Convert MP4 to GIF

A GIF stores every frame as a picture of up to 256 colours, compressed without loss. Nothing like the motion prediction in an MP4 exists, so the size grows with the number of pixels in each frame and the number of frames. Roughly in order of effect:

• Width. Going from 640 to 480 pixels wide removes almost half the pixels in every frame. 480 suits chats and posts; 320 is enough for a small reaction.
• Length. A three-second GIF is a third the size of a nine-second one. Trim to the beat that carries the joke or the point.
• Frame rate. 15 fps looks smooth for people and most movement. 10 fps is fine for slow scenes; 25 or 30 fps only pays off for fast action.
• How much moves. Pixels that stay the same from one frame to the next are stored once and left in place, so a steady shot with a still background converts far smaller than a handheld or grainy one.
• Dithering. Dither colours adds a fine, regular pattern that hides colour banding. It costs a little size; turning it off helps most on flat graphics and screen recordings.

If the GIF must fit a limit, choose it under Keep it under (2, 5, 10 or 15 MB). After the first try, a GIF that comes out too big is made narrower, and then dropped to 10 fps, until it fits. The note under the result says what changed.

“High quality” for a GIF means using its 256 colours well. loop.video builds a fresh palette for every frame from the pixels that changed in it, so a scene that moves from a blue sky to a red jacket gets the right colours for each, rather than one compromise palette for the whole clip.

• Set Quality to High for the full 256 colours per frame and the most faithful detail in moving areas.
• Keep Dither colours on for skies, skin tones, gradients and shadows; without it, those turn into visible bands.
• Use 640 or 800 pixels wide, or 1080 when the clip is that wide and the size is not a concern. The width is never stretched beyond the clip’s own.
• Start from the best copy of the video you have. Converting a screen recording of a video, or a file that has already been squeezed by a messaging app, bakes its blockiness into every frame.

Even at its best, a GIF cannot show smooth full-colour video. If the clip has subtle gradients and the destination accepts something else, an animated WebP (choose WebP under Format, in Chrome, Edge or Firefox) keeps full colour at a fraction of the size.

A GIF holds one pass of the animation plus a small instruction that tells the viewer how often to play it. Plays sets that instruction: Forever (the default), Once, or two, three or five times. A GIF set to Once has no loop instruction at all, which every browser reads as “play once and stop”.

Because the restart is seen again and again, it is worth making it clean. Press Find the best loop (F) to move the handles to the start and end frames that match best, then Watch the join (J). If you already have a GIF that stops after one play, the loop a GIF page shows how to fix it.

• Chat apps and forums. GIF is the safe choice when you don’t know what the other side supports. In Discord, a file over 10 MB needs Nitro at the time of writing, so Keep it under 10 MB is the setting to use.
• Websites you control. A muted, looping MP4 in a video tag is many times smaller than the same GIF, with full colour. Use a GIF only where video isn’t allowed, such as some CMS fields and README files.
• Email. Keep email GIFs small, a few hundred kilobytes to 1 or 2 MB, and put the important message in the first frame: some older desktop versions of Outlook for Windows show only that frame.
• Social apps. Most convert GIFs to video on upload anyway. If a platform refuses a GIF, export an MP4 instead (Format → MP4), or see GIF to MP4 for the reverse trip.

When sound matters, a GIF is the wrong format entirely: GIF and WebP carry no audio. Export MP4 and the original sound comes with it.

This page works in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android. Choose the video from Photos or Files, trim it with the handles, then press Export GIF and Share or save to Photos. On iPhone, the share sheet’s Save Image puts the GIF in Photos, where it plays in the Animated album.

Built-in alternatives

Apple’s Shortcuts app has a Make GIF action that turns a video into a GIF, with fewer controls over size and frame rate. On many Samsung phones, the Gallery’s video player has a GIF button for making a short GIF while you watch. Both are fine for a quick reaction; use the converter here when the size, width or loop count matters.