Convert MP4 to GIF

Turn MP4 clips into GIFs

GIFs are still the easiest way to share a short moment that loops: a reaction, a funny scene, a product demo, a tutorial step or a meme. They play automatically in chats, forums, emails, Slack, Discord and documentation without a play button. This MP4 to GIF converter lets you choose exactly which part of your video becomes a GIF, how big it is, how smooth it plays and how fast, then makes a looping animated GIF you can drop anywhere.

Control size and quality

• Start and end: drag the handles on the timeline to choose the moment. Short clips of 2 to 6 seconds make the best GIFs.
• Width: choose 240, 320, 480, 640 or 800 pixels wide, or keep the original if it is smaller. 480 px is the default and works well in most chats.
• Frame rate: from 10 fps for the smallest files to 25 fps for the smoothest motion. 15 fps is a good balance.
• Speed: slow the clip down to 0.5× or speed it up to 1.5× or 2×.
• Loop: make the GIF repeat forever, or play once.

As you change the settings, the tool shows the final dimensions, number of frames, playing time and a likely file size, so you can keep the GIF under the limit of the app you are sharing to.

Why GIF files get large, and how to keep them small

A GIF stores every frame as a separate picture with up to 256 colors, without the motion compression video uses. That is why a GIF can be bigger than the MP4 it came from. File size grows with width × height × number of frames, so the three settings that matter most are the clip length, the width and the frame rate. Halving the width makes the GIF about four times smaller. If you see the warning about long GIFs, shorten the clip or choose a smaller width. Each frame gets its own color palette, which keeps colors as accurate as GIF allows.

Convert MP4 to GIF without uploading

Many GIF makers upload your video, add a watermark, or limit the length unless you pay. VideoToolsFlow converts MP4 to GIF entirely in your browser. Frames are decoded from the video on your device and encoded into a GIF right there, so your video is never sent to a server. There is no watermark, no sign-up and no limit on how many GIFs you make. It works on Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Android and iPhone.

How to convert MP4 to GIF

1. Drop an MP4 file on the box above, or tap to choose one. MOV and WebM videos work too.
2. Select the part you want on the timeline, then set the width, frame rate and speed.
3. Press Make GIF, check the preview and download your animated GIF.

Where to use your GIF

• Chats: Discord, Slack, Telegram and iMessage all play GIFs inline.
• Emails and newsletters: GIFs animate in most email apps, while videos do not. Keep them under 1 to 2 MB.
• Docs and README files: show a feature or a bug in a few seconds of animation.
• Forums and comments: many sites accept GIFs where they block video uploads.

GIF or MP4?

Choose GIF when it needs to play automatically everywhere, including email, and when the clip is short. Choose MP4 for anything longer, with sound, or for social networks like Instagram and TikTok, which prefer video. You can turn a GIF back into a video with the GIF to MP4 converter.

Related tools

The video to GIF maker does the same for any video format. Cut a longer video first with the video trimmer, or shrink it for sharing with the video compressor.