How to use Video to GIF
- Choose a video (MP4, WebM or MOV), or an animated GIF to turn into an MP4.
- Pick the start and end of the clip, type them or take them from the player, then the width and frame rate.
- Select Make GIF. The first time, the video engine (FFmpeg) downloads once and your browser keeps it.
- Check the preview and download the GIF.
A GIF from any clip, without uploading the video
GIFs are still the easiest way to show a short moment: a product demo in a README, a reaction in a chat, a bug in a ticket, a step in a tutorial. They play automatically, loop forever and need no player. This tool takes a clip from an MP4, WebM or MOV video, from the start and end times you choose, and turns it into an animated GIF you can drop into Slack, GitHub, Notion, email or a slide.
Most online GIF makers upload your video first, which is slow for a large file and means a stranger's server holds a recording of your screen, your product or your family. Here FFmpeg, the same engine behind most video software, runs inside your browser tab. The video is read from your device, the GIF is written on your device, and the only thing downloaded is the engine itself.
How it keeps GIFs sharp and small
A GIF can only hold 256 colours per frame, which is why many converted GIFs look grainy or banded. The tool makes two passes over your clip: first it studies every frame and builds the best 256-colour palette for that clip in particular, then it maps each frame onto that palette with a light, even dither. Gradients stay smooth and text stays readable.
Size is decided mostly by three things you control: how long the clip is, how wide it is and how many frames per second it keeps. A five-second clip at 480 pixels and 12 frames per second is usually a few megabytes. Halve the width and the file shrinks to about a quarter. For screen recordings, 8 to 10 frames per second is often plenty; for motion, 15 to 20 looks smoother.
GIF to MP4
Going the other way is just as useful. Many sites and apps now prefer short videos over GIFs, because a video of the same animation is often ten times smaller. Choose a GIF and the tool turns it into an H.264 MP4 with your browser's own video encoder. If your browser has no H.264 encoder, it makes a WebM video instead and tells you.
The first time you use the tool, the engine downloads once from WeaveAI's own engine server and your browser keeps it, so later runs start straight away.
Questions
- Is my video uploaded?
- No. FFmpeg runs inside your browser and reads the video on your device. The only download is FFmpeg itself, from WeaveAI's own engine server; your video never leaves your device.
- How long does it take, and how big can the video be?
- A five-second clip usually takes a few seconds once the engine has loaded. The video can be large, since only the part you choose is processed, but very large files (above about 500 MB) can run out of browser memory.
- Why is my GIF so big?
- GIF is an old format that stores every frame as a picture with up to 256 colours. Shorter clips, a smaller width and fewer frames per second make much smaller files; for long clips, an MP4 is far smaller.
- Can I turn a GIF into an MP4?
- Yes. Choose a GIF and the tool makes an H.264 MP4 with your browser's own encoder, which is often ten times smaller. Browsers without an H.264 encoder get a WebM video instead.