How to convert a video to GIF
- Drop an MP4, WebM or MOV video into the box.
- Play the video and use Set to now, or type times, to mark the start and end of your clip (up to 30 seconds).
- Choose the frame rate, width, number of colors and whether the GIF should loop forever.
- Click Create GIF, preview the result, and click Download GIF.
What you can do with Video to GIF
- Precise clip selection
- Set start and end points from the playhead or by typing times, with a timeline bar showing the selected range.
- Frame rate control
- Choose 5 to 25 frames per second. Lower rates make much smaller files; 10 to 15 fps looks smooth for most clips.
- Width presets
- Output widths from 160 to 800 pixels, with height calculated automatically so the aspect ratio stays correct.
- Color count
- Use 256 colors for the best quality or 128, 64 or 32 to cut the file size, with a palette built for every frame.
- Loop option
- Make the GIF loop forever, as most reaction GIFs do, or play once and stop on the last frame.
- Frame estimate and cancel
- See how many frames you will get before you start, follow a progress bar, and cancel at any time.
GIF file size: frames, width and colors
GIF is an old format: each frame is limited to 256 colors and the compression is far less efficient than modern video, so a GIF is often ten times larger than the MP4 it came from. File size grows with three things you control here: the number of frames (clip length × frame rate), the pixel size, and the color count. A 4 second clip at 10 fps and 320 pixels wide is 40 frames and usually lands between 1 and 3 MB, which is fine for chats, Slack, GitHub READMEs and email.
To keep a GIF small, trim to the essential moment, drop the frame rate to 8 to 12 fps, and use a width of 320 to 480 pixels. Reducing colors to 64 helps a lot for screen recordings and flat graphics, but can cause banding in photos and skies. Some platforms have limits: Discord caps uploads for free accounts, and many forums limit GIFs to a few megabytes. If your destination accepts video, a short MP4 or WebM loop will look better at a fraction of the size.
Frequently asked questions
Is my video uploaded to make the GIF?
No. The video plays in your browser, each frame is drawn to a canvas and encoded into a GIF on your device. Only the small GIF encoder library is downloaded from a CDN; your video never leaves your computer or phone.
How long can the GIF be?
The selection is limited to 30 seconds, and the tool warns you when a clip would exceed 400 frames. Long GIFs quickly become tens of megabytes, so for anything over 10 seconds, consider a lower frame rate and smaller width, or share a video instead.
How do I make a smaller GIF?
Shorten the clip, lower the frame rate to 8 or 10 fps, reduce the width to 320 or 240 pixels, and try 128 or 64 colors. Each change cuts the size noticeably. The frame estimate under the settings updates as you adjust the range, rate and width.
Can I convert MP4 to GIF on my phone?
Yes. The tool runs in mobile Chrome and Safari. Open a video from your gallery, set the start and end, and create the GIF. Encoding takes longer on phones, so keep clips short. iPhone MOV videos usually work in Safari.
Which video formats are supported?
Anything your browser can play: MP4 (H.264) everywhere, WebM in Chrome, Edge and Firefox, and MOV in Safari and usually Chrome. If a file won't load, it uses a codec your browser can't decode; converting it to standard MP4 first fixes that.