Question 1

What video formats are supported?

Accepted Answer

Any video your browser can play — typically MP4 (H.264), WebM, and MOV. Phone recordings using newer codecs like HEVC may not play on every browser; if yours doesn't load, try Safari (which supports HEVC) or convert to MP4 first.

Question 2

Why is the recommended limit only 8 seconds?

Accepted Answer

GIF is an old format without modern video compression, so file size and encoding time grow quickly with longer clips. An 8-second clip at the default 360px × 10 fps is usually 1–3 MB; doubling the length roughly doubles both size and processing time.

Question 3

Why is the GIF much bigger than the original video?

Accepted Answer

Video formats like MP4 use temporal compression — only the differences between frames are stored. GIFs store every frame as a separate image with a 256-color palette, so they're inherently larger. Lower the width or frame rate for smaller files.

Question 4

Why do colors look slightly off in the GIF?

Accepted Answer

GIFs are limited to 256 colors per frame, so the encoder picks the best palette it can for each frame. Smooth gradients and skin tones can show banding. This is a fundamental limit of the GIF format.

Question 5

Is my video uploaded?

Accepted Answer

No. The entire conversion runs in your browser using gifenc and the built-in HTML video element. Your file never leaves your device.

Video to GIF

Frequently Asked Questions