Video to GIF
Convert any video clip to a high-quality animated GIF with custom FPS, size, and time range.
100% in your browser — files never leave your device
Two-pass GIF rendering for better color quality
A simple video-to-GIF converter just dumps frames as images and concatenates them. The color quality is usually poor because GIF only supports 256 colors and a generic palette doesn't represent the specific hues in your video well.
This tool uses a two-pass approach powered by FFmpeg.wasm. The first pass analyzes the video segment and generates a custom 256-color palette optimized for the actual content using FFmpeg's palettegen filter. The second pass renders the GIF using that palette and Lanczos downscaling, which produces noticeably sharper edges and more accurate colors than the default approach.
Keep clips short — under 10 seconds — for manageable file sizes. Lower the FPS and width if you need a smaller GIF. The preview renders in the browser immediately after creation so you can judge quality before downloading.
Frequently asked questions
How does the GIF conversion work?
The tool uses a two-pass FFmpeg.wasm process for better color quality. Pass 1 extracts a palette from the video segment using the palettegen filter — this gives the GIF a custom 256-color palette tuned to the actual content. Pass 2 renders the GIF using that palette with the paletteuse filter and Lanczos scaling. The result is significantly better than a naive single-pass conversion.
Why are GIF files so large compared to the video?
GIF is an old format from 1989 that stores each frame as an indexed image with a maximum of 256 colors. It has no inter-frame compression like modern video codecs do. A 5-second clip at 15 fps and 640px wide generates 75 full frames. Keep the clip short (under 10 seconds), lower the FPS, and reduce the width to control file size.
Is my video uploaded to a server?
No. The entire conversion runs in your browser using FFmpeg.wasm — WebAssembly compiled from FFmpeg. The WASM binary (about 25 MB) downloads from a CDN on first use and is then cached by your browser. No video data leaves your device.
What FPS should I use?
15 fps is a good default — it produces smooth-looking GIFs at a manageable file size. Drop to 10 fps for maximum compression on simple motion or raise to 24-30 fps for fast action like sports clips. Note that most browsers cap GIF playback at 50 ms per frame (20 fps) regardless of the encoded frame rate.
What video formats can I convert to GIF?
FFmpeg.wasm reads most common video formats: MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, WebM, and others. The source video must have a video stream. If your file has no video track (audio-only), the conversion will fail.