How to convert MP4 to GIF
- Drag and drop your MP4 file (max 50 MB).
- Choose a start time (in seconds) and duration. Most usable GIFs are 2–5 seconds.
- Pick a frame rate. 12–15 fps is the sweet spot — higher rates make huge files.
- Pick a width. The height is computed automatically from the video aspect ratio.
- Click Convert to GIF. The first run downloads ffmpeg.wasm (~30 MB).
Tips for crisp GIFs
We use a two-pass conversion (palette generation then encode), which gives noticeably better color than the default. Even so, GIFs only support 256 colors per frame — busy scenes with smooth gradients (sunsets, gradients, dark scenes) can show banding.
Keep the duration short. A 30-second GIF at 480px / 12 fps is easily 20 MB. If you need longer than 5 seconds, consider sharing as MP4 instead.
Common use cases
- Reaction GIFs from a longer video clip.
- Documentation: A short demo GIF embedded in a README.
- Tutorials: Looping product walkthroughs.
- Social posts on platforms that prefer GIFs (Tumblr, some forums).
FAQ
Why does the first conversion take longer? ffmpeg.wasm (~30 MB) is downloaded the first time. Browsers cache it after that.
What's the maximum duration? There's no hard cap, but anything over ~10 seconds at 12 fps gets unmanageably large.
Why is there no audio? GIFs don't support audio. If you need sound, share as MP4 instead.