MP4 to GIF: Turn an MP4 Video Into an Animated GIF

How do I convert an MP4 to a GIF?

Press Choose a video, or drop the MP4 on the page, and drag the Start and End sliders to pick the seconds you want. Set the frames per second and the width, check the estimated file size, then press Make GIF and Download. Your browser reads the frames and writes the GIF, so the MP4 is never uploaded.

1. Press Choose a video and pick the MP4, or drop it on the page. A strip of thumbnails shows the whole clip.
2. Drag Start and End to the moment you want. The first 6 seconds are selected to begin with.
3. Set the frames per second and width, then crop or change the speed if you need to. The line under the preview gives the frame count, the pixel size and the estimated file size.
4. Press Make GIF and wait for the progress bar. Press Download when the GIF appears.

At 10 frames per second the default 6 seconds is 60 frames. A 1920 x 1080 MP4 at 640 pixels wide becomes a 640 x 360 GIF, and the 1:1 crop of the same video keeps a 1080 x 1080 square. The GIF has no sound, because the format has no audio track. To edit a GIF you already made, open GIF Maker; for the same tool under its general name, see Video to GIF, which also takes WebM and MOV files.

Why will my MP4 not open?

An MP4 is a container, and the video inside it can use different codecs. H.264 plays in every current major browser. An MP4 that holds HEVC (H.265), which some phones and cameras record, plays only where the browser and device support it. This page tells you when the browser cannot decode the file.

MDN's video codec guide lists browser support for each codec, and it differs by browser and operating system. The page first asks your browser whether it can play the file's type, then tries to open the file either way, since a browser can play a type it does not advertise. If it fails, the message names the container. Re-saving the clip as H.264 MP4 in a video app or a phone's share options usually fixes it, and opening the page in another browser sometimes works too.

What frame rate and width should an MP4 GIF use?

Start at 10 frames per second and 480 pixels wide. That keeps motion readable and the file modest. Drop to 5 to 8 frames per second and 320 pixels wide for a small file, and go to 15 to 30 frames per second only for fast action. The size estimate updates as you change either one.

Doubling the width roughly quadruples the pixels per frame, but the file grows less than that (151 KB at 320 pixels wide, 395 KB at 640) because flat areas compress well. The frame rate is steadier: the file grows close to straight with it, about 7.6 KB per frame here. The tool never enlarges a clip, so a 400-pixel-wide MP4 at the 640 setting stays 400 pixels wide.

How big will the GIF from my MP4 be?

The page estimates it before you build: it encodes three sample frames, averages their sizes and multiplies by the frame count. In our test, 2 seconds at 320 pixels wide came to about 150 KB at 10 frames per second. A GIF stores each frame whole, so it runs well above the MP4.

An MP4 stores a few full pictures and, between them, only the changes. A GIF repeats every frame in full, limited to 256 colors, which is why a clip that is a small MP4 can be a large GIF. In our test, each 320 x 180 frame took about 7.6 KB at 10 frames per second against 225 KB of raw pixels. Lower the colors for a smaller file: 16 colors gave 122 KB against 151 KB at 256, 19 percent less. Speed 2x halves the frame count (10 frames, 77 KB), and ping-pong order adds the way back (38 frames, 288 KB). For a page you control, the web.dev article on replacing animated GIFs with video explains when a video file is the better choice.