GIFs are everywhere: reactions in group chats, product demos in docs, bug reports in Slack, memes on forums. They loop automatically, play without a click and work almost anywhere. But a GIF made carelessly from a video can come out huge, grainy or choppy.
Make a GIF in under a minute
- Open the video to GIF maker.
- Drop in your video (MP4, MOV, MKV, WEBM or AVI).
- Set Start at to where the moment begins, in seconds.
- Set Length. Up to 15 seconds is allowed, but 2 to 6 seconds is the sweet spot.
- Pick a Width and Smoothness, then press Convert.
- Preview the GIF and download it.
No watermark and nothing to install. Files are deleted automatically within 30 minutes.
Why GIFs get so big
GIF is a format from 1987. It was built for simple graphics, not video, and it has two big weaknesses:
- It can only use 256 colours per frame. Real video has millions of colours, so something has to give.
- Its compression is very weak. A GIF can easily be 5 to 10 times larger than an MP4 of the same clip.
That's why choosing the right settings matters so much more for GIFs than for normal video.
Choosing the right settings
Length. Every extra second adds a full second's worth of frames. Most great GIFs are short: the punchline, the reaction, the one action you want to show. If you need more than 10 seconds, a short MP4 is usually the better choice.
Width. Size grows with the area of the image, so going from 320 px to 640 px wide makes each frame about four times larger.
| Width | Good for |
|---|---|
| 320 px | Reactions, chat apps, small embeds |
| 480 px | Most uses: forums, docs, social posts |
| 640 px | Product demos and tutorials where detail matters |
Smoothness (frames per second). Video is usually 30 or 60 fps, but GIFs don't need that.
- 8 fps is smallest and fine for reactions and slow movement.
- 12 fps is the best balance for most clips.
- 15 fps is smoothest, for fast motion or demos where choppiness would be distracting.
Why some GIFs look grainy (and why ours don't)
When a video is squeezed into 256 colours, a simple converter uses one generic palette for everything. Skin tones turn blotchy, gradients turn into stripes, and dark scenes go muddy.
Our GIF maker builds a custom palette for each GIF: it studies your clip first, picks the 256 colours that represent it best, and then applies a gentle dither pattern so gradients stay smooth. The result looks noticeably cleaner, especially for faces, skies and screen recordings.
Tips for GIFs that look great
- Pick a moment with clear action. GIFs work best when something obvious happens and the loop feels natural.
- Avoid busy backgrounds. Leaves, crowds and water add a lot of size and noise.
- Screen recordings make excellent GIFs. Flat colours and sharp edges compress well. They're perfect for showing a feature or a bug.
- Start from the best source you have. A GIF made from a crisp original looks far better than one made from an already compressed download.
GIF or video: which should you use?
Use a GIF when it needs to autoplay and loop anywhere, including email, docs, chat apps and old forums, and when the clip is short. Use an MP4 when the clip is longer than about 10 seconds, needs sound, or has lots of detail. Most modern sites even convert uploaded GIFs into videos behind the scenes for this reason.
If your clip is a longer video you want to share in a chat app, compressing it is often better than making a GIF. See how to compress a video for Discord.
Have a clip ready? Open the GIF maker, pick your few best seconds, and make something worth looping.