Video to GIF Converter - MP4 to GIF Online

This video to GIF converter turns an MP4, MOV, WEBM, MKV, OGG or AVI clip into an animated GIF inside your browser. You set the frame rate, take out the frames you do not want, add words or an effect if you like, and download the GIF with no watermark. Nothing is uploaded, whatever the size of the clip.

How do I convert a video to a GIF?

1. Select Images or Videos. Click the button or drop the file on the box. Add More Files brings in a second clip, and clips are joined in the order of the rows.
2. Set the FPS box. Each clip gets a row with an FPS box that takes 1 to 60. It starts at 10 for MP4 and MOV files and at 5 for the other formats. Once the frames are in, the row shows how many there are and how long the GIF will play.
3. Take out the frames you do not want. Click Edit, then Trim Frames. Tick the frames to drop, or type a range such as 1-40 in the box and click Check All, then click Remove Frames. Crop Frame, Rotate Frame, Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical sit in the same window.
4. Add words or an effect (optional). Write On Video puts a caption on every frame in your choice of 48 fonts. The animation button, the first one on the row, opens the 15 effects with a Starting Animation such as Fade In and an Animation at the End such as Fade Out, each with its own time in seconds.
5. Make GIF Image. The frames are written into one GIF and a Download button appears with the size next to it. A compressed copy is offered as well.

Can I convert HD or 4K video to a GIF?

Yes. A 1080p or 4K clip is read at its full size, and the frames are drawn at up to 800 pixels on the longer side, so a 1920 by 1080 video becomes an 800 by 450 GIF. The cap is there because a GIF stores every frame as a complete picture. At full HD each frame holds almost six times the pixels of the 800 pixel version, and the file grows by the same amount, which puts most clips past the upload limit of the chat apps and sites where GIFs get shared.

To get the sharpest result from a big video, crop before you convert. Click Edit, then Crop Frame, and cut the picture down to the part that matters, so the 800 pixels go to the subject instead of the space around it. Then keep the frame rate at 12 to 15 unless the motion is fast.

Which frame rate should I pick?

The FPS box takes any number from 1 to 60, and the file grows in step with it: 30 FPS gives a GIF three times the size of 10 FPS for the same clip. For most clips 10 to 15 FPS looks smooth enough. A slow scene reads fine at 8, and fast action needs 20 to 25 before the stutter stops showing.

There is a ceiling worth knowing. A GIF stores each frame's time in hundredths of a second, and browsers play anything under two hundredths as a tenth of a second, so the fastest a GIF can really play is 50 FPS. Type 60 and every frame is still kept, but each one is shown for two hundredths, so the GIF runs about a fifth slower than the clip. If the speed has to match the video, stay at 50 or below.

Why is the GIF bigger than the video?

A 2 MB MP4 can come out as a 20 MB GIF, and that is the format, not a fault. MP4 stores most frames as the small difference from the frame before, so a still shot costs almost nothing. GIF has no such trick. Every frame is a complete picture, stored in full.

Three settings decide the size, and you choose all three before the GIF is written:

Drop the frames you do not need before you click Make GIF Image rather than after. Cutting a 30 second clip down to the 3 seconds that matter saves more than every other setting combined, and the GIF is written faster too.

Getting a good-looking GIF

• Pick a clip with little camera movement. A steady shot where only the subject moves stays small, because most of each frame matches the last one. A panning or hand-held shot changes every pixel in every frame and comes out several times larger for the same length.
• Crop out the black bars. Widescreen video often carries black bars top and bottom. They are stored in every frame and cost real bytes. Crop Frame in the Edit window removes them, and the GIF cropper can do it later.
• Match the frame rate to the motion. A slow scene at 8 FPS looks fine. Fast action at 8 FPS looks broken. Start at 12 and adjust.
• Compress afterwards if needed. GIFs made from video respond very well to the GIF compressor, because they rarely use all 256 colours and often hold near-identical frames.

Starting from still photos instead of a clip? The images to GIF maker lets you set a display time for every photo.

Your video never leaves your device

Nothing is uploaded. The clip is decoded, the frames are drawn and the GIF is written by JavaScript running in your own browser. There is no server queue, no account and no copy of your video anywhere. The page downloads its own code and the list of fonts, and sends nothing back. Close the tab and nothing remains.

Frequently Asked Questions