GIF to MP4
The same animation, at a fraction of the weight
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- 1
Why the GIF is so big
A GIF stores something close to a whole picture per frame, in at most 256 colours, with no real compression between frames. A video stores one frame and then only what moved. That is the entire difference, and on a long GIF it is most of the file.
- 2
What you lose
Transparency and the endless loop. Neither survives into an MP4: the transparent parts come out white, and a video plays once unless whatever shows it is told to repeat. Both are worth knowing before you replace the original.
- 3
Where it already happens without you
Post a GIF to most social sites and they convert it to a video on the way in, then show you something they still call a GIF. Doing it yourself means you pick the quality instead of theirs.
FAQ
- How do I convert a GIF to MP4?
- Drop the file on this page and press the button. It runs in your browser, so there is no upload, no account and no daily limit.
- How much smaller will it get?
- The page prints both numbers when it finishes rather than promising a percentage here. The size a GIF wastes depends on how much of the picture is moving, so a talking head shrinks far more than confetti does.
- Will it still loop?
- Not by itself. A GIF loops because the format says to; a video plays once unless the page or the player is told to repeat. There is also a checkbox to play the frames forward then backward, which makes a short clip read as a loop no matter what shows it.
- What happens to a transparent GIF?
- The transparent parts come out white. MP4 here carries no transparency at all, and white is the flattening that looks deliberate rather than broken.
- Does the frame timing survive?
- Yes. A GIF can hold a different delay on every frame, and those timings are carried across as they are rather than averaged into one frame rate.
- Is the file uploaded?
- No. The frames are decoded and the video written in the page. No request carries the file anywhere, which the network panel will show you while it runs.