Video to GIF
- No Sign-up
- 100% Free
- Zero Server Data
Pick a few seconds and get an animated GIF. A GIF holds 256 colours and a video holds millions, so the 256 have to be chosen, and choosing them from your own footage rather than from a fixed grid is the difference between a clip that looks like the video and one that looks like 1998. The size is shown before you download anything, because a GIF of video is enormous and the number is what tells you which setting to move. Nothing leaves the tab.
1 · The video
2 · What to take
Spreads the colour error into the neighbouring pixels, which hides banding in smooth areas and makes the file a little larger. Off is better for flat graphics and screen recordings.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my GIF so large?
Because a GIF stores every frame as a picture, with no compression across time at all. A video codec stores the difference between one frame and the next, which is why the same clip is twenty times smaller as an MP4. The three settings that matter are the length, the frames a second and the width, and the size is shown after each attempt so you can see which one to move.
What does dithering do?
It spreads the error from each colour into the neighbouring pixels, so a sky that would come out as five bands of blue comes out looking smooth. It costs a little file size and it is the wrong choice for flat graphics and screen recordings, where it adds noise to areas that were meant to be solid.
Why only 256 colours?
Because that is the format, and it has not changed since 1989. The choice this tool makes is which 256: they are picked from your own frames by splitting the colours the footage actually uses, rather than from a fixed grid that spends entries on colours your video never contains.
Is my video uploaded?
No. The frames are taken and the GIF is written in this tab. The site’s security policy sets connect-src ‘none’, so the browser blocks network requests from these pages, so the video could not be sent even if the code tried.
Why does it take a moment?
The video is seeked to each frame in turn rather than played, which is what makes the spacing exact, and then every pixel of every frame is matched to the nearest colour in the palette. A five-second GIF at ten frames a second is fifty frames and several million pixels, all of it in one tab.
Can I make a longer one?
Up to thirty seconds, and the limit is not arbitrary: past that the file is large enough that no messaging app will take it, which makes it a GIF nobody can use. If you need to send a long clip, send the video.