Sprite sheets from LibreSprite to Godot

#1. Export from LibreSprite

1. One animation per sheet (simplest)

   File → Export Sprite Sheet (Ctrl+Alt+E), type Horizontal Strip, Output File walk.png. If the sprite has several tagged animations, export each tag separately, or export one sheet with JSON (below).

   

2. Or from the command line

   libresprite -b --frame-tag walk hero.ase --sheet walk.png exports just the frames of the “walk” tag. All CLI options.

#2. Import into Godot 4

1. Crisp pixels

   Project → Project Settings → Rendering → Textures → Canvas Textures → Default Texture Filter: Nearest. (Without this, sprites look blurry when scaled.)

2. Add the PNG

   Drag walk.png into the FileSystem dock.

3. AnimatedSprite2D

   Add an AnimatedSprite2D node. In the Inspector, Sprite Frames → New SpriteFrames, then open it (the SpriteFrames panel appears at the bottom).

4. Add frames from the sheet

   Click the grid icon Add frames from a Sprite Sheet, choose walk.png, set Horizontal to 4 and Vertical to 1, click “Select/Clear All Frames”, then “Add Frame(s)”.

5. Timing

   Rename the animation to “walk”, set its speed to 8.3 FPS (1000 ÷ 120 ms) and turn on Loop. Godot uses one speed per animation; for frames with different durations use the per-frame duration multipliers. Our ms ↔ FPS converter does the maths.

6. Play

   Turn on Autoplay, or call $AnimatedSprite2D.play("walk") from a script.

#What we verified in Godot 4.7.2

We built a small Godot 4.7.2 project around LibreSprite’s 128 × 32 horizontal strip and rendered it with Godot’s movie mode:

• An AnimatedSprite2D whose SpriteFrames use four 32 × 32 regions of the sheet (AtlasTexture) at 8.333 FPS played frames 0, 1, 2, 3 and looped, a new frame about every 0.1–0.13 s (Godot advances on its own frame ticks), so on average the 120 ms LibreSprite set.
• A Sprite2D with hframes = 4, frame changed from a script every 0.12 s, showed the same four frames.
• The same scene rendered with texture filter Nearest and Linear, both scaled 2×:

#Alternative: Sprite2D + AnimationPlayer

Add a Sprite2D with the PNG as its texture, set Animation → Hframes to 4, then animate the Frame property (0–3) with an AnimationPlayer track, one key every 0.12 s. More setup, but it lets the same AnimationPlayer also move hitboxes, play sounds and so on.

#Using the JSON and tags

For many animations in one sheet, export with JSON Data and frame tags (or --list-tags --data hero.json on the command line). LibreSprite writes the same json-hash/json-array layout as Aseprite, so Godot importers that read Aseprite JSON can usually read it. Importers that run the Aseprite program itself won’t work with LibreSprite. The community Importality add-on for Godot 4 lists LibreSprite among its supported sources. Two limits we know: LibreSprite files don’t carry Aseprite’s newer tag options (repeat counts, “ping-pong reverse”).

#Making the game window pixel-perfect

Design at a small base resolution (for example 320 × 180), then in Project Settings → Display → Window set the viewport to that size, Stretch Mode to viewport or canvas_items, and Scale Mode to integer. The canvas size guide lists resolutions that scale cleanly.

#FAQ

Found something wrong or out of date? Tell us: hello@libresprite.dev. We fix mistakes within a day.