Convert video to GIF

GIFs play automatically, loop forever and work in places that do not accept video: email signatures, some chat apps, issue trackers, documentation and older content systems. This tool turns a video clip into an animated GIF.

Why are GIFs so large?

GIF is an old format that was never designed for video. It stores each frame with at most 256 colours and compresses far less efficiently than modern video codecs. A few seconds of GIF can be larger than a whole minute of MP4. The two settings that matter most are frame rate and width.

The default here is 10 frames per second and 480 pixels wide, a good balance for screen recordings and short reactions. Motion at 10 fps looks slightly choppy but acceptable; you can go up to 30. More frames means a proportionally larger file. Halving the width makes the file roughly four times smaller. Widths from 32 to 1280 pixels are allowed.

The height follows the video's shape automatically, and frames are scaled with the Lanczos filter to keep edges sharp.

How long should the clip be?

Short. Two to six seconds is typical. You set the start time and the length in seconds, so there is no need to trim the video first; the default is the first 5 seconds, and the maximum is 60 seconds. A long GIF quickly becomes a huge file that many platforms refuse.

What about colour?

Each frame is limited to 256 colours. To make the most of them, the tool first analyses the clip and builds a palette tailored to its colours, then uses a fine, regular dither pattern for the in-between shades. Smooth gradients such as skies or skin tones can still show some banding. Screen recordings, animations and flat graphics convert very cleanly. Sound is dropped, since GIF has no audio.

What happens to my upload?

Conversion runs on our server. Your video is uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed in Germany and deleted with the GIF automatically within two hours.

What are the limits?

This is a video job: the free tier covers 3 per day without an account and 5 with a free account, for files up to 50 MB. Pro takes 500 MB with no daily cap, or pay one credit for a single job. For a set of product demo clips, the pipeline builder turns them all into GIFs with the same settings.

How to convert a video to GIF

1. Drop your video onto the drop zone.
2. Set the start time and length, then the frame rate and width, or keep 10 fps and 480 pixels.
3. Click Convert to GIF.
4. Download the GIF and check the size.