Convert MOV to GIF
Turn an iPhone clip or a Mac screen recording into a GIF without sending it anywhere.
- Nothing is uploaded
- Works offline after first visit
- Open source
- No watermark. Up to 600 frames; the limit is your device’s memory (phones hold less).
Turn a MOV video from an iPhone, a Mac screen recording or QuickTime into an animated GIF in your browser. It is free, needs no account and adds no watermark, and your files are not uploaded: everything runs in your browser on your device. A GIF is capped at 600 frames, and the video itself is limited by your device’s memory (phones hold less); give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use, and then it works offline.
Done
Free, no ads. Support StayPut
Open the network tab. Your files never appear in it.
Add files and run the tool to see every request this tab makes.
Your files are processed on this device and never sent to a server. Reload the page to clear everything from memory.
MOV is the QuickTime container Apple uses for iPhone videos and for screen recordings made with Shift Command 5 on a Mac. Both are exactly the kind of file you would rather not upload to a converter: a clip of your kids, or a recording of your screen with your inbox, your bank tab or a customer’s data on it. Here the MOV is opened by your own browser and the GIF is written on your device.
Whether a MOV opens depends on the video codec inside it, not on the .mov extension. Mac screen recordings and iPhone videos saved as Most Compatible use H.264, which every modern browser can decode. iPhone videos recorded in High Efficiency mode use HEVC (H.265): Safari on a Mac, iPhone or iPad plays those, but Chrome and Firefox on Windows usually cannot. If the video will not open, try this page in Safari, or send yourself the clip from Photos with the Most Compatible option.
Once it is open, scrub to the part you want and use Set start and Set end. Screen recordings make excellent GIFs at 800 pixels wide and 10 frames per second, because flat interface colours fit comfortably in a GIF’s 256-colour palette. For camera footage, 480 pixels at 15 frames per second keeps the file shareable.
Convert MOV to GIF on a Mac
A Mac screen recording or a QuickTime recording is a .mov file. Drop it here, trim it, set the size and save a GIF. It all happens in this tab.
How it works
- Drop a MOV file (an iPhone video or a Mac screen recording), or tap to pick one.
- Scrub to the moments you want and press Set start and Set end. Choose the width and frame rate.
- Make the GIF and it downloads. The video never leaves your device.
In your browser, not on a server
Your browser opens the video with its own built-in decoder, the same one that plays it in the player above. Stayput seeks to each moment you asked for, copies that frame onto a canvas at the width you chose, and gifenc (MIT) picks the best 256 colours for it and compresses it. The GIF is assembled frame by frame in memory in your tab.
Compared with upload-based tools: Online GIF makers upload the whole video to trim a few seconds of it, cap the file size, and often stamp a watermark on the result. Personal clips of family, pets or a screen with your inbox on it are exactly what should not sit on a stranger’s server. Here the video never leaves your device, whatever its size.
Verify it yourself. Give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use, then turn off Wi-Fi or switch to airplane mode and run the tool again. Or open your browser's developer tools (F12, or Cmd-Option-I on a Mac), pick the Network tab, and watch it while you convert. The panel above does the same count for you.
Questions
Why does my iPhone MOV say it cannot be played?
It is probably HEVC (H.265), the iPhone default since 2017. Your browser has to decode it, and Chrome and Firefox on Windows or Linux usually cannot. Open this page in Safari, or on the iPhone go to Settings, Camera, Formats and pick Most Compatible for future videos.
How do I turn a Mac screen recording into a GIF?
Record with Shift Command 5, drop the .mov from your desktop onto this page, and trim it to the part that matters. 800 pixels wide at 10 frames per second keeps interface text sharp while keeping the GIF small enough for a pull request or a help article. If a GIF still comes out too big to send, Reduce GIF size shrinks it.
Is a Live Photo a MOV?
Partly. A Live Photo is a still HEIC plus a short MOV clip. Export it from Photos as a video (or share it as a video) and drop the resulting file here to turn it into a GIF.
Is the file uploaded anywhere?
No. There is no server in this process. The page is a static file and the work is done by code running inside your browser tab. Give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use; then you can turn off Wi-Fi and it still works.
More video and audio tools
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Drop your photos, put them in order, pick how long each one stays, add a song and download an MP4. It all happens on this device; nothing is uploaded.
Compress audio
Shrink recordings, podcasts and songs to send or store. Done on this device, never uploaded.
Other conversions
Guides
- How to make a GIF from a videoA GIF loops and plays anywhere without a tap. Here is how to make one on each platform, and a browser tool for when there is no built-in way.
- Is ezgif safe?Ezgif is a legitimate, popular GIF tool with a short deletion window. The file you are about to drop in decides whether uploading it is fine.
- A free ezgif alternative with no file size capEzgif caps how big a file you can upload. Here is an alternative where your video is never uploaded.
- A free CloudConvert alternative for everyday filesCloudConvert measures its free tier in credits tied to conversion time, not files, which makes it hard to predict when you will hit the limit. Here is an alternative with nothing to meter.
- A free FreeConvert alternative with no processing time capFreeConvert's free plan limits the processing time for each file and for the day. Here is an alternative with nothing to time out.