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MP4 to GIF

Turn H.264 MP4 clips into shareable looping GIFs.

Upload
Single file · 100 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 MP4 to GIF

Convert MP4 video to GIF free online. H.264 MP4 plays in every modern browser, so frames are sampled locally — choose span, frame rate and size, then download.

MP4 is where video lives: phone cameras, screen recorders, exports from every editor. GIF is where short moments get shared: chat, comments, documentation, slides. This page is the bridge between the two, and it runs entirely in your browser.

Why MP4 converts more reliably than anything else

H.264 in an MP4 container is the baseline codec combination of the web — the one every browser, phone and smart TV ships. That means the decode step of the conversion never depends on optional codecs, and a file that plays in your media player will sample here too.

Settings that matter

  • Span first. Isolate the moment with the start and stop fields before touching anything else; the cap is 20 seconds.
  • Width second. 480 px keeps UI and faces legible; 320 px for chat-sized loops.
  • Frame rate last. 10 fps for movement, 6–8 fps when little changes between frames.

What GIF will never do

No audio, no more than 256 colours per frame, no partial transparency. Gradients band, footage dithers, and files are large for what they show. Those are the format's 1987 constraints, and they are the price of playback literally everywhere.

Step by step

How to use the MP4 to GIF

  1. Drop an .mp4 file onto the upload area; its duration and resolution appear immediately.

  2. Set the start and stop seconds around the moment you want to loop.

  3. Pick a frame rate and output width — 10 fps at 480 px is the usual sweet spot.

  4. Press Convert to GIF and download the result once sampling finishes.

Why use it

Benefits and common use cases

What this tool is good for, and what it deliberately does not try to do.

The most reliable source format

H.264 in an MP4 container is the one codec combination every browser ships, so MP4 sources decode everywhere — no codec roulette, no refused files.

Frame-accurate spans

Seeking is done against the video's own timeline, so the GIF starts exactly where you asked, not at the nearest keyframe guess.

Private and queue-free

Sampling runs in your tab against a local object URL. There is no upload, no transcoding queue and no email address between you and the file.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Short, honest answers about quality, limits and privacy.

My MP4 will not convert — why?

MP4 is a container, and a few MP4 files carry codecs browsers do not ship (HEVC from some cameras, for instance). If the browser cannot play the file, neither can this tool, and it says so instead of failing silently. Re-exporting as H.264 fixes it.

What settings keep the GIF under a platform's limit?

Discord and most comment systems cap uploads around 8–10 MB. For a five-second loop that means 320–480 px wide at 8–10 fps. Width is the strongest lever: halving it roughly quarters the file.

Does the audio carry over?

No. GIF has no audio track at all — it is a silent image sequence by definition. If the sound matters, the clip should stay a video.