Free video to GIF converter

How to convert a video to GIF

To convert a video to GIF, cut the clip to the few seconds that matter, lower the frame rate and width, and encode it with a color palette built from the clip itself. That is what this video to GIF converter does, right in your browser: its own video decoder reads the frames, so a short clip converts in seconds.

GIFs are still the easiest way to show a short interaction where video won’t play: in GitHub issues and pull requests, chat apps, many email clients, Markdown docs and changelogs. They play automatically, loop, and need no player.

Why GIFs get so big

A GIF has no modern video compression. It stores frame after frame, each with at most 256 colors, so its size grows with width × height × frame rate × seconds. A 30-second GIF at full HD can easily be larger than the MP4 it came from. The tool shows an estimated size before you convert, so you can adjust the settings first.

Halving the width cuts the pixels per frame to about a quarter. Halving the frame rate halves the frames. Those two settings matter more than anything else.

Recommended settings

These are starting points, not rules. Check the size limit of the place you post to, then trade length, width and frame rate against it.

Screen recording to GIF: tips

Record only what you need

Record a window or an area instead of your whole screen. A smaller recording makes a sharper GIF at the same file size, because less shrinking is needed.

Move the mouse slowly

At low frame rates fast cursor movement turns into jumps. Slow, deliberate movement reads clearly even at 10 fps.

Keep the screen calm

Flat interfaces compress well. Animated backgrounds, video playing on screen and big gradients make GIFs larger and grainier, since every changing pixel costs space.

Loop on purpose

For a repeating action, trim the clip so the last frame leads back to the first. For a one-time action, such as a success message, play it once.

When not to use a GIF

• Anything longer than half a minute. Use a video: it is smaller, sharper and can be paused.
• Anything that needs sound or narration. GIFs are silent; the converter drops the audio.
• Tutorials people need to follow step by step. A looping GIF is hard to pause on the step you missed.

For short, silent moments, a GIF is ideal. For longer walkthroughs, a narrated video with chapters and a written article works better.

A short example

Say you fixed a bug in a dropdown menu and want to show the fix in a pull request. Record the menu area only, about eight seconds of opening the menu and picking an option. In the tool, trim to the moment the menu opens, choose 12 fps and a width of 800 pixels, and keep looping on. Check the estimated size against the limit of the place you post to; if it is too large, lower the width before the frame rate, because a smaller sharp GIF reads better than a large choppy one. Convert, preview it in the tool, and drag the downloaded file into your pull request.

GIF or MP4?

Many sites that seem to show GIFs actually play short, muted, looping MP4 files, because MP4 is much smaller for the same clip. If the place you post to accepts video, a short MP4 is usually the better choice. Use a GIF where video doesn’t play or isn’t allowed, such as many email clients, some Markdown renderers and older tools.