Rescreen / Free tools / GIF to MP4
GIF to MP4 converter
Drop a GIF here and get an MP4 with the same frames and timing, usually a third of the size.
Convert a GIF file to MP4
This browser cannot convert video or audio. The converter needs WebCodecs, which is in current Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox on a computer. Open this page in one of those and try again.
Drop a GIF file here
or choose one from your device
Up to 2.0 GB. Stays on your device.
- File
- Contains
- Length
- Will become
Starting…
How to convert GIF to MP4
Three steps, all on this page.
Choose your GIF
Choose or drop a GIF file. The page reads what is inside and checks that this browser can convert it before anything starts.
Convert to MP4
Pick the options you want, then press Convert to MP4. Tracks that an MP4 can hold as they are get copied, which is near instant.
Check and download
The new file is opened again and checked against the original before it is offered. Play it in the preview, then download it.
What changes from GIF to MP4
- A GIF stores every frame as up to 256 colours from a palette, compressed losslessly with LZW. One palette colour can be marked transparent; there is no partial transparency. Source
- Each GIF frame carries its own delay in hundredths of a second, and says how the next frame is drawn over it. Source
- Browsers do not play very short GIF delays as written: a delay of 0 or 1 hundredth is shown for about a tenth of a second, so a GIF saved "as fast as possible" plays at 10 frames a second. Source
- H.264 in an MP4 is the most widely played video format, but it has no transparency: of the common web codecs, only VP8 and VP9 can carry an alpha channel, and Safari does not show it. Source
- Google’s guide to replacing GIFs with video measured a 3.7 MB GIF at 551 KB as an MP4, and suggests a muted, looping, autoplaying
<video>element in its place. Source - Browsers read a GIF’s frames through WebCodecs’
ImageDecoderin Chrome and Edge (94 and later) and Firefox (133 and later). Safari does not have it yet, so this page reads the frames with its own decoder there. Source
GIF file
GIF
- Picture256-colour frames
- Soundnone
MP4 file
MP4
- PictureH.264
- SoundAAC
Who converts GIF to MP4
People with a GIF that needs to be a video: a product demo for a social post or an app store listing that takes video but not GIFs; a screen capture for a chat or a doc that caps upload size; a GIF on a web page that is slowing it down. And people with a GIF too big to send, because the same animation as an MP4 is a fraction of the size.
How much smaller the MP4 is
A GIF compresses each frame on its own, a picture at a time, and redraws whatever changed. H.264 predicts each frame from the ones around it and stores only the difference, in full colour. The same animation takes far fewer bytes, even though the MP4 has more colours to work with than the GIF ever had.
We converted three GIFs made from a Rescreen screen recording on this page. Each MP4 came out at about a third of the GIF or less, in about a second at most. Screen recordings are the GIF’s best case, because most of the screen sits still; a GIF of camera footage or a film clip, where every pixel moves, usually shrinks far more, like the 3.7 MB GIF that became 551 KB in Google’s test.
| GIF | GIF size | MP4 in Chrome | MP4 in Safari |
|---|---|---|---|
| 481×271, 5 s, 10 frames a second | 157 KB | 31 KB in 0.3 s | 50 KB in 0.2 s |
| 800×450, 10 s, 15 frames a second | 839 KB | 281 KB in 0.6 s | 352 KB in 0.5 s |
| 1280×720, 10 s, 15 frames a second | 1.9 MB | 624 KB in 0.6 s | 819 KB in 0.9 s |
What happens to transparent parts
They get a solid colour, because an MP4 cannot be see-through. White is the default, since most transparent GIFs, such as stickers, logos and icons, were made to sit on a white page. When the GIF has transparent parts, the converter offers Background colour: pick black, or any colour, to match the page or post the video will sit on.
H.264 also needs a width and height that are even numbers. A GIF with an odd one, such as 481×271, gets a one-pixel strip of the background colour on the right or bottom edge. The picture itself is never stretched or resampled, so pixel art and small text stay exactly as sharp as they were.
Frame timing and looping
Every frame is shown for exactly as long as it was in the GIF, including GIFs that pause on one frame and rush through others. Delays too short for a browser to play are shown the way browsers show them, a tenth of a second, so the video runs at the speed the GIF appeared to run, not faster.
An MP4 has no setting for looping; the player decides. Some apps loop short videos by themselves and others play them once. On a web page you build, add the loop attribute, with autoplay, muted and playsinline, and the video behaves like a GIF: it starts by itself, repeats and makes no sound. A GIF set to play once or three times will loop forever there unless you leave out loop.
