Convert MP4 to GIF
Turn a few seconds of an MP4 into an animated GIF without leaving the page. Free, no signup, nothing uploaded.
1 is the best-looking and the biggest file; 20 is the smallest and the roughest. 10 is a good start. The GIF has no sound.
Your GIF
Loops forever, like any GIF. The first frame can take a moment to appear.
It all happens in your browser
Your MP4 is not uploaded anywhere. The page plays the video on your own device, draws it one frame at a time, and encodes those frames into a GIF with a small library called gif.js, working in background threads inside the tab. There is no watermark, no account and no credit to spend. The one thing the conversion needs from the network is that library, fetched when the page loads, so once the page is open the conversion itself works without a connection.
How long a GIF can be, and why
The page caps a GIF at 15 seconds. That is a practical limit rather than a technical one: a GIF stores every frame as a complete picture, so a long clip grows into a file of many megabytes and then fails to load or play smoothly where you post it. You choose where to start and how many seconds to take, and the GIF plays at the same speed as the video, because the frame rate only changes how smooth it looks.
The three settings that decide the file size
Frame rate runs from 5 to 25 frames per second and starts at 10. Width runs from 160 to 800 pixels and starts at 480; the page never makes the GIF wider than the video itself, since stretching adds size and no detail. Quality runs from 1, the best-looking and biggest, to 20, the smallest and roughest, and starts at 10. The number of frames is the length times the frame rate, so 3 seconds at 10 per second is 30 frames, while the same clip at 25 per second and 800 pixels wide is far heavier. A GIF can show only 256 colours per frame, so gradients and skies can look banded; a lower quality number helps there.
MP4 files that will not load
The page asks your browser to play the file, so it can only use a video your browser can decode. An MP4 with H.264 video plays in every current browser. Some MP4 files, such as clips recorded in H.265 (HEVC) on a recent phone or camera, play only where the browser and the device can decode that codec. When that is not the case the page says so instead of hanging. The fix is to open the page in Safari, or to export the video as H.264 and drop it again.
How to convert MP4 to GIF
- Drop the .mp4 file on the box above, or click it and choose the file. It loads into a player on the page and stays on your device.
- Play the preview to find the moment you want. Type the second where the GIF should start and how many seconds to take, up to 15.
- Pick a frame rate, a width and a quality, or leave the defaults of 10 per second, 480 pixels and 10, which suit most clips.
- Press Create GIF and keep the tab open while it captures and encodes. The result appears with its length, file size and dimensions. Download it, or press Start over for another clip.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a limit on the size of the MP4?
The page does not enforce one, but the whole video is loaded into your browser's memory, so around 100 MB is a sensible ceiling. Very large files can be slow or crash the tab, especially on a phone. Trimming the clip first is the easy way around it.
Why does my GIF look grainy or banded?
Because a GIF can use only 256 colours in each frame, and a video has millions. Smooth gradients, skies and skin tones suffer most. Lower the quality number towards 1 to 5 for better colour, at the cost of a bigger file, and avoid scenes with big soft gradients if you can.
How do I make the GIF smaller?
Shorten the clip, narrow the width, lower the frame rate or raise the quality number, in that order of effect. Halving the width leaves a quarter of the pixels in every frame, which is usually the biggest single saving.
Does it work on a phone?
It uses features current mobile browsers have: video playback, a canvas and web workers, so it runs there, but more slowly than on a computer. On a phone keep to a few seconds and a width of 320 to 480 pixels.
Can I add text, crop, or change the speed?
Not on this page. To change the speed, use the video speed changer on the clip first, or the GIF speed changer on a finished GIF. The page makes a plain GIF of the part you choose; text and cropping need a video editor.
What about MOV, WebM and AVI files?
This page is set up for MP4 files (.mp4 and .m4v). The video to GIF page does the same job for any video your browser can play, and our guide to making a GIF from a video goes through the choices in more detail.