Add Text to GIF Online
Caption a GIF with 48 fonts, or add a meme-style bar above or below it. Free, no watermark.
Download GIFThis tool writes your words onto an animated GIF, in your browser. Put the text anywhere on the picture, or caption the GIF with a solid bar above or below it, then download the result with no watermark. The words are drawn into every frame, so they stay put for the whole loop, or only between two moments if that is what you want.
How do I add text to a GIF?
- Select GIF. Click the box or drop the file on it. A short MP4 or WebM works too, and so does a photo.
- Type your words and press Add text. The words land on the picture and get a row in the list, where you can change them later. The settings under the box set the font, size, colour and outline of the words picked.
- Put it where you want it. Drag the words on the picture, or pull a corner to make them bigger or smaller. For a meme, tick a caption bar Above or Below, or both, and the words move onto it.
- Choose when the words show. For the whole GIF is the usual choice. Only between two moments, with a start and an end on one slider, is for a line that should appear later, and Add another text gives you a second line with its own timing.
- Press Download GIF. A popup shows the progress, then your GIF. Rename the file if you like and download it.
A GIF is a stack of separate pictures, which is why writing on one is not like writing on a photo: a caption has to land on every frame in the same place or it flickers halfway through the loop. That part is handled for you.
Words on the picture, or a caption bar above it?
There are two ways to caption a GIF and they suit different jobs. It is worth thirty seconds of thought before you start typing.
| Text over the frame | Caption bar above or below | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | The words are drawn on top of the picture | A solid colour bar is added and the words sit on it |
| Covers the action | Yes, so keep it in a dead corner | No, the picture is left alone |
| Readability | Changes as the background moves | The same from start to finish |
| Best for | Subtitles, watermarks, short labels | Memes, setup and punchline, longer captions |
For the bar, tick Above or Below under Caption bar, or both for a line at the top and one at the bottom, then set the height between 20 and 400 pixels and pick the colour. White with black text is the classic meme look, and a bar about a fifth as tall as the picture suits most GIFs, which is where the slider starts. The bar is added to the picture rather than laid over it, so the GIF gets taller by that much and nothing is hidden.
How do I caption a GIF for Discord or WhatsApp?
The same way, with one thing to watch: both squash a GIF down in the chat window, so the words need to be bigger than feels right while you are editing. A caption bar helps here more than text over the picture, because the words never fight the moving background.
Discord also has a file size limit. If a captioned GIF is turned away, run it through the Discord GIF compressor, which aims at that limit directly.
Can I add subtitles to a GIF?
Yes, and they can change partway through. Type the first line, choose Only between two moments under Show the words and set where it starts and ends. Then press Add another text, type the next line and give it the moments after that. Each line has its own font, size and place, and the preview plays them in order so you can see the timing before you make anything.
Keep the lines short. A GIF loops in a couple of seconds, so two or three lines of a few words each are usually all it has time for. A caption bar along the bottom keeps them readable when the footage is busy.
Which fonts and sizes can I use?
There are 48 fonts in the list: the 40 most popular web fonts, plus 5 heavy bold styles and 3 italics. The bold ones are the meme workhorses, because heavy type holds up against a moving background where thin and script faces disappear into it. The list starts on a bold face for that reason.
The size runs from 8 to 300 pixels, and the colour picker takes any colour, including the exact brand colour if you are putting a name on a GIF. The Outline draws a second colour around the letters, a few pixels wide to begin with, which is what keeps white words readable over a light patch of the picture.
How do I keep the words readable?
- Find the still part of the frame. Play the GIF through and look for an area that barely moves, a wall, the sky, a dark corner, and put the words there rather than over the subject.
- Go bigger than feels right. GIFs are watched small, in a chat window or a feed. Text that looks oversized while you edit is usually about right. The size starts at an eighth of the picture's shorter side, which is a sensible floor.
- Pick a heavy font over a thin one. The bold styles in the list are there for exactly this.
- Keep the outline. A dark line around light letters, or the other way round, reads against anything. Turn it up for a busy background and down to zero on a plain bar.
- Use the bar when in doubt. If the whole frame is busy, no colour will make text on top of it readable. Move the words outside the picture instead.
- Keep it short. A GIF loops every couple of seconds, so anything past about eight words will not be read before it starts again.
What else can you do here?
- Put on more than one text. Add another text gives each piece of words its own font, size, colour, place and timing. Pick one in the list, or click it on the picture, to change it.
- Keep a see-through GIF see-through. If the GIF has transparent parts, Keep transparent background appears and leaves them clear in the result.
- Start from a video or a photo. An MP4 or WebM is read at 10 frames a second, up to 1000 frames, and a still photo comes out as a one-frame GIF with the words on it.
Want to cut the clip down first? The video to GIF converter lets you pick the part to keep before you caption it. To lay an animated sticker on a picture rather than words, there is add GIF to photo.
Your GIF stays on your device
Nothing is uploaded. Your GIF is opened, captioned and rebuilt by the page itself, on your own device, so there is no queue and nothing to delete afterwards. The only outside requests the tool makes are for the list of fonts and the font file you pick. It is free, with no account, no watermark and no cap on how many GIFs you caption.
One thing to expect: the words are drawn into every frame, so a captioned GIF is usually a touch larger than the one you started with. The download popup has a Make it smaller button for that, and the GIF compressor on this site can squeeze it harder when the file has to fit a limit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I put text on a GIF for free?
Open the GIF here, type your words in the box and press Add text. Pick a font, a size and a colour, drag the words where you want them, then press Download GIF. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on how many GIFs you caption.
Can I add a white caption bar like a meme?
Yes. Under Caption bar tick Above or Below, or both, set the height in pixels and pick the colour. The words move onto the bar, so the caption sits outside the picture instead of covering it. White with black text is the usual meme look.
Does the text stay on screen for the whole GIF?
Yes, unless you want it otherwise. The words are drawn into every frame at the same spot, so they are there for the whole loop. Choose Only between two moments and set the start and the end to show them for a moment only, which is how you add a second line later in the GIF.
Can I add more than one piece of text?
Yes. Add another text puts a second text on the picture with its own font, size, colour, place and timing, and you can drag each one on its own. To caption several GIFs, do them one at a time.
Why is my GIF bigger after adding a caption?
The words are drawn into every frame, so each frame has new pixels to store. It is usually a small jump. Press Make it smaller in the download popup, or send the GIF through the GIF compressor if it has to fit a limit.