Turn a video into a GIF
Make a GIF from a video, with the four controls that actually determine whether it looks good and whether anyone can load it: width, frame rate, colour count and dithering.
Your video never leaves your device. There is no upload, no queue and no server copy. Free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no export limit.
What you can do
A palette built for your footage
Two passes: one analyses your clip and builds an optimal 256-colour table, the second maps to it. A single-pass GIF uses the fixed web palette and bands every gradient.
Dithering you control
Ordered dithering is smallest, diffusion is smoothest, none is best for flat graphics and text. The trade is stated next to each.
Overlays come along
Text, filters and watermarks are rendered into the GIF, because it is made from the same composited frames as a video export.
A size estimate before you commit
GIF is an inefficient format and it is easy to make a 40 MB one by accident. The dialog estimates before you export.
How to turn a video into a GIF
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1
Add your video
Drag it in.
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2
Trim to the moment
GIFs are capped at 30 seconds, and the good ones are usually under five.
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3
Choose GIF in the export dialog
Set width, frame rate, colours and dithering.
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4
Export
Download the GIF.
Handles clips up to 3 minutes, 1080p and 300 MB.
Questions
Why is my GIF so large?
GIF has no inter-frame video compression worth the name — every frame is close to a full image. Halve the width or the frame rate and the file roughly halves with it. 480 px wide at 15 fps is a good starting point.
What frame rate should a GIF be?
10 to 15 fps is the usual compromise. Below 10 it stutters; above 20 the file grows fast for motion most viewers will not notice.
Does the GIF have sound?
No. The GIF format has no audio track at all — that is not a limitation of this tool.
How long can the GIF be?
Up to 30 seconds. Past that the file becomes too large to be useful anywhere it would normally be posted.
Will there be a watermark?
No. Nothing is added to your export unless you add a watermark yourself.
Related tools
Ready when you are
Free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no export limit. Your video never leaves your device. There is no upload, no queue and no server copy.
Open Video Studio