Tool 22 · Free · No signup
Animated album cover.
Your cover, moving with your song: it ripples like water or tears on the beat, then settles back on the still artwork every 8 seconds, so the loop never jumps. Square, Apple's 3:4 or 9:16. Rendered by your own machine, nothing uploads.
01 Audio
Analyzed on your device. Nothing uploads.
02 Style
03 Details
04 Export
Add a track above first.
The two styles
Apple Music motion artwork, by the distributors' rules
| Files | Two: square 1:1 at 3840 × 3840 and portrait 3:4 at 2048 × 2732; a delivery missing either fails validation at most distributors |
| Length | 15 to 35 seconds at most distributors; one or two accept from 8 seconds |
| Loop | Seamless, and the first frame must be the still cover |
| Audio | None |
| Frame rate | 23.976 to 30 frames a second |
| Format | Mostly ProRes .mov; FUGA also takes H.264 MP4 at 45 to 100 Mbps, LabelGrid MP4 or GIF |
| Here | Seamless 8, 16, 24 or 32 second loops that start on the cover, silent, 30 fps, at 1080 wide; 1:1 and 3:4 both offered. The 4K sizes and ProRes are Pro, coming |
Apple does not publish its motion artwork spec; artists deliver through a distributor. From the help pages of FUGA, LabelGrid, EmuBands and Revelator, read October 2026. Rules differ slightly between them, so check yours.
How to animate an album cover
An animated album cover is the cover itself in motion: the same artwork, alive, looping behind the song in Apple Music, as a Spotify Canvas, or as the post that announces the release. The hard part is not the motion but the seam. A loop that jumps when it restarts looks broken on the tenth play, and Apple rejects motion artwork whose first frame is not the still cover.
So both styles here are built around the seam. The motion rises and falls on an 8 second cycle and returns to the untouched cover at every multiple of 8 seconds; in between it follows the song, the water deeper when the track is loud, the tears landing on the kick. Pick 8 seconds for a Canvas, 16 to 32 for Apple, and the file starts and ends on the artwork you made.
- Drop the song, MP3, M4A or WAV, or search it by name. A cover embedded in the file or from the store comes with it; otherwise drop your artwork anywhere on the tool or upload it in Details.
- Pick Liquid or Glitch. Press play: the cover moves with the song and settles back on the still artwork every 8 seconds.
- Pick the frame: 1:1 for the square cover and feeds, 3:4 for Apple's portrait motion artwork, 9:16 for a Spotify Canvas, Stories or Reels.
- Pick 8, 16, 24 or 32 seconds; Apple's window is 15 to 35, so 16, 24 or 32. Scrub to the part of the song with the motion you want and press "Use playhead".
- Export. The MP4 is silent unless you switch the sound on, and its first frame is your still cover, so it loops cleanly wherever it plays.
Related
- Album cover makerNo cover yet: design one from the title, free, 3000 × 3000.
- Spotify Canvas makerThe nineteen visualizer styles as an 8 second Canvas.
- Music visualizerThe whole song as a video built around the cover.
- MP3 tag editorWrite the cover into the song file before you start.
- Audio looperThe sound side of a loop: repeat a section to a set length.
Questions
What does it do to my cover?+
It moves the cover itself and draws nothing over it. Liquid makes the artwork ripple like the surface of water, deeper on the loud passages, with a finer shiver on every kick. Glitch holds the cover still on a slow push-in and tears it on the kicks and the drop: slabs of the picture slide sideways and the color channels split for a few frames, then it snaps back. Both listen to the song you load, so the motion lands on its beat.
Does the loop really have no jump?+
Yes. The motion swells in and out on an 8 second cycle and comes to rest on the exact original cover at every multiple of 8 seconds, so the first frame of the file is your still cover and an 8, 16, 24 or 32 second file ends where it began. That is why those are the only lengths on offer. Whatever the song does in between, the seam is invisible on repeat.
Can I use it as Apple Music motion artwork?+
As the design, yes; as the delivery file, not from the free export. Apple takes motion artwork only through distributors, and their help pages ask for two files, a square 3840 × 3840 and a 3:4 portrait 2048 × 2732, 15 to 35 seconds, no audio, a seamless loop that starts on the still cover, mostly as ProRes .mov (FUGA accepts high bitrate H.264 MP4). The loops here meet the loop, length, silence and first frame rules at 1080 wide; the 4K sizes are Pro, which is not out yet. Apple itself does not publish the spec, so check your distributor's page before you deliver.
Which frame should I pick?+
1:1 for the square cover: Apple's main motion artwork, an Instagram or X post, a Bandcamp or YouTube Music style tile. 3:4 for Apple's portrait version, the one iPhones show full screen. 9:16 for a Spotify Canvas, Stories, Reels and TikTok, where the cover sits in the middle over a blurred copy of itself.
Can it be my Spotify Canvas?+
Yes. Pick 9:16 and 8 seconds and keep the file silent: that is inside Spotify's Canvas spec of a vertical 3 to 8 second clip with no audio, and the 8 second loop has no jump at the seam. Spotify advises against putting the title and artist on a Canvas; these styles never draw them.
Do I need the song?+
The motion follows the song, so the tool needs one: drop the MP3, M4A or WAV, or search the song by name and work from its 30 second store preview, which also brings the store's cover art. The song is only read for its rhythm; the file is silent unless you switch the sound on. No song at hand? Try the sample, then drop your own cover image anywhere on the tool.
What file do I get?+
An H.264 MP4 at 30 frames a second: 1080 × 1080, 1080 × 1440 or 1080 × 1920, silent by default, named after the title, the style and the frame. It is rendered in your browser; neither the song nor the cover is uploaded. Free, no account, no watermark.