Convert MP4 to GIF
Pick the seconds you want from an MP4 and get a looping GIF, made on your device.
- 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).
Convert an MP4 clip to an animated GIF in your browser. Trim the part you want, choose width and frame rate. 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
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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.
MP4 is what phones, screen recorders and most download buttons produce, and a GIF is still what plays everywhere without a click: in a README, a support ticket, a Slack thread, an email or a slide. Most MP4 to GIF sites make you upload the whole video first, often with a 100 or 200 MB cap, then queue it on a server and hand back a GIF with their logo in the corner. This page does the conversion inside your browser instead, so there is no upload to wait for, and the size of the MP4 is limited by your device’s memory (phones hold less).
Drop the file and it opens in a player. Scrub to the first moment you want and press Set start, then to the last and press Set end. The width and frame rate decide almost everything about the size of the GIF: 480 pixels wide at 10 frames per second is small enough for chat and sharp enough for a screen recording, while 640 pixels at 15 frames per second suits a product demo. The line under the options tells you how many frames the GIF will have before you make it.
Your browser decodes the MP4 with the same H.264 decoder it uses to play video on any website, and each frame is reduced to its best 256 colours before it is written into the GIF. A 5 second clip usually takes a few seconds on a laptop and a little longer on a phone. Nothing about the video, not even its name, is sent anywhere.
How it works
- Drop an MP4, or tap to pick one from your files or camera roll.
- Scrub to the part you want and press Set start and Set end, or type the times in seconds. Choose a width and frame rate.
- Make the GIF. It downloads from your browser when the last frame is written.
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
How do I make the GIF smaller?
Shorten the clip first, then lower the width and the frame rate: halving the width makes each frame about four times smaller, and going from 20 to 10 frames per second halves the frame count. Busy footage with camera shake compresses far worse than a screen recording, so aim for 2 to 6 seconds of it.
Does the GIF keep the sound?
No. GIF is an image format and has no audio track. If you need sound, keep the MP4; if you need something that autoplays silently in a document or chat, the GIF is the right choice.
Can I convert a long MP4, like a whole screen recording?
Yes, the file can be as long as you like, because only the frames between your start and end are read. The GIF itself is capped at 600 frames, for example one minute at 10 frames per second.
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
Video to GIF
Trim a clip, pick a size and frame rate, and get a looping GIF. The video is decoded by your browser and never leaves this device.
Metronome
A steady click at any tempo, with the bar, the subdivisions and tap tempo, running on your device.
Blur faces in video
Faces found and covered frame by frame, on your own device, for children, bystanders and anyone who did not agree to be filmed. Always watch the result before you share it.
Remove silence
Shorter recordings without the dead air, made on your own device. Interviews and lectures stay private.
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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- How to reduce GIF sizeAn animated GIF is a stack of pictures, and the file grows with every frame. Here is what makes it smaller and what that costs you.