When not to convert
Do not convert when the place you are posting takes only images. A README or other Markdown file on GitHub, most email, and many forums and docs tools show a GIF but not a video, or show the video as a link to download. Keep the GIF for those.
Converting does not improve the picture. The MP4 shows the GIF’s own 256 colours a frame, banding and dithering included; it cannot bring back colours that were cut when the GIF was made. If you still have the video the GIF came from, share that, or convert it with the MOV to MP4 converter instead. It will look far better than anything made from the GIF.
Transparency does not survive. If the GIF has to sit over different backgrounds, such as a sticker on photos, keep it as a GIF.
Other ways to convert GIF to MP4
ffmpeg Any computer, from the command line
- Install ffmpeg (on a Mac with Homebrew:
brew install ffmpeg; on Windows:winget install Gyan.FFmpeg). - Run
ffmpeg -i input.gif -movflags +faststart -pix_fmt yuv420p -vf "pad=ceil(iw/2)*2:ceil(ih/2)*2:color=white" output.mp4. Thepadpart evens an odd size, andyuv420pmakes the MP4 play in QuickTime and on phones. - To put transparent parts on a colour, lay the GIF over one:
ffmpeg -i input.gif -f lavfi -i color=black -filter_complex "[1][0]scale2ref[bg][gif];[bg][gif]overlay=shortest=1,format=yuv420p" output.mp4.
Free, fast and scriptable for a folder of GIFs. Our 157 KB test GIF came out at 15 KB with ffmpeg’s default H.264 settings, smaller than in a browser, because ffmpeg’s encoder spends more time on each frame.
Photoshop Mac or Windows
- Open the GIF with File › Open. Photoshop shows its frames in the Timeline panel.
- Choose File › Export › Render Video, pick H.264 as the format, and keep the document size.
- Choose where to save it and press Render.
Useful if the GIF needs editing first, such as a caption, a crop or a frame removed. Photoshop is paid, and it is slow to open a long GIF.
Preview and QuickTime Player Mac
- Preview opens a GIF and shows each frame in its sidebar, but it saves only still images, never a video.
- QuickTime Player does not open GIFs at all: GIF is not among the movie or image-sequence files it accepts, so there is nothing to export.
We found no way built into macOS to make a video from a GIF, so the choice is a converter like this one, ffmpeg, or an editor.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change a GIF to MP4?
Yes. Drop it on the converter at the top of this page and press Convert to MP4. Every frame and its timing carry over, the file usually ends up a third of the size or smaller, and nothing is uploaded.
Is MP4 better than GIF?
For sharing, mostly: an MP4 of the same animation is a fraction of the size, can be paused and scrubbed, and every social site takes it. A GIF is better only where video is not accepted, such as a README, an email or a forum, and where it must be transparent.
Will the MP4 loop like the GIF?
Only if the player loops it. Some apps loop short videos by themselves; others play them once. On your own web page, add loop (with autoplay, muted and playsinline) to the video element.
How can I convert a GIF to a Live Photo?
iPhone has no built-in way. Convert the GIF to MP4 here, save the MP4 to Photos, then use an app that makes Live Photos from videos, such as intoLive, to turn it into one. A Live Photo lasts a few seconds, so keep the GIF short.
How do you convert MP4 to GIF?
With the MP4 to GIF converter, which works the same way in reverse: choose the part, the width and the frame rate. For a MOV from a Mac or iPhone, use the MOV to GIF converter.
How can I convert a video to an MP4 file for free?
Use the converter for the format you have: MOV to MP4, MKV to MP4 or WebM to MP4. Each runs in your browser, free and without a watermark, and copies the video without re-encoding whenever it can.
Where can I download free GIFs?
GIPHY and Tenor are the largest free libraries, and both let you download a GIF from its page. Check who made it before using it in anything public or commercial; free to download is not the same as free to reuse.
Is my file uploaded?
No. Your GIF is read, converted and checked on your own computer, so there is no upload and no queue. In Chrome and Edge on a computer files of any size work, written straight to a file you choose; in other browsers, files up to 2.0 GB. We count anonymous page views and whether a conversion worked; when one fails, the event also carries the step, your browser’s error and the file’s codecs, size and length in broad bands, never the file or its name. If a conversion fails you can choose to send us the file, which is deleted within 30 days. See the privacy policy.
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