Video to GIF

What it does

Turns part of a video into an animated GIF. You choose where it starts and ends, crop it to the part of the picture you want, and set the width and the number of frames a second. The page shows roughly how large the GIF will be before you make it, and exactly how large it is once it is done.

The work is done by your browser’s own video player, one frame at a time, so there is nothing extra to download first and the video never leaves your device.

How to use it

1. Choose a video, drop it onto the page, or paste one. The page opens with a short sample clip so you can try the controls first.
2. Drag the two Trim handles to the start and end of the part you want. The picture follows the handle you are moving.
3. Drag the frame over the picture to crop, or leave it to keep the whole picture.
4. Set the width and the frame rate. The estimate beside the buttons changes as you do.
5. Press Make GIF. A bar shows how far along it is, and Cancel stops it.
6. Press Download GIF, or Send to GIF editor to keep working on it.

The sound is not used: a GIF has none.

Questions

Is my video uploaded?

No. The video is opened and converted by your own browser, on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server, which is why a large file starts at once instead of waiting on an upload.

Which videos does it accept?

Anything your browser can play: MP4 (H.264) and WebM in every current browser, and most MOV files, including screen recordings from a Mac and clips from an iPhone. If the browser cannot play a file, the page says so. The limit is 200 MB.

Why is the GIF bigger than the video it came from?

GIF is a format from 1987. It stores every frame as a picture with at most 256 colours and has none of the compression video uses. A few seconds of GIF is often several megabytes. To make it smaller: shorten the clip, lower the width, lower the frame rate, or crop to the part that matters.

What width and frame rate should I use?

For a chat message or a README, 480 pixels wide at 10 frames a second is a good start. Screen recordings with small text need more width; they rarely need more than 10 frames a second. Fast motion looks smoother at 15 to 20, at the cost of a larger file.

How long can the GIF be?

Up to 1,500 frames: two and a half minutes at 10 frames a second. In practice a GIF over ten seconds is too large to share comfortably, so trim to the moment you need. A long high-definition clip can take a few times its own length to convert; the bar shows how far it has got, and Cancel stops it.

Can I change the GIF afterwards?

Yes. Send to GIF editor passes it straight on, where you can drop frames, reduce the colours, change the speed, or reverse it.