How to Export a Map Animation as a Video
When your animation is ready, Mapimator renders it as a downloadable MP4 in two phases: a tile prewarm pass that caches the map, followed by a frame-by-frame render. Understanding this process helps you get a clean, artifact-free export every time.
5 min read · Updated May 1, 2025
What you'll learn
- Choose the right output format and frame rate
- Understand the prewarm phase and why it matters
- Know what to expect from render progress and timing
- Troubleshoot common export issues
Step-by-step guide
- 1
Finish and preview your animation
Press Spacebar to preview the full animation before exporting. Scrub through every slide to check camera positions, route animations, and sticker visibility.
- 2
Open export settings
Click the Settings icon in the Studio header. Choose your output format: Landscape (1920x1080) for YouTube and presentations, Reels (1080x1920) for Instagram and TikTok, or Square (1080x1080) for Instagram feed and LinkedIn.
- 3
Choose your frame rate
Select 30 FPS for standard video compatible with all platforms, or 60 FPS for ultra-smooth playback. 60 FPS also makes fast camera movements look noticeably better.
- 4
Click Export Video
Click the large Export Video button in the top-right of the header. It is disabled while a render is already in progress.
- 5
Phase 1: Prewarming (0–30%)
The camera silently sweeps through every frame of your animation, forcing the map to download and cache all tiles, buildings, labels, and 3D geometry. Do not close or refresh the tab during this phase — interrupting it causes gray or blurry tiles in the final video.
- 6
Phase 2: Rendering (30–100%)
The Studio captures each frame at full resolution and sends them to the encoder, which produces the final MP4. A progress bar updates in real time. Rendering a 15-second animation typically takes 2–5 minutes depending on style and internet speed.
- 7
Download your video
When rendering completes, your browser automatically downloads the file as map-animation-[timestamp].mp4. Check your browser's Downloads folder if nothing appears.
Interactive walkthrough coming soon
A visual step-by-step guide with annotated screenshots will be available here. In the meantime, follow the written steps above or watch the video tutorials.
Watch video tutorials →Pro tips
- Voyager and Positron map styles export 2–3x faster than Satellite because their tiles are smaller.
- Pro and Team plans export without a watermark. Free plan exports include a small Mapimator watermark.
- If you see gray areas in the export, try again on a more stable internet connection. The prewarm re-runs with each export.