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Video to GIF Converter

Your videos never leave your device

How to Convert Video to GIF

  1. Select your video

    Drop a video file onto the upload area or click to browse. MP4, WebM, MOV, AVI, and MKV are all supported. No size limits — your file stays on your device.

  2. Choose the clip range

    Set the start time and duration of the segment you want to convert. GIFs work best under 10 seconds — shorter clips have smaller file sizes and loop more naturally.

  3. Adjust frame rate and width

    Select an FPS preset and output width. Lower settings create smaller files that are easier to share. 10fps at 480px is a solid default for most use cases.

  4. Convert and download

    Click "Convert to GIF" and wait for processing to finish. Preview the result directly in your browser, then download your GIF. Nothing is stored — the file is generated and discarded locally.

Tips for Better GIFs

  • Keep duration under 5 seconds for a GIF that feels snappy and is small enough to share in messages or embed on web pages without slowing load times.

  • Use 10–15fps for motion content and drop to 5fps for nearly-static content like slides or talking-head clips where smooth movement is less important.

  • Choose 480px width for social sharing. Most messaging apps display GIFs at 320–480px regardless of the original resolution. Exporting at 640px or higher rarely improves visible quality but significantly increases file size.

  • The two-pass palette method used here produces dramatically better colour accuracy than single-pass GIF converters. You'll notice especially on gradients and skin tones.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my video uploaded to a server?
No. ClipIV processes your video entirely in your browser using WebAssembly (ffmpeg.wasm). Your video file never leaves your device and is never transmitted over the internet.
What's the maximum GIF quality I can achieve?
ClipIV uses a two-pass palette optimisation approach: the first pass analyses your video frames to build a 256-colour palette tailored to your specific content, and the second pass renders the GIF using that palette with Sierra2-4A dithering. This produces noticeably sharper, more accurate GIFs compared to tools that use a generic palette.
Why does the two-pass method matter for GIFs?
GIFs are limited to 256 colours per frame. A generic colour palette wastes those 256 slots on colours that may not even appear in your video. The two-pass method builds a custom palette from the actual colours in your clip, so all 256 slots represent the colours that matter most — resulting in far better colour fidelity and smoother gradients.
How large will the output GIF be?
GIF file size depends on duration, frame rate, and output width. A 5-second clip at 10fps and 480px wide typically produces a 2-8 MB GIF. Use a lower FPS (5-10) and smaller width (320-480px) for sharing on social media or messaging apps.
What video formats can I convert to GIF?
You can convert MP4, WebM, MOV, AVI, and MKV videos to GIF. MP4 is the most widely supported and recommended format.