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Video to GIF Converter
Cut up to 30 seconds from a video and turn it into a looping GIF with colours tuned to that clip. Your video is processed on our server in Germany and deleted within an hour.
Processed on our server in Germany and deleted within 1 hour. Unlike most of our tools, this one uploads your video, because converting video in a browser is too slow. The file is used only to make your result. Privacy policy
Drop a video to turn into a GIF
or click to browse · MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, AVI · up to 200 MB and 5 minutes
Files are processed on our server and deleted automatically within an hour.
Frequently asked questions
Why are GIFs so large, and how do I make one smaller?
GIF is a format from 1987. It stores every frame with simple lossless compression and has none of the motion prediction that makes MP4 small, so a GIF is often 10 times larger than the same clip as video. 10 seconds at 480 px and 12 fps is typically 3 to 8 MB. To shrink it, shorten the clip first, then lower the width to 320 px, then drop to 10 fps. Busy scenes such as grass, water or camera shake grow the file far more than a static background.
How are colours handled?
A GIF can hold at most 256 colours, while a video frame can have millions. The tool first scans your clip and builds a 256-colour palette from the colours it actually uses, weighting what moves, and then maps every frame onto it with dithering, a fine pattern of dots that imitates the missing shades. That keeps gradients, skies and skin tones smoother than a fixed web palette, but smooth gradients can still show a grainy texture, and that is the 256-colour limit rather than a fault.
Is the sound kept?
No. The GIF format has no audio track, so the sound is dropped. If you want a short clip with sound, use Trim Video, which keeps the audio and gives you a video file. To get just the sound, use the Video to MP3 converter or Audio Cutter.
Why is the GIF limited to 30 seconds?
GIF files grow very quickly, and a 30-second GIF at 480 px can already pass 20 MB, which many chat apps and forums reject. The limit also keeps the shared server responsive: it handles one conversion at a time, runs the encoder at deliberately low priority, and allows each visitor 10 conversions an hour. The source video can be up to 5 minutes long and 200 MB; you choose which part becomes the GIF.
Can I make a GIF from photos instead of a video?
Yes, with our GIF Maker, which builds an animated GIF from a series of images and runs entirely in your browser. This page is for when the source is a video clip.
About this tool
This tool turns a moment from a video into an animated GIF that loops and plays anywhere GIFs do, from chat apps and forums to email and documentation. You choose the start and end, up to 30 seconds, the frame rate from 10 to 25 fps, and the width from 320 to 800 pixels. The height follows the video's shape, and a video is never scaled up past its own width.
Quality comes from a two-step process. First the tool scans the chosen part of the video and builds a 256-colour palette specific to it. Then it renders each frame against that palette with error-diffusion dithering and only updates the parts of each frame that change. The result looks much closer to the video than a one-size-fits-all palette, especially for faces and gradients, and a preview appears as soon as it is ready.
Unlike most tools on ZumaTools, this one runs on our server, because building GIFs from video in a browser is slow and memory-hungry. The video is uploaded to a server run by Hetzner in Nuremberg, Germany. The original is deleted as soon as the GIF is made, and the GIF is deleted automatically within one hour of the upload, or at once when you press Delete from server now. Files are used only to make your result and never for anything else.
Limits: source videos up to 200 MB and 5 minutes, GIFs up to 30 seconds, one conversion at a time on the server with a short queue, and 10 conversions per hour for each visitor. To animate a set of photos or screenshots instead, use the GIF Maker, which works entirely in your browser.