How to make a GIF from a video

A GIF is a short, silent, looping clip that plays anywhere a picture can. That is why people still use them for reactions, tutorials and product demos. Making one from a video comes down to three choices: which moment, how wide, and how smooth.

Pick a short moment

GIFs work best at a few seconds. Choose a start and an end where something clear happens, and where the end flows back into the start without a jolt: a repeated movement, a reaction, a single step in a process. Here a GIF can last up to 15 seconds, but most are better at two to five.

Why GIFs get big

A GIF stores every picture on its own, and each picture can use at most 256 colours. That makes a GIF much heavier than a video of the same length. Three things decide the size: the width, the number of pictures per second, and the length. Halving the width cuts the number of pixels to a quarter, so width is the strongest lever.

Choose width and smoothness

If the page warns that the GIF will be large, lower the width first, then the pictures per second, then shorten the clip.

240 pixels wide is small and quick to load, good for chat reactions.
480 pixels is a sensible default for most uses.
640 pixels is sharper and much larger, so keep the clip short.
8 pictures per second looks choppy but gives the smallest file; 12 is a good balance; 15 is the smoothest.

When a video is the better choice

If you do not need a real GIF file, a short MP4 usually looks better and is often smaller, and it can carry sound. The same page can turn a GIF back into an MP4. Choose the GIF and it plays once in the video, or 2, 3 or 5 times if you want a longer clip.

What to expect

Colours are limited, so photos and smooth gradients look a little rougher than the video, and a sunset sky may show bands. Clips with flat colours and clear edges, such as a screen recording, convert best. The GIF has no sound. Anything that was transparent in a GIF turns white in the video.

Make a GIF Free, no account, nothing uploaded.