2 file types use the .anm file extension.

What is an ANM file?

Contains detailed instructions for a 3D animation; typically references one or more 3D object files which are animated using the directives in the ANM file; used by several older video games as well as newer ones, such as those built for the Crytek CryENGINE.

Category: 3D Image Files

DeluxePaint Animation

An ANM file may also be an animation created by Electronic Arts DeluxePaint Animation, a graphics and animation editing program released in 1990. It contains a series of still frames that are played in sequence to produce an animation. ANM files were used in a variety of video games, including FIFA International Soccer, Duke Nukem 3D, and Shadow Warrior.

Electronic Arts released a number of versions of Deluxe Paint, a bitmap graphics editing software, between 1985 and 1995. DeluxePaint Animation was Electronic Arts' third Deluxe Paint release for MS-DOS PCs. Notably, it included animation creation and editing tools that allowed video game developers to create sophisticated 3D animations. These animations were saved as ANM files.

An ANM file consists of a header and several up-to-64KB blocks that contain a series of still frames. Frames are stored in sequence within their blocks, but the blocks themselves may not be stored in sequence within the ANM file. For example, the last block stored within an ANM file might contain the first few frames of an animation. When a program plays an ANM file, it must first determine the order in which it should read and play back the file's blocks.

Because ANM files are so uncommon, most popular media players cannot play them. However, you can play ANM files in VLC media player , and you can convert ANM files to a more widely-supported video format using FFmpeg .

Programs that open ANM files

Updated: September 1, 2020