraries, an unrelated palette format. This is a different file type from an Aseprite sprite.
Programs that open ASEPRITE files
Windows3 apps
Aseprite
Paid Open the .aseprite file directly to edit every layer, frame and tag in its native editor.
LibreSprite
Open-source Open .aseprite and .ase files for free in this GPLv2 fork of the last open-source Aseprite release.
Aseprite CLI
Paid Run aseprite -b sprite.aseprite --save-as out.png to batch-open and export files from a script. 
macOS2 apps
Aseprite
Paid Open the .aseprite file to edit the sprite with full layer, frame and palette data preserved. 
Linux2 apps
Aseprite
Paid Open the file natively, or compile Aseprite from source under its EULA for personal use.
LibreSprite
Open-source Install from Flatpak or your package manager and open .aseprite/.ase files free of charge.
Aseprite Wizard (Godot plugin)
Open-source Import .aseprite files into a Godot project as AnimatedSprites or SpriteFrames without a manual export step. Technical details
deep spec| Encoding | Binary |
| Byte order | Little-endian (Intel) |
| Container | Header (128 bytes) followed by frames, each holding typed data chunks (layers, cels, palettes, tags, slices, tilesets) |
| Compression | Per-cel raster data is zlib/DEFLATE compressed (compressed image cel type); raw and linked cel types also exist |
| Typical size | A few KB to several MB depending on canvas size, frame count and layers |
| Structure | DWORD file size, WORD magic 0xA5E0, then header fields: frame count, width, height, color depth (32 bpp RGBA, 16 bpp grayscale, 8 bpp indexed), flags, palette info. Each frame begins with a 16-byte frame header (magic 0xF1FA) and a chunk count, followed by chunks such as 0x2004 layer, 0x2005 cel, 0x2019 palette, 0x2018 tags, 0x2022 slice, 0x2023 tileset. |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Color Modes | RGBA (32 bpp), Grayscale (16 bpp), Indexed (8 bpp, up to 256 colors) |
| Notes | The .aseprite and .ase extensions are identical in content; Aseprite defaults to .aseprite. The format keeps all editing data intact: layers, layer groups, blend modes, frames, frame durations, timeline, palette, tags, slices, and (in 1.3+) tilemaps and tilesets. |
| Released | 2001 (Aseprite); documented .ase/.aseprite format c. 2016 |
| Latest version | Aseprite 1.3.x file format |
| Specification | github.com |
ASEPRITE conversions
Community Q&A
asked by usersNo questions yet - be the first to ask about ASEPRITE files.
Frequently asked questions
How do I open a .aseprite file?
Is .aseprite the same as .ase?
.aseprite by default; you can rename one to the other safely.Can I open a .aseprite file without buying Aseprite?
.aseprite and .ase files for free, and several game-engine plugins and libraries (for Godot, Unity, Rust, and others) can read the format directly using the published specification.How do I convert a .aseprite file to PNG or GIF?
.png or .gif, or File > Export Sprite Sheet for a packed atlas. From the command line, aseprite -b file.aseprite --save-as out.png does the same.Why won't my image viewer open a .aseprite file?
.png or .gif if you need to view or share the artwork elsewhere.
