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Video to GIF

Upload a video, mark up to 30 seconds of it, choose the frame rate and width, and download a GIF that loops. Made on our server from MP4, MOV, WebM and the other common formats.

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MP4, MOV, MKV, WEBM, AVI, M4V, 3GP, FLV, WMV · up to 200 MB

How to

How to turn a video into a GIF

A phone video, a screen recording or a clip saved from the web all work. You mark the piece you want, choose how big the GIF should be, and get a file that loops on its own.

  1. 1

    Upload the video

    Drop one video on the upload box or click Browse video and pick it from your device. The clip opens in a player with a strip of 12 thumbnails under it, so you can see the whole video before you choose a piece of it.

  2. 2

    Mark the piece and set the size

    Drag the two blue handles to the start and end you want, or type times into the From and To boxes. The selection begins as the first 10 seconds and can't be longer than 30; Play section plays only that part. Below the strip, the Frame rate slider sets how many pictures the GIF shows each second, from 10 to 30, and the Width slider sets how wide it is, from 240 to 720 pixels. The defaults, 15 frames a second and 480 pixels, are the ones the sizes on this page quote.

  3. 3

    Convert and download

    Click Convert to GIF. The video uploads with a percentage bar, then our server builds the GIF: 13 seconds for 10 seconds of 1080p video at the defaults in our test, and 99 seconds for 20 seconds at 30 frames a second and 720 pixels. The finished GIF plays on the page; click Download and save it within 30 minutes, since the link stops working after that.

The three steps: drop a video on the upload box, mark 10 seconds on the thumbnail strip and set the sliders to 15 frames a second and 480 pixels, then download rocks12.gif, 150 frames that loop

Guide

Making a looping GIF from a video: why the file is big and how to shrink it

Our server cuts out the piece you marked and turns it into a GIF that repeats without end. It goes through your selection twice, because a GIF can hold only 256 colors: the first time it picks the 256 that best fit your footage, and the second time it draws every frame with them. A GIF made without that first look gets a generic set of colors and shows bands across skies and skin. With it, the colors in our tests held up, and the only trace was a faint dot pattern in flat areas when we zoomed in.

The same 10-second clip as a GIF at three settings: 27.5 MB at 720 pixels and 30 frames a second, 8.5 MB at the default 480 pixels and 15, 2.7 MB at 320 pixels and 10

Everything below comes from four runs on the live tool on 21 October 2026, plus the same steps the server runs, repeated on our own computer with two of those clips at every setting the sliders offer; where a size comes from those local runs, we say so. The thing to know before you start is that a GIF stores a whole picture for every frame, where a video stores only what changed from one frame to the next, so the GIF is far bigger than the video it came from. A 12-second 1080p clip went in as an 8.4 MB MP4, and 10 seconds of it came back as 8.5 MB of GIF at a quarter of the width.

Width is the setting that matters most

Halving the width cuts the file to about a quarter, because each frame has a quarter of the pixels. In the local runs, our 10-second clip at 15 frames a second was 8.4 MB at 480 pixels, 3.8 MB at 320 and 2.2 MB at 240; at 720 it was 18 MB. 480 is wide enough for a chat window or a GitHub comment, so keep 720 for a GIF that will sit on its own on a page.

Frame rate: 30 frames a second costs about double, and the difference is hard to see

Going from 10 to 30 frames a second doubles the file rather than tripling it, because frames that barely change take little space. At 480 pixels the same 10 seconds was 6 MB at 10 frames a second, 8.4 MB at 15 and 12.6 MB at 30 in the local runs. 15 looks smooth for people and camera moves, while 10 is enough for a screen recording where only the cursor and a few menus move.

Length adds up in a straight line, with a 30-second cap

Twice the seconds is twice the file, which is why the tool stops at 30 seconds and the selection starts at 10. At the top of both sliders, 30 frames a second and 720 pixels, 20 seconds of our sunset clip came back as a 35 MB file that took 99 seconds to build. The same 20 seconds at 10 frames a second and 320 pixels was about 3 MB in the local run. If you need more than 30 seconds, keep it as a video and shrink it with Compress Video instead.

Busy footage makes a bigger file

A GIF stays small where many pixels in a row are the same color, so what's in the picture matters as much as the settings. Five seconds of a phone clip of waves glittering in low sun, at the default 480 pixels and 15 frames a second, came out at 23 MB. Ten seconds of a calm beach at the same settings was 8.5 MB, and 10 seconds of a sunset sky was 4.7 MB in the local run. When a GIF comes out far bigger than you expected, that is the reason, and a smaller width is the fix.

Fitting a limit: GitHub, Discord, email

GitHub takes images and GIFs up to 10 MB in an issue or pull request, and Discord lets accounts without Nitro attach 20 MB. At the defaults, 10 seconds of ordinary footage lands under 10 MB, and a 20 MB limit leaves room for 720 pixels at 15 frames a second, which was 18 MB in the local runs. If the file is still too big, change the settings in this order: a smaller width, a shorter selection, then fewer frames a second.

Phone videos, portrait clips and screen recordings

A portrait clip keeps its shape, because the width you pick is applied to the short side, so a 1080 by 1920 phone video at 480 pixels comes back as 480 by 853. A MOV in the format newer iPhones record in converted without trouble in our test, and so did a WebM from a browser screen recorder. The sound is dropped, since a GIF can't hold audio.

