A device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static or still pictures: A zoetrope consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. Beneath the slits, on the inner surface of the cylinder, is a band which has either individual frames from a set of sequenced drawings or photographs.

As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the slits at the pictures on the opposite side of the cylinder's interior making the images appear to be animated or in motion.

Viewing through the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, so that the user sees a rapid succession of images producing the illusion of motion, the equivalent of a motion picture.

Cylindrical zoetropes give the illusion that the images seem to be thinner than their actual sizes when viewed in motion through the slits.