SKIA Shell Extensions and Lottie Editor
Related links: embarcadero.com - learndelphi.org
A collection of extensions tools for image and animations files, integrated into Microsoft Windows Explorer (10 and 11):
A Preview handler which allows you to see static images and animations files in the "Preview Panel".
A Thumbnail handler which allows you to see static images and anomations files (the last last frame of animation) into Windows Explorer.
A Lottie Text Editor to manually edit and preview the animation of Lottie files.
Documentation
Follow the Project Site to know all the SKIA tools: Lottie Text Editor, Animation Viewer and Shell Extensions (Preview Panel and Thumbnails).
Animation and file extensions supported:
.json or .lottie: animated Lottie files lottiefiles.com
.gif: static and animated Gif W3C GIF (tm)
.webp: static and animated webp An image format for the Web
.tgs: animated telegram stickers core.telegram.org/stickers
Features
Supports Windows 10 and 11 (for 32 bits and 64 bits).
Themes (Dark and Light) according to user preferences of Windows Theme, with the VCL styles: Light: Sky, Windows Modern, Windows11 Impressive Light, Windows11 Modern Light, Windows11 Polar Light; Dark: Glow, Windows Modern SlateGray, Windows11 Impressive Dark, Windows11 Modern Dark, Windows11 Polar Dark
Play normal, inverse or manual control
AutoPlay and Loop of animation when selected into Explorer
Setup using the Installer
Click to download the SKIAShellExtensionsSetup.exe located also in the Release area. The Installer works both for 32 and 64 bit system.
For a clean Setup close all the windows explorer instances which have the preview handler active or the preview handler was used (remember the dll remains in memory until the windows explorer was closed).
Preview Panel and Thumbnails in action
In Windows 11 with Light theme:
In Windows 11 with Dark theme:
Lottie Text Editor
A useful Text editor with preview and animation of Lottie files:
Color palette: under the editor a panel shows all the colors used by the Lottie animation, with the number of occurrences of each one. In a Lottie file a color is an array of numbers ([r,g,b,a] from 0 to 1, or from 0 to 255 in old exports), recognized by where it is: fill and stroke colors (also animated, every keyframe), gradient stops, solid layers ("sc":"#rrggbb"), text fill and stroke, color effects and slots; the same color written with a different precision is shown once.
- Click on a color to highlight all its occurrences in the text, then move between them with
Alt+Right/Alt+Leftor with the arrow buttons of the palette. - When the caret is on a color value, the corresponding color is marked in the palette.
- Double-click on a color to replace the color value under the caret, keeping the notation of the file (number of components, precision, alpha, scale, offset of a gradient stop).
- Right-click on a color to replace all its occurrences with another color (one single undo), to select all its occurrences with multiple carets, or to copy its value.
- Add your own colors to the "Custom" section with the
+button (color picker) or from the context menu: they are kept for all files and shared with the custom colors of the color picker. - The hint of each color shows its value, the properties using it and its opacities.
- The palette can be hidden in the Settings ("Show color palette under the editor").
Automatic updates
The Lottie Text Editor checks if a new version is available on GitHub, then downloads and installs it:
- Automatic check: at startup, once every n days (7 by default), in background; it can be disabled or its interval changed in Settings - Updates.
- Manual check: with the "Check for updates" button of the About dialog.
Settings: Preview page
Settings: Theme page
Manual Build and Installation (for Delphi developers)
If you have Delphi 12 or Delphi 13, you can manually build the project:
Warning: To build the DLL you need also other open-source projects
To manually install the SKIAShellExtensions.dll follow these steps:
Close all the windows explorer instances which have the preview handler active or the preview handler was used (remember the dll remains in memory until the windows explorer was closed).
If you have already used the installer uninstall the components from system.
To Uninstall/Install manually the dll run the
Unregister_Register.cmd(run-as-administrator).If you want to continue to change code and rebuild the dll, Unregister the dlls and beware to close all Explorer instances.
Release Notes
03 Nov 2026: ver. 1.8.3
- Lottie Text Editor and preview: they use Ethea SynEdit 3.0.0 (https://github.com/EtheaDev/SynEdit), the EtheaDev fork of pyscripter/SynEdit with every unit under the
SynEdit.scope
All the release notes: README on GitHub
Credits
Many thanks to Rodrigo Ruz V. (author of theroadtodelphi.com Blog) for his wonderful work on delphi-preview-handler from which this project has used a lot of code and inspiration.
Powered by Skia4Delphi
Many thanks to the project "Skia4Delphi"
Skia4Delphi is a cross-platform 2D graphics API for Delphi based on Google's Skia graphics library.
License
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
Copyright © 2022-2026 Ethea S.r.l.
Credits
Author: Carlo Barazzetta
Custom icons: Ariel Montes
Source project: https://github.com/EtheaDev/SKIAShellExtensions
Other libraries from Ethea
Third party libraries
- Delphi Preview Handler
The Initial Developer of the Original Code is Rodrigo Ruz V.
Portions created by Rodrigo Ruz V. are Copyright © 2011-2023 Rodrigo Ruz V. - VCL Styles Utils
Portions created by Rodrigo Ruz V. are Copyright © 2012-2023 Rodrigo Ruz V. (Mozilla Public License 1.1) - SynEdit (PyScripter fork)
Portions created by Martin Waldenburg are Copyright © 1998 Martin Waldenburg (Mozilla Public License 1.1) - Skia4Delphi
Copyright © 2021-2025 Skia4Delphi Project (MIT License) - Image32 Library
Copyright © 2019-2025 Angus Johnson (Boost Software License)
Related links: embarcadero.com - learndelphi.org