MP4 to GIF — Trim, Frame Rate, and Width

How to use it#

Drop an MP4 onto the box above, or click it to choose one.
The page picks the first 10 seconds. Change the start and end in seconds, or play the video to the moment you want and press Set from video.
Pick a frame rate and a width. The GIF is made again each time, and its size is shown under it.
Download the GIF when it looks right.

Picking the part of the video#

A GIF is usually a few seconds of a longer video: a reaction, a step in a tutorial, a moment from a screen recording. Play the video in the preview, pause where the GIF should begin, and press Set from video beside Start; do the same for End. The times can also be typed, to a tenth of a second.

One GIF takes at most 30 seconds, because past that the file runs to tens of megabytes and most places that show GIFs refuse it. A GIF has no sound, so the sound track is simply not used, and it loops for ever, which is what every app expects of one.

Why GIFs are large, and how to keep one small#

GIF is an image format from 1987 that happens to allow more than one frame, in at most 256 colours each. It has none of the tricks a video codec uses, so a GIF is often several times the size of the video it came from. This page writes each frame as only what changed since the one before, with everything that stayed still left see-through, which is the one saving a GIF allows. What remains grows with the area that moves: halving the width quarters the size, and 20 frames a second makes about twice the file of 10.

For most GIFs, 480 pixels wide at 10 frames a second is the right balance, and it is where the page starts. Go to 15 or 20 frames a second for fast movement, 25 or 30 for gameplay or anything that has to look as smooth as the video, and 320 or 240 pixels when a size limit is tight. A GIF is never made faster than the video itself, because that would only repeat frames, so a 24 fps film clip set to 30 comes out at 24 and the page says so. A still background, such as a screen recording or a tripod shot, makes a far smaller GIF than a handheld video, where every pixel moves in every frame.

When a GIF is not the best choice#

Many sites and chat apps accept a short MP4 and play it on a silent loop, just like a GIF, at a tenth of the size and in full colour. If the place you are posting takes video, sending the video itself, made smaller with compress video, will look better and load faster. A GIF still wins wherever only images are allowed, such as an email, a README, a forum signature, or an older chat app.

Going the other way, GIF to MP4 turns a GIF into a much smaller video for the places that want one.

Frequently asked questions#

What frame rate and width should I use?

10 frames a second at 480 pixels wide suits most GIFs and keeps the file to a few megabytes for a few seconds. Use 15 or 20 frames a second for fast movement, and 25 or 30 when it has to be as smooth as the video, which makes a file about two and a half or three times the size of one at 10. Use 320 or 240 pixels wide to make the file smaller. Pick a width larger than the video and the GIF stays at the video's size. Each change makes the GIF again and shows its new size.

Why is my GIF so much bigger than the video?

Because GIF stores pictures, not video. A video codec keeps a full frame now and then and tiny changes in between, while a GIF can only leave unchanged pixels out, and on handheld footage almost every pixel changes. Thirty seconds at 15 frames a second and 640 pixels wide is 450 large pictures. Keep it short, use 10 frames a second, and try 480 or 320 pixels, and watch the size change under the GIF.

How long can the GIF be?

Up to 30 seconds from anywhere in the video. A GIF that long at a usable size is already large, and most places that show GIFs set a limit well under what a longer one would weigh.

Why do the colours in my GIF look banded?

A GIF frame can hold at most 256 colours, so a smooth gradient such as a sky or a shadow is split into visible steps. Each frame here gets its own 256 colours, chosen from the part of the picture that changed, which keeps most footage looking close to the video. Screen recordings and flat graphics are hardly affected.

Can I make a GIF from an iPhone video?

Yes. An iPhone saves videos as MOV files, so use MOV to GIF, which works the same way as this page. iPhone videos are usually HEVC, which Chrome, Edge, and Safari can read; Firefox on a Mac cannot, and the page says so if that is the problem.

Can I turn a screen recording into a GIF?

Yes. A recording saved as an MP4 drops straight in. A Mac or iPhone saves recordings as MOV, and a browser as WebM, which MOV to GIF and WebM to GIF take. A recording of an app or a web page makes a small GIF, because most of the screen stays still from one frame to the next.

Can the GIF have a transparent background?

Only when the video has one, and an MP4 almost never does, so the GIF has the same solid background as the video. A WebM can carry a see-through background, and WebM to GIF keeps it in the GIF.

Does the GIF keep the sound?

No. GIF is an image format and has no place for sound. For a clip with sound, send it as a video; compress video makes it small enough to send.

Why is it slow?

Making a GIF means turning every frame of the clip into a picture of its own. Your file never leaves your device, so the work is done by your own computer or phone, inside this browser tab, not on a server built for it. A GIF holds at most 256 colours a frame, so every frame is decoded and its colours are chosen and matched pixel by pixel. No video chip does that: it runs on the processor, in code the page brings with it, and a longer clip, more frames a second, or a wider GIF each add to it. A phone also slows itself down as it warms up, and some browsers slow a tab you switch away from, so keeping this tab in front, closing other tabs, and plugging a phone in all help.

Is my video uploaded?

No. The frames are read from the video and made into a GIF inside this browser tab. Nothing is sent anywhere.