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Kitty graphics: animation โ€‹

Category: extensions ยท Tags: Kitty ยท Specification โ†—

The animation frame action (a=f) adds animation frames to a previously transmitted image. Supports frame composition modes (overwrite, blend), per-frame timing, and looping. Not all terminals that support kitty graphics support animation.
How this is tested: Transmit a base image, then add an animation frame with a=f. Check response for success (not EINVAL).
Analysis2026-03-29

Supported by 8 of 13 terminals (62%). Not supported by: iTerm2, vt100.js, Alacritty, WezTerm, xterm.js. Part of the Rich TUI baseline.

Supported by 10 of 18 backends (56%)

Terminal Applications โ€‹

TerminalVersionSupportNotes
cmuxโœ“ yes
Ghostty1.3.1โœ“ yes
Kitty0.46.2โœ“ yes
VS Code1.113.0โœ“ yes
Warp0.2026.03.18.08.24.03โœ“ yes
Cursor2.6.21โœ“ yes
Terminal.app2.15โœ“ yes
iTerm23.6.9โœ— noNo animation frame response

Headless Backends โ€‹

Parser correctness only โ€” a โœ“ means the parser accepts the sequence.

BackendVersionSupportNotes
vterm0.2.0โœ“ yes
Alacritty0.26.0โœ— noKitty graphics not implemented in alacritty
vt100.js0.2.1โœ— noNot implemented โ€” pure TypeScript emulator
WezTerm0.1.0-fork.5โœ— noKitty graphics not implemented in wezterm-term crate
xterm.js5.5.0? unknownKitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js
xterm.js6.0.0? unknownKitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js
xterm.js5.4.0? unknownKitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js
xterm.js6.1.0-beta.195? unknownKitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js

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