GIFs are still the easiest way to show motion where video does not play: email newsletters, GitHub and Notion pages, Slack and Discord messages, help articles and product listings that only take images. The clip you want is usually a MOV from an iPhone or a Mac screen recording.
This tool converts MOV (and MP4, WEBM, MKV, AVI and other videos) to GIF on our server. It accepts iPhone HEVC videos even on computers that cannot play them, which is where browser-only GIF makers usually fail. You choose the part, the smoothness and the width; the server does the color work.
How to make a GIF from a MOV
- Drop the video onto the box above or click to choose it. If your browser can preview it, you see the video with a timeline under it.
- Choose the part: drag the two gold handles, type a start and end (as m:ss or seconds), or play the video and use Start at current frame and End at current frame. For videos longer than 10 seconds the first 10 seconds are selected to begin with. Play selection plays just that part.
- Pick Frames per second and Width. The line below shows how many frames and pixels the GIF will have.
- Click Make GIF. When it is done, the GIF downloads and plays on the result screen.
If your browser cannot preview the file (common for iPhone HEVC videos on Windows and Linux), type the start and end times instead. The server still reads the video.
Choosing frames per second and width
GIF size grows with every frame and every pixel. These two settings decide most of it:
| Setting | Good for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| 10 fps | Screen recordings, slides, UI demos, slow motion | Smallest; fast motion looks steppy |
| 15 fps | Most clips; the default | Smooth enough for people and products |
| 20 fps | Fast action, sports, pets | Twice the frames of 10 fps, so a larger file |
| 320 px wide | Chat apps, email, small inline loops | Small; fine detail is lost |
| 480 px wide | The default; blog posts and help articles | Balanced |
| 640 or 800 px wide | Product demos where text must be readable | Large files, keep them short |
The width never needs to be larger than the video itself: if your clip is 640 px wide, choosing 800 px cannot add detail, and the page tells you so. Height follows the video's shape.
Tip: Length matters as much as settings. A 3 second loop at 480 px and 15 fps is 45 frames. A 20 second clip with the same settings is 300 frames and a much bigger file. Short loops of 2 to 6 seconds make the best GIFs.
Filming a clip that makes a good GIF
- Keep the camera still. Every moving pixel costs data in a GIF. A tripod shot of a moving product is far smaller than a handheld shot of the same thing.
- Use a plain background. Flat colors compress well and dither less. Busy patterns, leaves and water make big, grainy GIFs.
- Light it well. Low light adds noise, and noise looks like crawling dots in a GIF.
- Plan the loop. If the last frame looks like the first, the loop has no visible jump. Start and end with the product in the same position.
From a Live Photo to a GIF
A Live Photo on an iPhone is a still image with about three seconds of video attached. To use it here, open it in Photos, tap the share button and choose Save as Video. That saves a MOV you can drop into this converter, where you can trim it and pick the size. The Photos app also has Loop and Bounce effects for Live Photos, but those stay inside Apple's apps unless you export them as video.
How the GIF is optimized
A GIF frame can only use 256 colors. A simple converter uses one fixed palette, which makes skin tones blotchy and gradients banded. This converter analyzes your clip first, builds a palette from the colors that actually appear, then maps every frame to that palette with light dithering. The GIF loops forever and has no sound, because GIF cannot store audio.
Where to use your GIF, with limits as of October 2026
- X (Twitter): GIFs up to 15 MB, with 350 frames or fewer recommended.
- Email newsletters: most clients play GIFs, while some Outlook versions show only the first frame. Make the first frame meaningful and keep newsletter GIFs under about 1 MB so emails load quickly.
- Etsy: Etsy's photo guidance says animated GIFs are not supported as listing images; use a listing video instead. The video trimmer cuts a 3 to 15 second clip for that.
- Instagram: does not accept GIF uploads. Post the video itself, or convert a GIF back with GIF to MP4.
A worked example
You recorded a 41 second iPhone clip of a product being unboxed and want a GIF of the moment the lid opens. Drag the handles to 0:12.5 and 0:16.0 (3.5 seconds), choose 15 fps and 480 px. The page shows about 53 frames at 480 x 270 px. The GIF is ready in a few seconds after the upload. If it is still too heavy for your newsletter, make it again at 320 px or 10 fps, or shrink it further with the GIF compressor.
A second case: a software team wants a 640 px GIF for a help article showing where a setting lives. They record the screen on a Mac, trim the MOV to the 4 seconds of the click path, choose 10 fps (screen recordings need few frames) and 640 px so menu text stays readable. Forty frames at 640 px wide, with mostly flat interface colors, stays light enough for a help center page.
Looking for loops that will actually get shared? AM Jarvis Viral Finder shows what is trending in your niche right now, from rising searches to top videos and Reddit threads.
Why your GIF is much bigger than the video
A 4 second iPhone clip can be 3 MB as video and 8 MB as a GIF. That surprises people, but it is how the formats work: video stores only what changes from frame to frame and uses millions of colors efficiently, while GIF stores each frame as a picture with up to 256 colors and older compression. GIF wins on one thing only, which is that it plays anywhere an image can appear. If the place you are posting to plays video, an MP4 is the lighter choice.
Other options
- Our in-browser video to GIF converter works offline with captions and speed controls, but only for videos your browser can play.
- On iPhone, the Shortcuts app has a "Make GIF" action that works on videos in your library.
- ffmpeg users can run the same palette method with
palettegenandpaletteusefilters.
Troubleshooting
"A GIF can be up to 30 seconds"
Move the end handle closer to the start. The limit keeps GIFs to a size that plays well anywhere.
The GIF looks grainy
That is dithering, which GIF needs for smooth shading with 256 colors. Busy, colorful scenes show it most. A wider GIF or a calmer scene looks cleaner.
The GIF is too big for Slack, Discord or email
Pick a shorter part first, then 320 px, then 10 fps, in that order. Each step cuts size a lot; shortening usually cuts the most.
The GIF plays too fast or too slow in one app
Some apps cap GIF playback speed. 15 fps is the most consistent setting across apps.