Synfig Studio for creating simple short videos without a camera, right on your computer

What if you need a simple animation of a jumping caption, a running person, a ball, or other elements? How can you create a short cartoon without complex programs or a video camera? Especially if you're using a simple or even low-end laptop? Surprisingly, there is an answer to this question: Synfig Studio. It's easy to download to your computer, even with a moderately powerful one. Although this tool is old, it's constantly updated, and you can find plenty of fresh tutorial videos online in various languages.

What formats does Synfig support?

The main project format is .sifz (this is its "source file," like .svg for Inkscape). It stores all layers, curves, and keyframe animations. This format is not suitable for stocks—it's a purely work-in-progress project.

Export from Synfig—the program can render video automatically. In the File → Render menu, you can select

• AVI, MP4 (via ffmpeg), MKV, WebM—direct video
• PNG sequence / GIF—frame-by-frame

This means you don't need to export individual frames and then manually assemble them into a video—the program can render 1920×1080 MP4 files directly.

What if you want to use a third-party resource? If you select "PNG sequence" (each frame as an image), you'll get a folder of 1920x1080 images. You can then combine them into a video using ffmpeg or an online converter (free). For example: ffmpeg -framerate 30 -i frame%04d.png -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p output.mp4. This is useful if you need more control over the quality/codec.

What stocks accept? Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Pond5, and others typically require:

• MP4, MOV, or AVI
• 1920×1080 or higher
• H.264 codec
• 29.97 fps (30 fps is often the default).

This means you can export to H.264 FullHD MP4 directly from Synfig and upload it to stock sites. Answer: Yes, Synfig creates video frame by frame internally, but it can immediately assemble it into MP4. If you have any doubts about the codec/quality, you can additionally run it through ffmpeg (a free utility), but most often, the file directly from Synfig is suitable for stocks.