Video to GIF Converter

How to turn a video into a GIF

1. Choose a video or drag it onto the box. MP4, MOV and WebM files work best.
2. Drag the handles under the preview to pick the moment you want. A GIF can be up to 30 seconds long, though 2 to 6 seconds is usually enough.
3. Pick a preset or set the width, frames per second, speed and colours.
4. Type a caption if you want meme-style text on top or bottom. The preview shows how it will look.
5. Press Make GIF. You can watch the frames appear one by one as they are coloured.
6. Check the animation and download it.

Getting the size right

A GIF stores every frame as a full picture, so it grows fast. The file size depends mostly on four things: width, frames per second, length and the number of colours. Double the width and the file becomes roughly four times bigger. The estimate next to the button updates as you change the settings, so you can see the effect before you start.

Speed, loop and boomerang

Speed changes how fast the clip plays in the GIF. 2× fits a longer action into fewer frames and a smaller file, and 0.5× gives a slow-motion effect. Loop forever is what most people want. Play once is useful for banners that should stop on the last frame. Boomerang plays the clip forward and then backward, so it loops smoothly without a jump at the end.

Adding a caption

Captions are drawn in heavy white capitals with a black outline, the classic meme style, so they stay readable on light and dark scenes. The text shrinks to fit if it is too long for the width you picked. Keep it short: a few words read better in a looping GIF than a full sentence.

Tips for better GIFs

• Pick a clip with one clear action. Fast camera pans look jerky at low frame rates.
• Scenes with flat colours, like screen recordings and cartoons, compress much better than grainy outdoor footage.
• If the GIF is too big, lower the width first. It saves more than lowering the colours.
• GIFs have no sound. If you need audio, share an MP4 made with our Video Converter instead.

What it can open

The GIF maker works with any video your browser can play. MP4 (H.264), WebM and most MOV files open everywhere. iPhone HEVC videos open in Safari and on computers with HEVC support. If your browser cannot play a file, convert it to MP4 first with the Video Converter.

Privacy

Your video never leaves your device. The converter code downloads from the jsDelivr CDN the first time you use it, and from then on the work happens inside your browser tab. Nothing is sent to ToolsRiver, and we cannot see your files. When you close the tab, the copies held in memory are gone.

Frequently asked questions