What is a .riv file?
A .riv file is the compiled export from Rive, a design tool for interactive animation. It is a binary bundle holding artboards, vector artwork, animation timelines, state machines, and optionally embedded images, fonts, and audio. Applications load it through a Rive runtime library rather than opening it as a document.
Step by step
- 1
Confirm what you have
Check that the file extension is .riv. Rive's editable project backup uses .rev instead, and the two are not interchangeable.
- 2
Open it in a browser viewer
Drop the file onto the Rive Asset Exporter to play it and read its structure without installing anything.
- 3
Inspect what it contains
Review the artboards, animations, state machines, and embedded assets listed in the inspector panel.
What is inside the file
- Artboards, which are the individual scenes a single file can hold.
- Vector artwork stored as paths, meshes, and bones rather than as pixels, which is why a .riv scales cleanly at any size.
- Animation timelines, plus state machines that decide which timeline plays in response to an input.
- State machine inputs: booleans, numbers, and triggers that the host application sets at runtime.
- Embedded assets, when the designer chose to bundle them: images, fonts, and audio clips.
Assets are the one optional part. At export time each asset can be embedded in the file or referenced, in which case the runtime fetches it from Rive's CDN on demand and the .riv stays smaller.
How it compares to other animation formats
| Format | How it differs |
|---|---|
| Lottie (JSON) | Text-based and exported from After Effects. Plays back linearly and has no built-in state machine, so interactivity is wired up in code. |
| GIF | A fixed grid of raster frames. Large, capped at 256 colours, no interactivity, and blurry when scaled up. |
| Video (MP4, WebM) | Raster frames again, with no transparency in most delivery setups and no way to respond to input. |
| SVG animation | Vector and scriptable, but complex character rigs, bones, and meshes are impractical to author this way. |
The distinguishing feature of .riv is the state machine. Interaction logic ships inside the file, so a developer sets an input such as isHovered and the animation decides what to play, instead of the code orchestrating individual timelines.
How to open one
There is no desktop application registered to the extension, so double-clicking achieves nothing. You have three options: load it in a Rive runtime as a developer would, open the original project in the Rive editor if it is yours, or drop it into a browser-based viewer to play and unpack it.
Note. The file is read by the Rive runtime inside your own browser tab. Nothing is uploaded to a server, so it also works on files you cannot share.
Questions
What program opens a .riv file?
No standard desktop program does. Applications load .riv files through a Rive runtime for the web, iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native, or a game engine. To simply look at one, use a browser-based viewer.
What is the difference between .riv and .rev?
A .riv is the compiled runtime export that ships inside an application. A .rev is a backup of the editable Rive project. Keep the .rev if you might need to make changes later.
Are .riv files smaller than GIFs or video?
Usually far smaller, because the artwork is stored as vector data instead of as raster frames. Files that embed large bitmaps or audio are the exception.
Can a .riv file contain code?
It contains no executable code. State machines are declarative data that the runtime interprets, not scripts that run on their own.
Try it on your own file
Free, no sign-up, and the file is processed in your browser rather than uploaded to a server.
Open the exporter