VIDEO -> GIF · Local tool
Video to GIF
Turn a few seconds of a video into a GIF, at a size you choose.
Last updated
How do I turn a video into a GIF without uploading it?
Open filetity's video to GIF converter, drop the file in, and set which seconds you want, how wide the GIF should be and how many frames a second. It shows the frame count, how long the GIF will play and roughly how many megabytes it will be before anything runs, because a GIF's size is width times height times frames and that can be worked out in advance. The decoding and the colour reduction both happen in the browser tab, so the video is never uploaded and there is no watermark or queue. Frame rates are limited to ones a GIF can store exactly: the format holds the gap between frames in hundredths of a second, so 10, 20 and 25 frames a second are exact while 15 is not.
01 / Your device
the file stays here
02 / Browser memory
the work runs locally
03 / Back to you
saved on this device
When you would use this
Situations, not settings.
- A chat or forum that will not play video
- Email signatures, older forums and some ticketing systems accept an image and nothing else. A few seconds at 320 pixels wide is usually enough to show what happened.
- Showing a bug to someone
- A short screen recording as a GIF autoplays inline in an issue or a pull request, so the person reading does not have to press anything to see the problem.
- A reaction clip out of something longer
- Set the two second window you want rather than converting the whole video. The estimate updates as you change it, so you can see the size before you wait for it.
How it works / no cloud
A conversion engine, not an upload form.
filetity decodes the frames you asked for with the video engine already in your browser, reduces each one to the 256 colours a GIF can hold, and writes the file in the page. The estimated size is shown before anything runs, because a GIF's size is width times height times frames and that arithmetic is knowable in advance. No file is uploaded and no watermark is added.
- Offline ready
- Installable app
- No file limit queue
Straight answers
No accordion. Nothing hidden.
- Is it free?
- Yes, with no watermark and no page limit.
- Does it need an account?
- No. There is no account system.
- Is my file processed on my device?
- Yes. The file is read by your browser and never uploaded. There is no server to send it to.
- What formats are supported?
- MP4, MOV and WebM in. Animated GIF out, at 320, 480 or 640 pixels wide or the video's own width.
- What are the limits?
- Every frame is held in memory as full colour pixels, so the tool refuses above a fixed budget before decoding anything rather than freezing the tab. At 480 pixels wide and 10 frames a second that is around 38 seconds of video.
- Does it work on mobile?
- Yes, on any modern mobile browser. Large files are limited by the memory the phone gives the browser.
- Does it work offline?
- Yes, once the page has loaded. The tool keeps working with no network connection.
- Why is my GIF so much bigger than the video was?
- Because a GIF has no compression between frames. Video stores one full picture and then only what changed; a GIF stores every frame nearly whole. A ten second clip that was 2 MB as MP4 is routinely 20 MB as a GIF, and that is the format, not this tool. The width and frame rate controls are the two things that actually change it.
- Why can I not pick 15 frames a second?
- A GIF stores the pause between frames in hundredths of a second, so only rates that divide into 100 exactly are representable. 10 fps is 10 hundredths, 20 is 5, 25 is 4. 15 would be 6.67, and rounding it makes the GIF play slightly slow. The offered rates are the ones that come out exactly right.
- Why does the colour look banded or dirty?
- A GIF holds at most 256 colours per frame, and a video frame typically contains tens of thousands. Every colour has to be mapped to the nearest of the 256 that were chosen, which shows up most on skies, skin and gradients. Nothing can avoid it inside the format; a smaller width hides it better because there are fewer pixels to notice.
- Does it add a watermark or a time limit?
- Neither. There is no account, no upload and no paid tier, so there is nothing to gate. The only limit is your own device's memory, which is why the page states the frame count and the estimated size before you press anything.
- Should I use a GIF at all?
- Often no. If the destination accepts a video, an MP4 of the same clip is usually a tenth of the size and looks better, and most platforms silently convert an uploaded GIF to a video anyway. Use a GIF where the destination genuinely requires one, such as an email signature, an old forum, or a chat that will not autoplay video.
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