If the upload is refused or the job fails

This tool takes files up to 200 MB, a lower limit than the other video tools, so a long 4K recording is refused once it has uploaded; trim it with Cut Video first. A start time past the end of the video is rejected, and a file whose extension was changed by hand fails as unreadable. Each of the two steps on the server has a 5-minute time limit, enough for everything we tried. Cancel stops the upload, or stops the page waiting for the result; a job the server has already started runs to the end, and the uploaded copy is deleted as soon as the GIF is built.

Last updated: 21 October 2026 · ChangeMyFile

Tested: 21 October 2026, four runs on the live tool, with short cuts of Pixabay stock clips. A 12-second 1920 x 1080 MP4 at 24 fps, 8.4 MB, first 10 seconds at the defaults (15 fps, 480 pixels): done 13 seconds after the upload, back as a 480 x 270 GIF of 150 frames, 8.5 MB. A 20-second 1920 x 1080 MP4, 14.5 MB, all 20 seconds at 30 fps and 720 pixels: done in 99 seconds, back as 720 x 405, 601 frames, 34.8 MB. A 6-second 1080 x 1920 HEVC MOV, first 5 seconds at the defaults: done in 29 seconds, back as 480 x 853, 75 frames, 23.3 MB. An 8-second 2560 x 1440 VP9 WebM, all of it at 12 fps and 360 pixels: done in 18 seconds, back as 360 x 203, 96 frames, 3.1 MB. Every GIF looped. The sizes marked as local runs come from the server's ffmpeg commands run on our own computer with the first two clips at each frame rate and width; the two settings we also ran on the live tool matched them within 2 percent.

FAQ

Video to GIF questions

At a glance

Formats you can upload
MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, M4V, 3GP, FLV, WMV
Upload limit
200 MB
GIF length
Up to 30 seconds
Frame rate
10 to 30 frames a second, default 15
Width
240 to 720 px, default 480
Loop
Forever
Time
13 to 99 seconds in our tests
Where it runs
Our server
Download link
Expires after 30 minutes
Files deleted
Upload when the job ends, the rest nightly
Account
Not needed
Watermark
None

Can't find your answer? Visit our Help center.

Is it free to turn a video into a GIF here?
Yes. There's no account to create and no watermark on the GIF, so the only limits are the ones in the tool itself: one video of up to 200 MB, and a GIF of up to 30 seconds.
How do I make a GIF that loops?
Every GIF from this tool loops forever; the loop count is written into the file, so it repeats in a browser, a chat app or a document with nothing to set up. For a loop that doesn't jump, drag the handles so the first and last frames show roughly the same picture, for example the two ends of a pan or a full cycle of a wave, and check it with Play section before you convert.
Can I turn a Streamable or YouTube link into a GIF?
The tool takes a file, not a link. Save the clip to your device as an MP4 first, then upload it here and mark the piece you want. A clip saved from the web is usually small, so the whole thing uploads in a second or two.
Why is my GIF so big?
A GIF stores every frame as a full picture, so 10 seconds at 480 pixels and 15 frames a second is already 150 pictures, 8.5 MB for a calm 1080p clip in our test and 23 MB for 5 seconds of glittering water. Width has the biggest effect: dropping from 480 to 320 pixels took our file from 8.4 MB to 3.8 MB in the local runs. After that, shorten the selection, and move the Frame rate slider down last, since it has the smallest effect of the three.
How do I convert a video to GIF on an iPhone?
Open the page in Safari, tap Browse video and pick the clip from your camera roll; the MOV an iPhone records is accepted as it is. Set the handles and sliders the same way as on a computer, tap Convert to GIF and keep the tab open while it uploads and builds. Download puts the GIF in Safari's downloads, which live in the Files app, and from there you can share it to Photos.
Why is a GIF limited to 30 seconds?
Because the file keeps growing in a straight line with the length, and past 30 seconds it is bigger than almost anywhere will accept: 20 seconds at the top settings came back as 35 MB in our test. For something longer, a short MP4 is smaller, sharper and plays everywhere a GIF does, so cut and compress the video instead.
Does the GIF keep the sound?
No, because the GIF format has no audio track, so the sound is dropped during the conversion. If the clip needs its sound, share it as a video instead, or pull the audio out on its own with the Extract Audio tool.
Can I set the height, or crop the GIF?
You set the width only, from 240 to 720 pixels, and the height follows the video's shape, so nothing is stretched. A 16:9 clip at 480 wide comes out 480 by 270, and a portrait phone clip at 480 wide comes out 480 by 853. There's no crop in this tool at the moment, so if you need one, crop the video in your phone's editor before you upload it.
Why does the GIF look grainy next to the video?
A GIF can only use 256 colors per frame, where the video used millions. The tool builds a palette from your clip, then spreads the colors with a fine dot pattern (dithering) so gradients don't turn into bands. At normal size it reads as the original; zoomed in, you can see the dots in flat areas like a sky. A larger width hides it, since each dot is smaller on screen.
What happens to my video after I upload it?
The file goes from your browser straight to our cloud storage over a link that's valid for 10 minutes. Our server downloads it from there, deletes the cloud copy at once, and deletes its own copy of the video as soon as the GIF is built. The GIF is kept so you can download it; the link stops working after 30 minutes, and a nightly cleanup removes whatever is left, so nothing stays for more than about a day.
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