How to make a GIF from a video
- Drop a video on the box above or click Choose a video. MP4, MOV and WebM files work, as long as your browser can play them.
- Play or drag through the preview and decide which part you want. Type the Start and End times in seconds, or pause the preview at the right moment and click Start here or End here.
- Choose the frames per second and the width. The line below shows how many frames and what size the GIF will have.
- Click Create GIF. A progress bar shows the frame being processed, and you can cancel at any time.
- Check the result and click the download button. The file is named after your video, for example
cat.gif.
Everything happens in your browser. The video and the GIF are never uploaded, there is no sign-up or watermark, and your original video is not changed.
How the conversion works
A GIF is a short slideshow of pictures that repeats. To make one, the tool asks your browser to move to a moment in the video, copies that frame onto a canvas at the width you chose, and does this again every 1/fps seconds between the start and the end. Each frame is then reduced to a palette of at most 256 colors, which is all the GIF format allows, and the frames are written one after another with the right delay between them. The GIF encoder runs in the page and is loaded only when you click Create GIF.
Because a GIF has no sound and only 256 colors per frame, gradients such as skies and skin tones can show slight banding, and the file is much larger than the same clip as a video. For long clips, a video file is the better format; GIFs suit short loops of a few seconds.
Choosing frame rate, width and length
The size of a GIF grows with the number of frames and with the number of pixels in each frame, so three settings control it:
- Frames per second. 10 is a good default. Going from 10 to 20 doubles the number of frames, and roughly doubles the file. Use 5 to 8 for screen recordings and slideshows.
- Width. Halving the width leaves a quarter of the pixels in every frame. 480 px fits most chat and web pages; 320 px is a good choice for messages; 640 px is for detailed clips. A video is never enlarged beyond its own width.
- Length. Every extra second adds a full set of frames. A loop of 2 to 4 seconds is usually enough, and is easier to watch repeatedly. The tool allows up to 300 frames in one GIF.
- Loop forever. Leave it on for the usual repeating GIF, or turn it off to play the clip once and stop on the last frame.
Worked example
You have a 1080p screen recording that lasts 40 seconds, and the interesting part, a button being clicked, is between 12.5 and 17.5 seconds. Type 12.5 as the start and 17.5 as the end, choose 10 fps and 480 px. The summary reads 50 frames at 480×270 px: 5 seconds × 10 frames per second. After a few seconds you get a looping GIF of the click. If it is too large to send, lower the width to 320 px, which leaves less than half the pixels per frame, or cut the clip to 3 seconds.
Tips and common problems
- Check the preview first. Pausing at the exact frame and clicking Start here is faster and more precise than guessing times.
- The video does not load. The browser may not support its codec; try Chrome or Edge, or export the video as MP4 (H.264) first.
- Colors look slightly different. The 256-color limit changes gradients. Choosing a shorter clip or smaller width does not fix this; it is how GIF works.
- A phone gets slow. Large videos and many frames need memory. Use a lower width, fewer frames per second or a shorter clip.
- Copyright. Make GIFs only from videos you own or have permission to use.
Frequently asked questions
Is my video uploaded to a server?
No. The frames are taken from the video and turned into a GIF in your browser, on your own device. The video and the GIF never leave it.
Why is my GIF so large?
A GIF stores every frame as a separate picture with at most 256 colors and has no efficient video compression, so even short clips can be several megabytes. To make it smaller, choose a narrower width, fewer frames per second or a shorter clip; each of the three has a large effect.
How long can the clip be?
The GIF can have up to 300 frames. At 10 frames per second that is 30 seconds, at 20 frames per second it is 15 seconds. The video file itself can be up to 200 MB, and you choose which part to use with the start and end boxes.
Which frame rate should I choose?
10 frames per second looks smooth enough for most reaction clips and screen recordings and keeps the file small. Use 15 or 20 for fast motion, and 5 to 8 for slideshows or screen captures where little moves.
Why does the tool say it could not read my video?
The browser decodes the video itself, so it works only with formats it supports. MP4 with H.264 and WebM work in all current browsers; some MOV, MKV or HEVC files only play in certain browsers. Chrome and Edge support the most.