Video to GIF Converter

How to convert a video to GIF

1. Choose the video above. The start and end fields are filled with the first 5 seconds.
2. Play or scrub the preview and use "Start at playhead" and "End at playhead" to mark the moment. The section can be up to 30 seconds long.
3. Pick a width (320, 480, 640 or 800 pixels) and a frame rate (8 to 25 fps). The rough GIF size updates as you change them.
4. Press "Make the GIF" and keep the tab open. The first run takes a little longer while the converter loads.
5. Download the GIF. It loops forever, which is what chat apps and web pages expect.

Why GIFs are so much bigger than the video

GIF is an image format from the late 1980s. Each frame can use at most 256 colours, and each frame is compressed more or less on its own. A modern video codec stores one full picture now and then and, for the frames in between, mostly describes what moved. So a 5-second MP4 of a few hundred kilobytes can easily turn into a GIF of several megabytes. That isn't a fault of any particular converter; it is what the format does.

Three settings decide the size, and they multiply:

Width

the number of pixels per frame grows with the square of the width: 640×360 is 230,400 pixels, 480×270 is 129,600, so stepping down one size almost halves the work

Frame rate

15 fps has half the frames of 30 fps; 10 to 12 fps is smooth enough for most reactions and screen demos

Length

every extra second adds frames; cutting a 12-second idea down to the 4 seconds that matter helps more than any setting

The tool doesn't let a GIF run past 30 seconds. At that length even a small width becomes heavy, and a video file is the better container.

How the colours are handled

This converter uses ffmpeg compiled to WebAssembly, running in your tab. It reads the chosen section twice: first to build a 256-colour palette from the colours that actually appear in your clip, weighted toward the parts that change, then to draw each frame with that palette and a fine dither pattern. The result keeps skin tones and gradients far better than a fixed web palette, though large smooth areas such as skies can still show some banding. Frames are scaled with a sharp filter, and the sound is dropped because GIF can't carry audio.

Choosing settings for where the GIF goes

• Chat and messaging: 320 or 480 pixels wide at 10 to 12 fps keeps most reaction clips small enough to share comfortably.
• Docs, help centres and READMEs: 640 or 800 pixels so text in a screen recording stays readable, at a low frame rate such as 8 or 10 fps, because interfaces don't need smooth motion.
• Slides and presentations: 640 pixels at 12 to 15 fps; keep it short so the deck doesn't balloon.
• Web pages you control: consider not using a GIF at all. A muted WebM or MP4 loop is usually a fraction of the size at full colour. The MP4 to WebM converter makes one.

Getting more into 30 seconds

• Speed it up first. A 60-second process played at 2× fits the limit; the speed changer does this as an MP4 that you then turn into a GIF.
• Crop to what matters. A square or tall GIF of just the subject is lighter than a wide shot with empty edges; crop the video before converting.
• For a single moment rather than motion, a still is far smaller: save the frame as a JPG instead.

GIFs with captions

A GIF can't hold a subtitle track, so captions have to be part of the picture. Put them there first, then convert:

1. Open the video in the free subtitle editor, type the caption lines or import an SRT, and choose a large font with a background box. Text shrinks a lot at 480 pixels wide.
2. Export the rendered MP4 with the subtitles burned in. Rendering needs a desktop browser.
3. Bring that MP4 back here and convert the captioned section to a GIF.

If the clip has speech you'd rather not type out, the subtitle generator transcribes it (1 credit per minute, minimum 5 credits per file) and the result opens in the editor for styling.

Examples

Limits to know

• 30 seconds per GIF, widths from 320 to 800 pixels, 8 to 25 fps.
• The video must be one this browser can decode; HEVC depends on the device.
• In some browsers very large source files (over about 400 MB) can't be streamed into the converter; trim the video first or use Chrome or Edge.
• No text tool, stickers or boomerang effect: captions come from the subtitle editor as described above.
• Speed depends on your device. Nothing is uploaded; the GIF is made and saved on your computer or phone.