Free flight path animation maker
A plane flies the great-circle route between two cities while the camera pulls back to show the whole flight. It opens on Los Angeles to Tokyo: pick any two cities and download a 1080p MP4. Free, no sign-up, no watermark.
The basics
What is a flight path animation?
A flight path animation is a clip of a plane moving along its route on a map, from the city it leaves to the city it lands in. Editors use it to open a travel video, to show a move or a long-distance story, or to make the point that somewhere is very far away.
The line is a great circle, the shortest path between two points on a globe. On a flat map it bends toward the pole, which is why the flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo arcs up toward Alaska instead of running straight across the Pacific. A route that crosses the 180th meridian, as this one does, is drawn the short way across the ocean.
This version is white on pure black in a 16:9 frame, with a monospaced typeface and the distance in miles. In your editor, set the clip's blend mode to Screen and the black drops out, leaving the map, the line and the plane over your footage.
To put it on your video, see how to add a map animation in CapCut, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro.
What you download
- Price
- Free. No sign-up, no email, no watermark.
- Format
- MP4 (H.264), no audio
- Resolution
- 1080p: 1080×1920, 1920×1080, 1080×1080 or 1080×1350
- Frame rate
- 30 or 60 fps
- Route
- Any two of 1,208 cities, drawn along the great circle between them
- Map
- A dot-matrix or solid world map, from Natural Earth's public-domain data
- Travels by
- Plane, car, train, ship or dot, on a solid or dashed line
- Length
- 2 to 12 seconds of travel, plus up to 5 seconds resting on the finished map
- Colors
- Six looks, or any route color on any background color
- Overlay
- Green background for chroma key, or black for a Screen blend
- Where it runs
- In your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
How it works
How to make a flight path animation.
Four steps, about a minute, and nothing to install.
1
Pick two cities
Search for the city the route starts in and the city it ends in. There are 1,208 to choose from. Each pin shows its city's name, or type your own label, such as an airport code.
2
Choose the map and the vehicle
Dots draws the land as a grid of dots, like a departures board; Solid fills it in with a fine coastline. Send a plane, a car, a train, a ship or a plain dot along a solid or a dashed line.
3
Set the camera and the look
Pull back starts close on the first city and widens to the whole route, Follow stays with the vehicle, and Still shows everything from the start. Then pick one of six looks, or your own route and background colors, and a frame shape.
4
Download the MP4
Press Download. The map is rendered in your browser at 1080p and saved to your device, usually in a few seconds. No account, no watermark.
More versions
Make a different one.
Each one opens its own maker with the settings filled in. Change anything, then download.
When a map animation isn’t enough
The free map animation is the starting point.
Here you get one route on a clean world map. In Rescroll you describe the graphic you actually want, say “drop a pin on Lisbon as I say it, then draw my flight to Tokyo with the dates of the trip”, and it's designed from scratch on your own video. Attach a screenshot of a map style you like, or your logo, and it matches them. Not right yet? Ask for the change in the chat.
Free map animation
Rescroll
One route between two cities
Any map graphic you can describe, matched to a screenshot, your logo or your fonts
A clip you overlay and key out yourself
Built on your own video, placed around you
You line it up in your editor
The pin drops on the exact word you say
Change it with the settings here
Change anything by asking in the chat
Part of the Pro, Ultimate and Scale plans.
Both built in Rescroll from a description.
Questions
Flight path animation: your questions, answered.
How do I make a flight path animation?
Why is the flight path curved?
Is this the route the plane really flies?
Can I label the cities with airport codes?
Can it show the flight time or the airline?
Is the map animation maker free?
What format and resolution is the video?
Can I get the map animation with a transparent background?
Is my video uploaded anywhere?
Can I use the map animation in client work, ads or monetized videos?
Can I match my brand, add my logo or change the design?
More free tools
Other graphics you can make here.
All free, all made in your browser, all without a watermark. See every free tool.
Keep reading
Where to go next.
Your next video,
edited like the top 1%.
Drop it in. Say what should appear. Read the plan, press Build, and export the finished video — no After Effects, no editor, no template.
Make your first graphicPart of Pro, Ultimate and Scale · Export is free · Failed builds are refunded