Video to GIF Converter

Discord limits for the finished GIF

• Custom emoji: Under 256 KB (the developer docs write 256 KiB). Uploaded up to 128×128 px and displayed at 32×32.
• Chat upload: The support article says 10 MB per file and mentions that Discord is experimenting with limits. Some third-party sources say 20 MB since 2025. We have not verified 20 MB, so this tool defaults to 10 MB.

Last checked: 2026-10-16. KB and MB are treated as 1024-based (256 KB = 262,144 bytes). Platforms rarely say which they mean, so the tool aims a few percent below the stated limit. Limits are rechecked every quarter.

How to convert a video to a GIF

1. Choose a video. Pick an MP4, WebM or MOV file. It is read on your device and never uploaded. The first conversion loads the converter once, with a progress bar.
2. Select the part you want. Drag the start and end handles, or type the times. The preview shows the frame at the handle you moved. A short range makes a smaller GIF.
3. Pick a preset. General suits most clips. Discord emoji and Discord chat set a size and frame rate for those uses and check the result against Discord's limit. High quality trades file size for a smoother picture. You can change the width and frame rate afterwards.
4. Convert and download. Press Convert. When it finishes you see the size, frame count and length, and you can download the .gif. If it is still too big, use the Make it smaller button or lower the width and frame rate.

Video to GIF, whatever the container

This converter accepts MP4, WebM and MOV. MP4 is what most phones, screen recorders and editors export. WebM is common for browser and game-capture recordings. MOV is the QuickTime format used by Apple devices. The tool reads the real format from the first bytes of the file, so a renamed file is still handled correctly and a file that is not a video is rejected with a clear message.

If you only have MP4 files, the MP4 to GIF converter uses the same in-browser converter with notes written for that format.

Choose the part of the video to turn into a GIF

A GIF is best for a loop of a few seconds, not a whole video. The tool starts with a short range at the beginning of the file. Move the handles to the moment you want, and watch the preview to check it.

• Start and end can be dragged or typed to a tenth of a second.
• Shorter is smaller. File size grows with every extra second, so trim before you lower the quality.
• Phones convert shorter clips than computers. The tool tells you the longest range your device can handle and explains what to change if you go past it.
• Looping is on by default. Turn it off for a GIF that plays once and stops.

Frame rate and width: what they do to the file

Two settings decide most of the file size. Width sets how many pixels each frame has, so halving the width cuts the pixel count to a quarter. Frame rate sets how many frames are stored per second, so halving it roughly halves the frames. Both together are far more effective than any compression applied afterwards.

The converter builds a 256-colour palette from the clip itself before it renders the GIF, which keeps colours close to the original. The small-file setting uses a dithering pattern that compresses well. The High quality preset uses smoother dithering, which looks better on gradients and adds to the file size.

Video or GIF: when a GIF is the right choice

A GIF plays automatically and loops almost everywhere, including chat apps and forums that do not play video inline. The price is size and quality: a GIF has no audio, shows at most 256 colours in each frame, and has no modern video compression, so even a short clip can be several times larger than the MP4 it came from. For long or detailed footage, keep the video and share a link or a short GIF preview.

Making a GIF for Discord from a video

Choose the Discord emoji preset for a small, short, square-friendly GIF, or Discord chat for a normal chat upload. After the conversion the tool compares the file with the limit in the table above and shows whether it passes. If it does not, Make it smaller runs the same compressor as the Discord GIF compressor on the result, without another download and upload.

For an exact size target, compress a GIF to 256KB or use the GIF compressor. To fit emote sizes for streaming platforms, see the emote resizer.

Your video stays on your device

The conversion is done by ffmpeg compiled to WebAssembly, running in a background worker in your browser. The video is never sent to a server, and nothing is kept after you close the page. The converter runs on a single thread, so it needs no special browser features and does not slow down other parts of the page. Licence details for the converter are on the licences page.