Plays everywhere afterwards
APNG support is universal in browsers but nearly absent elsewhere: chat apps, markdown renderers and office software ignore the extra frames. GIF is the format those places actually animate.
ImageRuns in your browser
APNG to GIF
Convert animated PNG files into universally playable GIFs.
- Upload
- Single file · 40 MB max
- Privacy
- Nothing is uploaded
- Cost
- Free · no sign-up · no watermark
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Processed entirely on your device
Your file is read, transformed and re-encoded inside this browser tab using JavaScript. There is no upload endpoint — nothing leaves your machine, nothing is stored, and the result is created as a local object URL that disappears when you close the page.
Overview
About the APNG to GIF
Convert APNG (animated PNG) to GIF free online. The animation plays in your browser while a canvas captures it frame by frame, then gifenc writes the GIF locally.
APNG is the better animation format: full colour, real alpha, no 1987 constraints. It is also the format almost nothing outside a browser will play — which is why animated PNGs keep needing to become GIFs for chat, markdown, office documents and comment systems.
How the capture works
Every current browser decodes and plays APNG natively, so this tool does not ship a decoder. Instead it reads the animation's timing straight from the file's chunk list — frame count and per-frame delays, without touching pixel data — then plays the file in a hidden element and photographs it off a canvas at your chosen sample rate. gifenc quantises and writes the result.
What carries over, and what does not
- Timing and loop: frame delays are read from the source, so the GIF loops at the original speed.
- Geometry: dimensions scale to your chosen width with the aspect ratio preserved.
- Colour: this is the loss. 24-bit colour and soft alpha become 256 indexed colours and binary transparency, per frame.
Choosing a sample rate
Match the source frame rate when you know it — most APNGs are authored at 10–24 fps. Sampling below the source rate drops frames and makes fast motion judder; sampling above it captures duplicate frames and inflates the file for nothing.
The real-time trade, stated plainly
Capture runs at wall-clock speed: a three-second animation takes three seconds to convert. For the lengths APNGs are actually authored at — a few seconds of spinner, sticker or reaction — that is a non-issue, and it is what keeps the tool decoder-free and fully local.
Step by step
How to use the APNG to GIF
Drop an animated .png onto the upload area; the frame count and loop length appear immediately.
Choose a sample rate and output width — matching the source fps keeps motion smooth.
Press Convert to GIF. The animation plays once in a hidden element while it is captured.
Download the GIF when the capture completes; it loops forever like the original.
Why use it
Benefits and common use cases
What this tool is good for, and what it deliberately does not try to do.
No decoder shipped
Your browser already plays APNG natively, so the animation is simply photographed off a canvas as it plays — no codec library to download and no server to trust.
Upfront frame report
The chunk walk reads the animation's frame count and loop duration before anything is captured, so you know exactly what you are converting — and static PNGs are refused early.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short, honest answers about quality, limits and privacy.
Why does the conversion take as long as the animation?
Because the capture is real time: the browser plays the APNG in a hidden element and a canvas photographs it at your sample rate. A four-second loop takes about four seconds to capture. It is the honest price of not bundling a decoder.
My PNG was refused as “not animated”. Why?
The tool walks the PNG chunk list looking for animation control chunks. A file with fewer than two frames is a static image, and converting it to a one-frame GIF would achieve nothing — so it is refused with that explanation.
Is quality lost converting APNG to GIF?
Colour, yes, where the source needs it: APNG carries full 24-bit colour and 8-bit alpha per frame, while GIF allows 256 colours and hard-edged transparency per frame. Smooth gradients and soft shadows will band or dither. Timing and geometry carry over exactly.