OpenToonz for PC: How to Download and Install on Windows (2026 Guide)

Professional 2D animation software usually comes with a professional price tag — unless you know where studios themselves have been working for free. OpenToonz is the open source release of Toonz, the animation package customised by Studio Ghibli and used in the production of its films. When its owner released it to the public in 2016, independent animators suddenly had a genuine studio production tool at no cost.

This guide shows you how to download OpenToonz for PC from its official website, install it on Windows 11 or 10, and animate your first scene. Below you will find its key features, system requirements and first-use steps, plus an honest note on cost: OpenToonz is completely free and open source.

What Is OpenToonz?

OpenToonz is a free, open source 2D animation program for traditional, frame-by-frame production. It began as Toonz, developed by the Italian company Digital Video, and was then adapted over many years by Studio Ghibli into a custom edition shaped by real feature-film work. Publisher Dwango acquired the software and released it as open source, and a community of developers has maintained and extended it ever since.

The workflow mirrors a classic animation studio. You draw on raster or vector levels, organise frames on the Xsheet — a vertical timeline inherited from paper-era production — and composite scenes with a multiplane camera and a library of over one hundred effects. It also handles the unglamorous studio jobs: scanning and cleaning up paper drawings, colour styling with palettes that update across every frame, and final rendering to video or image sequences.

Key Features of OpenToonz

Raster and vector drawing: Draw bitmap-style artwork with natural brushes, or vector levels with editable lines — both in the same scene.
The Xsheet timeline: Arrange frames, layers, camera moves and effects on the traditional exposure-sheet layout of professional studios.
Scan and cleanup tools: Import paper drawings with the GTS scanning tool and clean them into crisp line art ready for colour.
Bones, IK and mesh deformation: Rig characters with the Plastic tool to bend and pose artwork without redrawing every frame.
Over 100 built-in effects: Blurs, lighting, keys, masks, warps and stylised looks that can be combined and animated over time.
Multiplane camera: Arrange layers at different depths and move the camera through them for classic parallax scenes.
Motion tracking and scripting: Sync animation to video footage automatically, and automate repetitive work with the built-in scripting engine.

System Requirements

Operating System: Windows 11 or Windows 10 (64-bit)
Processor: Any modern multi-core Intel or AMD CPU; faster cores shorten render times on long scenes
RAM: 4 GB minimum; 8 GB or more recommended for HD scenes with many levels
Storage: Around 2 GB for the program and its resources folder, plus space for your scenes and renders
Graphics: Any GPU with current OpenGL drivers; integrated graphics handle typical 2D work
Display: 1920×1080 or higher recommended; a pen tablet is strongly recommended for drawing, though a mouse works
Internet: Required for the download and for reading the online manual; animating works fully offline

How to Download OpenToonz (Official Method)

OpenToonz has several look-alike mirror sites with similar names, and not all of them are trustworthy. The genuine program is distributed free from the project’s official website. Download OpenToonz only from the official website linked here.

Official Website: Download OpenToonz from the official website

Step-by-Step Installation

Open the official OpenToonz website linked above.
Go to the Download section and get the Windows installer (OpenToonzSetup.exe).
Save the installer file to your Downloads folder.
Double-click the installer; if SmartScreen appears, click “More info” and then “Run anyway” (the installer is unsigned — see the FAQ below).
Choose your language and accept the OpenToonz Terms of Use.
Choose where to install the “OpenToonz stuff” resources folder, keeping your personal settings if asked.
Click Install, then launch OpenToonz from the Start menu or desktop icon.

Tip: On first launch, OpenToonz asks a few startup questions about your project location. Accept the defaults for now — you can move the project folder later in Preferences.

How to Animate Your First Scene in OpenToonz

Launch OpenToonz and start a new scene from the File menu; the default project gives you a ready workspace.
In the Drawing room, create a new raster level and draw your character or object on the first frame.
Turn on the onion skin buttons so you can see the previous and next drawings while you work.
Move along the Xsheet, add frames, and draw the next poses — small changes between frames make smooth motion.
Press Play to preview the animation and adjust frame timing on the Xsheet until the movement feels right.
Save the scene, then use File → Output Settings later to render it as a video or image sequence.

Is OpenToonz Free? What Is the Catch?

There is no catch. OpenToonz is completely free and open source under a modified BSD licence, and the download from the official website is the full production program — drawing, Xsheet, effects, camera and rendering — with no trial period, no licence key and no paid edition. You may use it for personal, educational and commercial animation alike.

The project survives because its community maintains it: developers contribute code, and users support it by reporting bugs and writing documentation. Paying anything is never required. Anyone charging you for OpenToonz itself is misrepresenting free software.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is OpenToonz safe to download?
Yes — as long as you download it only from the official website linked above. OpenToonz is open source with publicly available code, maintained in the open by its community. One normal quirk: the Windows installer is not digitally signed, so SmartScreen may warn before running it. If your file came from the official site, choosing “More info → Run anyway” is the documented, expected step. Copies from unrelated mirror sites are the ones to avoid.

Is this really the software Studio Ghibli used?
Yes, in its customised form. Studio Ghibli adapted Toonz over years of production into an in-house edition, and OpenToonz is the open source release of that same software family. The interface you download is the real production tool, not a reduced “lite” version.

Can OpenToonz animate both hand-drawn and cut-out styles?
Yes. Frame-by-frame drawing is its home ground, with raster and vector levels, but the Plastic tool’s bones and mesh deformation also support cut-out and puppet-style animation. Many productions mix both: hand-drawn key poses with rigged in-betweens.

Is OpenToonz good for beginners?
It is learnable, but be honest with yourself: this is professional studio software, so its interface assumes an animation workflow and the first sessions involve some manual reading. Beginners who want that studio workflow will grow into a tool they never outgrow; casual users who only want quick cartoon clips may find simpler apps friendlier at first.

Conclusion

OpenToonz is a genuine piece of animation history that anyone can now run at home: the studio pipeline behind classic hand-drawn features, released free. Download it from the official website, work through the six-step first scene above, and you will be animating with the same workflow professionals use.

Download OpenToonz from the Official Website

OpenToonz for PC: How to Download and Install on Windows (2026 Guide)