How to compress a GIF
- Upload your GIF (max 50 MB).
- Pick a quality level. 1 is best quality (largest file). 30 is harshest (smallest file). 10–15 is a good starting point.
- Optionally lower the scale (e.g., 0.75 keeps 75% of the dimensions). Smaller dimensions = much smaller file.
- Click Compress GIF and download the result.
Tips for shrinking a GIF without it looking awful
A GIF's size is dominated by three things: number of pixels, number of frames, and color complexity. The compressor lets you trade pixels (scale) and color quality for size. For most everyday GIFs (screen recordings, reaction GIFs), a quality of 12 with no scaling will cut the file in half with no visible difference.
If your GIF is still too large after that, drop the scale to 0.75 or 0.5. This is the single biggest lever — every halving of dimensions roughly quarters the file. For huge gains, consider converting to MP4 instead — MP4 is typically 5–20× smaller than the equivalent GIF.
Common use cases
- GitHub PR reviews: Get under the 10 MB upload limit.
- Slack and Discord: Avoid the "image too large" error.
- Email attachments: Many providers cap at 25 MB.
- Web pages: Lighter GIFs improve Largest Contentful Paint.
FAQ
How is quality different from scale? Quality controls color quantisation; scale controls pixel count. They're independent — combine both for maximum savings.
Why is my output sometimes larger than the input? If the source GIF was already aggressively optimised (gifsicle, ezgif), gif.js's default settings may not match it. Try increasing the quality number.
Does the animation length stay the same? Yes. Frame delays are preserved exactly.