Tumblr Brings Apple's Live Photos to the Web, Publishes Open Source Code - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Tumblr Brings Apple's Live Photos to the Web, Publishes Open Source Code

by

Blogging site Tumblr has announced web support for Live Photos, the animated image format Apple introduced with the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.

Now when visitors to a Tumblr-hosted site see the concentric circles in the top-left of an image, they can click and hold on the picture to play it, audio included.

Tumblr Live Photos
"That’s right! Live Photos work on the web now," reads the company's announcement. "Whenever you see that famous Live Photo icon, click and hold to make them swing."

Nine months ago Tumblr introduced support for the format to its mobile app, which also allows users to turn them into GIFs. Since then, the ability to view Live Photos has spread to other third-party apps like Facebook.

To make Live Photos compatible with all browsers, Tumblr developers wrote some JavaScript code that converts the MOV file captured by an iPhone into an MP4, and merges it with the still JPEG image.

Tumblr has also published open source code on GitHub, enabling other web developers to build support for Live Photos into their own sites. An Android version is also in the works, says the company.

Tumblr claims to be the first to support Live Photos on the web, although The Verge points out that some independent developers have made them work before, but it was never easy or widespread.

Top Rated Comments

126 months ago
Very nice of them.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Gorms Avatar
126 months ago
Well, thank you very much team Tumblr.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jessica Lares Avatar
126 months ago
So cool that they made it open source! :D
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple's Next Era Begins September 1

Thursday May 7, 2026 10:36 am PDT by
Apple recently announced that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO later this year, after 15 years of leading the company. Effective September 1, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus will become the company's next CEO, while Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. In his new role, Apple said Cook will assist with "certain aspects" of the company,...
Instagram Feature 2

PSA: Instagram Encrypted Messaging Ends on Friday, May 8

Tuesday May 5, 2026 8:24 am PDT by
Instagram will remove end-to-end encryption for direct messages between users from May 8, 2026. When the date comes around, Meta will potentially be able to see the contents of all messages between users on the social media platform. Encrypting messages has been an optional feature in Instagram since 2023, but in March of this year the social media platform quietly updated a help page to say ...
Apple Event Logo

Apple Just Released a New Accessory

Monday May 4, 2026 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today released a new Pride Edition Sport Loop for the Apple Watch. The band features a rainbow design with 11 colors of woven nylon yarns. The new Pride Edition Sport Loop is available to order now on Apple.com and in the Apple Store app in 40mm, 42mm, and 46mm sizes, and it will be available at Apple Store locations starting later this week. In the U.S., the band costs $49. There...