GIF to MP4 Converter
Turn a GIF into a much smaller MP4 that plays everywhere — frame timing kept.
Options
Videos do not repeat by themselves, so a GIF that loops can be played several times in a row.
What will happen
About the GIF to MP4 Converter
Convert an animated GIF into a real video file: MP4 (H.264), which every phone, computer and social app plays, or WebM (VP9) for websites. A video is usually several times smaller than the same animation as a GIF, because video compression stores only what changes between frames and is not limited to 256 colours; the page shows the exact before and after sizes.
Each frame keeps its own delay from the GIF, so the timing is the same — or choose a constant frame rate for video editors. Videos do not loop by themselves, so you can have the animation play several times in a row, and pick the background colour for transparent parts. The GIF is decoded and encoded in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
How to use it
- Drop an animated GIF on the box or click Choose a GIF. The page shows its size, number of frames, length and loop setting.
- Choose MP4 or WebM, how many times the animation should play, and optionally a smaller size, constant frame rate, background colour and quality.
- Press Convert to MP4.
- Watch the result, compare the sizes and press Download.
Examples
reaction.gif · 480 × 270 · 36 frames · 3.6 s · 4.8 MB
reaction.mp4 · H.264 · 480 × 270 · 3.6 s — typically a small fraction of the GIF’s size
spinner.gif · 1.2 s · Play the animation 5 times
spinner.mp4 · 6 s, the animation five times in a row
sticker.gif with transparency · Background: White
sticker.mp4 with the see-through parts filled in white (MP4 has no transparency)
How the frame timing is kept
Every GIF frame stores its own delay in hundredths of a second. With Exact timing each frame becomes one video frame of exactly that length, so a GIF that pauses on one frame pauses in the video too (a variable frame rate, which MP4 supports). Delays of 0 or 0.01 s are shown for 0.1 s, as WebKit, Chromium and Firefox do, so the video plays at the speed you see in a browser. Constant frame rate instead samples the animation 24 to 60 times a second, which some editors handle better.
Why MP4 and not GIF?
GIF compresses each frame on its own with at most 256 colours. H.264 and VP9 compress the changes between frames and keep full colour, which makes videos far smaller for the same animation and smoother gradients. Many websites already turn uploaded GIFs into MP4 for this reason; on your own site, a <video autoplay loop muted playsinline> tag plays it just like a GIF.
Decoding
Where the browser offers its own GIF decoder to web pages (WebCodecs ImageDecoder), the page uses it; otherwise the page decodes the GIF with a JavaScript decoder (gifuct-js) and puts the frames together itself, applying each frame’s disposal method and transparency as the GIF89a specification describes.
Limitations
- MP4 (H.264) has no transparency, so transparent pixels get a background colour.
- H.264 stores colour at half resolution, so pixel-art GIFs with single-pixel coloured details can look slightly soft; Very high quality helps.
- Sizes are kept even (encoders need it): a GIF with an odd width or height gets one extra row or column in the background colour.
- Encoding needs WebCodecs (current Chrome, Edge, Safari or desktop Firefox).
- Still (single-frame) GIFs are not converted, and the video can be at most 20 minutes long.
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
Will the MP4 loop like the GIF?
A video file itself does not loop; the player decides. On a website, add the loop attribute to the <video> tag; many chat apps loop short silent clips automatically. To make the file longer, set Play the animation to 2 or more.
Why is my MP4 so much smaller?
Video codecs store only what changes from frame to frame and are not limited to 256 colours, so they need far fewer bytes than GIF for the same animation. The page shows both sizes after converting.
Does the video have sound?
No. GIFs have no sound, so the video has a picture track only.
Can I convert a video back into a GIF?
Yes, with the Video to GIF Converter.
Is my GIF uploaded?
No. It is decoded and converted inside your browser, and the video is saved to your device.