Video to GIF Converter

Make an animated GIF from any video clip in a few clicks. Drag the handles or type exact times to pick the moment you want, then choose the frame rate, width, loop setting and speed. The converter shows the length, size in pixels and an estimate of the file size before you start, so you can keep GIFs light enough for chats, forums and documentation.

Most online GIF makers produce grainy colours because a GIF can only hold 256 colours. This tool uses FFmpeg's two-step palette method: it first analyses your clip to build the best 256-colour palette, then maps every frame onto it with smooth dithering. Everything runs in your browser, so your video is never uploaded.

How to use the Video to GIF tool

1. Choose a video file (MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, AVI and more).
2. Drag the start and end handles, or type the times and use "Set to current" while playing.
3. Pick a frame rate (12 fps is a good balance), a width and whether the GIF loops.
4. Click "Make GIF" and wait for the progress bar to finish.
5. Preview the animation and click Download GIF.

Why use ToolOrca Video to GIF

• Visual start/end selector with exact time inputs
• Optimized palette (palettegen + paletteuse) for clean colours
• Frame rate from 5 to 25 fps and widths from 240 px to original
• Loop forever, play once or play three times
• Speed control: slow motion or fast forward
• Live size estimate, no watermark, no upload

How to keep GIFs small

GIF is an old format with weak compression, so file size grows quickly with length, width and frame rate. A 5-second clip at 480 px and 12 fps is usually 1–4 MB. Halving the width makes the file about four times smaller; going from 24 to 12 fps halves it. Fewer colours and the "pattern" dithering option also help, especially for screen recordings.

For clips longer than about 15 seconds, a short MP4 is often a better choice: it is ten times smaller and still plays automatically on most sites. Use the video compressor for that.

Why the palette matters

Every GIF frame is limited to 256 colours. A generic palette wastes many of them on colours your clip never uses, which causes banding and noise. Building a palette from your own frames keeps skin tones, skies and gradients smooth. Dithering then mixes nearby colours in a fine pattern to fake the missing shades.