Video to GIF Converter

Video to GIF — what actually changes and what stays the same

When you convert a video to GIF, the motion stays but the file format changes completely. Video files store frames as compressed differences — only what changed between frames gets stored. GIF stores every frame as a full image. That's why GIFs are bigger per second of animation, and why keeping your clip short makes such a big difference to file size.

Which video formats work

MP4 is the most common source and converts cleanly every time. MOV files from an iPhone work just as well — the video inside is usually the same format anyway. WebM files from Chrome screen recordings, Loom, or Discord convert perfectly. AVI and WMV files from older software work too. If your browser can play it, you can convert it to GIF.

The settings that actually matter

Four things control how big your GIF ends up and how good it looks:

• Width — the single biggest factor. Halving the width cuts file size to roughly a quarter. Most GIFs shared online are 480px wide or less.
• Frame rate — 10–15 fps is the sweet spot. Human motion looks smooth at 12 fps. Going above 20 fps rarely makes a visible difference but adds a lot to file size.
• Clip length — keep it under 5 seconds if you can. GIF file size scales directly with duration in a way that video doesn't.
• Colour palette — GIF supports up to 256 colours per frame. Simple animations with flat colours stay small. Photographic content or lots of gradients will always produce larger files.

GIFs for screen recordings and tutorials

Screen recordings make excellent GIFs because most of the pixels don't change between frames — only your cursor and the area you're interacting with moves. A 640px wide tutorial GIF at 15 fps showing a UI walkthrough will often come in well under 2 MB even for a 6-second clip. That's small enough to drop directly into a GitHub README, a Confluence page, or a Slack message.

Platform size limits to know

Twitter accepts GIFs up to 15 MB. Discord shows inline GIFs up to 8 MB. Slack's inline preview kicks in for files under 2 MB — larger ones show as download links instead. GitHub READMEs render GIFs directly with no enforced limit, though large files slow page loads noticeably. If you're targeting a specific platform, trim your clip to fit rather than compressing until it looks bad.

Why GIF quality looks different from the original video

GIF's 256-colour limit is the main reason. Modern video can show millions of colours in a single frame. When that gets mapped down to 256, the encoder applies dithering — a technique where it mixes available colours in small patterns to simulate colours it doesn't have. Dithering helps with gradients but can add a grainy texture to smooth areas. If your source video has simple, flat graphics rather than photographic content, the quality difference is almost invisible.