MP4 to GIF Converter
Convert MP4 clips to GIF online — pick start time, length, width and frame rate. Local processing in your browser, great for memes and demos.
Drop a video above to make a GIF
GIF is the internet's oldest looping image format — a flipbook of indexed-color frames that plays everywhere without a play button. Because each frame is a full picture limited to 256 colors, GIFs are far heavier per second than video. Converting well means choosing a small window, a sensible width and just enough frames to read as motion.
The trick to a good-looking GIF is its palette. This tool runs a two-pass method borrowed from professional encoders: first it studies the clip and builds the 256 colors that best represent it, then it writes every frame against that palette. That is why the output keeps smooth gradients instead of the muddy banding naive converters produce.
Conversion happens inside your browser with the same FFmpeg engine that desktop tools use, wrapped for the web as WebAssembly. Clips stay private, and because size is the eternal GIF problem, the controls are deliberately few: trim the moment, cap the width, keep the frame rate modest — the three levers that actually shrink the file.
Common uses
- Turning a reaction moment from a video call or stream into a meme to paste into chat — a two-second window at 320 px is usually all a sticker needs.
- Making a looping product demo for a landing page or README, showing the interaction in motion without the weight and controls of an embedded video player.
- Preparing step-by-step bug reproductions for issue trackers — a short GIF communicates what screenshots cannot: timing.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is my GIF so large?
- Every frame is a full 256-color image, so size grows with width, length and frame rate together. Halve the width and you quarter the pixels. For chat stickers, 320 px wide, 10–15 fps and under five seconds is the proven recipe.
- What settings give the best quality-to-size ratio?
- Width 320, frame rate 15, and the shortest duration that still reads as the moment you want. Frame rate above 20 rarely helps — GIF colors cost more than smoothness buys. Crop tightly: dead frames at either end are pure weight.
- Can I convert a GIF back to video?
- This page converts MP4 to GIF only. The reverse direction (GIF to MP4) is a separate job; we keep one direction per page so each tool stays fast and focused.
- Does converting to GIF keep the audio?
- No — GIF has no audio channel, it is purely an image format. If you need the sound, keep sharing the original video, or extract the audio separately with our MP4 to MP3 tool.