Video to GIF Converter
Turn any MP4, MOV, or WebM into a crisp animated GIF — right in your browser. Perfect for dropping a screen recording into a GitHub README, Notion doc, or Slack. Free, no watermark, nothing uploaded.
How the video-to-GIF converter works
The tool runs a full copy of FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly inside your browser. When you hit convert, it does a two-pass palette conversion: the first pass studies your clip and builds the best 256-color palette for it, and the second pass renders the GIF against that palette with dithering. That's the same technique used by command-line pros — it's why the colors look clean instead of muddy.
Because a GIF stores every frame as a full image, three settings control the file size: length, frame rate, and width. For a product demo in a README, 15 fps at 640px wide over a few seconds hits a nice balance of smoothness and size.
Need the sharp original video instead of a GIF? Use the video compressor to shrink an MP4, or the MOV to MP4 converter to turn a QuickTime screen recording into a universally-playable file.
Video to GIF FAQ
How do I turn a video into a GIF?
Drop your video above, pick a frame rate and width, then click Convert to GIF. Everything runs in your browser using a two-pass palette for clean colors, and the finished GIF downloads straight to your Mac or PC. No file is uploaded.
How do I convert a screen recording to a GIF?
Screen recordings are the most common source. Drop your MP4 or MOV recording in, keep the width at 640px for README and docs use, trim to the part you need, and export. Animated GIFs autoplay silently in GitHub, Notion, Slack, and email, which makes them perfect for product demos.
Why is my GIF file so large?
GIFs store every frame as a full image, so length, frame rate, and width drive the size fast. Lower the frame rate to 10–15 fps, cap the width at 480–640px, and trim to a few seconds. For anything longer, an MP4 or WebM will be far smaller.
Is there a length limit?
There's no hard limit, but GIFs are best kept under about 15 seconds. Longer clips create very large files and take longer to process in the browser. Use the trim controls to grab just the moment you want.
Is this GIF converter free and private?
Yes. It's completely free with no watermark and no sign-up. The conversion happens entirely on your device with WebAssembly, so your video never leaves your computer.
Record demos worth turning into GIFs
SmoothCapture records your Mac screen with 3D device frames, smart zoom, and cursor spotlighting — so the GIFs you drop into your README actually sell the product. Record and edit free; one-time purchase to export.