Convert Video to GIF

Video to GIF: how it works

Trims a clip from a video (MP4, WebM, or MOV), then renders it to an animated GIF using FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. It builds an optimal 256-colour palette in a first pass and applies it with dithering in a second, for the cleanest result FFmpeg can produce.

Input

MP4, WebM, MOV

Engine

FFmpeg (WASM), 2-pass palette

Frame rate

1–50 fps (10–15 recommended)

Recommended width

~480 px

Good length

2–5 seconds

Audio

Dropped — GIFs are silent

What to know about the GIF format here

Video codecs store only what changes between frames and keep full colour, while a GIF stores every frame whole at 256 colours — which is exactly why even a short clip becomes a much larger GIF than the source video.

Tips for the best result

• Keep clips short: GIF size climbs fast with length, frame rate, and width, so 2–5 seconds is the sweet spot for something shareable.
• A frame rate of 10–15 fps looks smooth enough for most clips while keeping the file reasonable; the converter accepts 1–50 fps.
• A width around 480 px is a good default; push it higher only when sharpness really matters, since width multiplies the size of every frame.
• The video engine (FFmpeg WASM, roughly 30 MB) loads the first time you convert and is then cached, so the first conversion is slower than the rest; the video itself is read locally on your device.

When to use this

Reach for this when you want a short, silent, auto-looping moment from a video — a reaction, a highlight, a quick how-to — that needs to play inline anywhere a video embed would be overkill.

How GIF files behave

• A GIF stores up to 256 colours per frame from a palette it picks for that frame, so flat graphics, logos, line art, and screen recordings reproduce cleanly, while photographic gradients and skin tones can band or dither.
• GIF compression (LZW) is lossless per frame — it never adds JPEG-style blocky artefacts — but because every frame is essentially a full image, the file grows quickly with more frames, more pixels, and more colours.
• Animation timing is stored as a per-frame delay in hundredths of a second, and looping is set by a small repeat marker (the Netscape extension), which is why a GIF can loop forever on its own with no player controls.
• A GIF has no audio track and no real alpha blending — only a single fully-transparent colour — so it is built for short, silent, looping motion rather than full video; a muted MP4 or WebM is far smaller for anything longer than a few seconds.