How to make a GIF from a video

A GIF is the easiest way to show a few seconds of motion anywhere images work: Slack, Discord, GitHub READMEs, Notion, e-mails. Here’s how to make one from any video, with no watermark and no upload.

Step by step

1. Open Video to GIF.
2. Drop your video in the box, or click to choose it.
3. Under Trim, type where the GIF starts and ends, like 0:12 and 0:17. A GIF can be up to 30 seconds long.
4. Pick a Size and Smoothness.
5. Click Create GIF. You’ll see a preview, then download it.

Tips for a great GIF

• Keep it short. 3 to 6 seconds is the sweet spot. The file grows with every second.
• Medium size (480 px) is enough for chats and docs. Large is for when you really need the detail.
• 10 to 15 fps looks smooth for most clips. Use 20 fps only for fast motion.
• Simple scenes stay small. Screen recordings and flat colors compress far better than camera footage with lots of detail.
• Need sound? GIFs have none. For a clip with audio, convert to MP4 and share the video instead.

Why does my GIF look grainy?

GIFs can only use 256 colors per frame. Smooth gradients, like skies or skin tones, get approximated with dots. That’s a limit of the GIF format itself, not of the converter.