Animation is defined as a series of steps from one object state to another through transition.
Animations in web browsers come in two forms:
An Animation is just sequences of different state with or without Transition. Therefore you can create an animation with:
A sequence of frames is called a tween. See Data Viz - Inbetween - Tweening, Interpolation (Animation)
All software that can draw can animate but some framework are more animation focus than other.