Video to GIF

Turn a few seconds of a video into a looping GIF. Choose where it starts, how long it runs and how wide it is.

Choose a video or drop it here

How the files you choose are handled is set out in the privacy policy.

How to make a GIF from a video

Tap Choose a video and pick the video.
Play it to the moment the GIF should begin and press Use video position.
Choose a length, a width and how smooth it should be.
Press Make GIF. The result plays on a loop so you can check it before saving.

Choosing the settings

GIF is an old format, and it is inefficient with video. Every setting here trades file size against how good the GIF looks.

Length has the biggest effect. Twice as long is roughly twice the size. Most reaction GIFs are two to four seconds.
Width comes next. 320 pixels suits chat apps. 480 is a good size for a web page. 640 gets large quickly.
Smoothness is the number of frames per second. Ten is the usual choice. Use more for fast movement and fewer for a slideshow feel.

A good starting point is 3 seconds at 320 pixels and medium smoothness. If the file is too big, shorten it before you shrink it.

How the GIF is made

A GIF can only use 256 colours, so the tool first looks at frames from across your clip and picks the 255 colours that cover it best. The last slot is kept for transparency: when a pixel has not changed since the previous frame it is left transparent, which is why clips with a still background come out much smaller than clips where the whole picture moves.

If you want to know why a three second GIF can be bigger than a minute of video, read GIF or MP4: which should you use?

Good to know

Works with MP4, MOV and WebM videos, and any other video your device can play.
GIFs have no sound.
The longest GIF is 10 seconds.
Skin tones and skies can show bands of colour. That is the 256 colour limit, and a smaller width hides it better.

Questions

Why is my GIF bigger than the video it came from?

Video formats store the difference between frames very efficiently. GIF mostly stores each frame as a picture, and with only 256 colours. A few seconds of GIF can easily be larger than a minute of MP4.

How do I make the GIF smaller?

Shorten it first, then reduce the width, then lower the smoothness. Clips with a steady camera and a still background also compress far better than handheld footage.

Does the GIF loop?

Yes. It is set to loop forever, which is what chat apps and browsers expect.

Why do the colours look banded?

A GIF is limited to 256 colours for the whole picture. Smooth gradients such as sky, skin and soft lighting need more than that, so they break into visible steps.

Last reviewed 10 October 2026.