Open ANI File

An ANI extension file is a cursor animation file used by the Windows operating system.

This file contains image frames for the animation sequence as a collection of ICO files.

ANI files are similar to CUR files, but contain multiple sequential images, used for animation.

The ANI file is a structured container of the Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) type, used to store animated images of the cursor in various generations of MS Windows.

As a container, an ANI file contains a series of raster bitmap static images with a fixed number of pixels.

When an ANI cursor is activated, the images within the cursor file are displayed in a pre-programmed sequence, creating effective animations.

MS Windows desktop themes contain various ANI files that can be assigned to different actions and states of that System.

It is necessary to know that ANI files are not closed and can be downloaded from third-party developers and are often included with custom desktop themes.

There is a security element related to animated cursors, which affects Windows 2000 to Windows Vista, but it has already been resolved.

As a final note, ANI cursor graphics can be previewed using a standard thumbnail view in Windows Explorer.

ANI files are known as "Animated Pointer" files in Windows, but there is no default association for the ANI extension with any software.