Everything happens inside your browser, using your own computer’s memory. Your file is never uploaded, never stored, and nothing is sent to us — so there is no limit on how often you use this.
How converting WebM to GIF works
At a glance
- Converts
- WebM to GIF
- Length
- Any stretch up to 15 seconds
- Sizes
- 320, 480 or 720 pixels wide; the height follows
- Smoothness
- 10 or 15 frames a second
- Colour
- A 256-colour palette built from your own clip
How it works
Screen recordings are ideal GIF material: few colours, sharp edges and short. At 10 frames per second and 480 pixels wide, a five-second demo stays small enough to paste anywhere.
A GIF can only hold 256 colours at a time — a video holds millions. How those 256 are chosen is the difference between a GIF that looks like your video and one that looks like a faded photocopy of it.
Step by step
- Drop the videoIt opens in this tab. Nothing uploads. The first time, the browser downloads the 32 MB video engine and keeps it.
- Pick the momentSet where it starts and how long it runs — three to six seconds is the sweet spot, fifteen the most.
- Pick size and smoothness480 pixels at 10 fps suits most places. Go smaller for chats, smoother for fast movement.
- Make GIF and downloadThe GIF appears as a preview. It stays in this browser until you press Delete.
Which setting for which job
| If you are… | Choose |
|---|---|
| A reaction or moment for a chat or comment | Small · 320 px · 10 fps · 2–4 seconds |
| An email, a web page or a product listing | Medium · 480 px · 10 fps |
| Fast movement — a pour, a spin, a flip | 15 fps |
| A screen recording or how-to | Medium · 480 px · 10 fps |
| Anything longer than about eight seconds | Consider a short MP4 instead — smaller and sharper |
Under the hood
The technical detail, for anyone who wants to know exactly what happens to their file. Each line first says it plainly.
palettegen
Choosing 256 colours from your clip.
A first pass looks at every frame and picks the 256 colours that best represent it. With stats_mode=diff it weights what changes between frames, so the moving subject gets the colours rather than a static background.
paletteuse with Bayer dithering
Mapping every frame to those colours.
A second pass redraws each frame using only the palette. Bayer dithering blends neighbouring pixels in an ordered pattern to imitate colours in between, so skies and skin do not break into bands; diff_mode=rectangle reprocesses only the part of each frame that changed, which is faster and matches the way GIF itself stores changes.
Lanczos scaling
Sharp when shrunk.
The video is scaled to the chosen width with the Lanczos filter, which keeps edges crisp when making a picture much smaller.
Frame rate
Fewer frames, smaller file.
Every frame is another picture in the file, so 15 fps carries half as many frames again as 10 — and the file grows roughly in step.
Looping
Plays forever.
The GIF is written with an infinite loop (-loop 0), the way GIFs are expected to behave in chats and pages.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The GIF is bigger than the video | Video formats store only what changes between frames; GIF stores far more. | Make it shorter, smaller or 10 fps — or use a short MP4 where the platform allows it. |
| Colours look blotchy in a gradient | Even a well-chosen 256 colours cannot cover a smooth sky or a soft light perfectly. | Pick a moment with fewer gradients, or accept the fine dither pattern that smooths them. |
| Movement looks choppy | At 10 fps, fast motion jumps between frames. | Choose 15 fps, or pick a slower moment. |
| There is no sound | The GIF format cannot hold audio. | Use a short MP4 if the sound matters. |
Privacy: your file stays on your computer
Turning a clip into a GIF happens entirely in your browser. The video you start from never leaves your device.
- What your browser downloads
- The page — and, the first time you use a video tool, the video engine: about 32 MB, then kept in your browser's cache.
- What it sends to us
- Nothing. There is no upload step, no copy on our servers and no account. The work happens in your computer's memory.
- How we know
- Our automated tests run every tool while recording every network request the page makes. A single upload fails the test.
- Where the result lives
- In this browser only, until you press Delete. A finished file is still here if you close the tab and come back; a job still running stops when the tab closes.
Questions
Is my file uploaded?
No. The conversion runs inside your browser, using your own computer's memory. The file never leaves your device.
Why is this GIF sharper than other free converters?
Its 256 colours are built from your clip instead of a fixed web palette, and dithering smooths the steps between them.
Does the GIF have sound?
No — the format cannot carry audio.
How long can it be?
Up to 15 seconds. Past that, an MP4 is smaller and sharper, and most places that show GIFs also take MP4.
Why is my GIF bigger than the video?
Video formats store only what changes between frames; GIF stores far more. Shorter, smaller and 10 fps keep it down.
A tool makes a file fit. It does not make people watch to the end — that is the hook, the order of the shots, the captions and the music. See how Ruzz does it.
Other conversions
Other free tools
Compress video
Too big to upload, email or text? Make it small enough, without it looking bad. Takes a few minutes.
Convert format
Will not play or upload? Turn an iPhone MOV/HEVC, WebM or MKV into an MP4. Often seconds, with no quality loss.
Crop to 9:16
Turn a landscape or square video into a vertical short for Reels, TikTok and Shorts.
Trim video
Cut the dead air off the start and end, or keep just the 30 seconds that matter.
Extract audio
Pull the sound out of a video as MP3, WAV or AAC.
Grab a cover frame
Pick any moment and save it as a vertical cover image.
Join clips
Filmed it in three takes? Put them end to end in one video — different shapes and silent clips are fine.
Compress image
Shrink and resize a photo to JPG, WebP or PNG. Instant.
Change speed
Slow motion or sped up, from 0.5× to 2×, with voices at their own pitch.
Remove sound
Take the audio off a video in seconds, picture untouched — then add a trending sound in the app.
Resize video
Exactly 1080×1920, 1080×1350, 1080×1080 or 1920×1080 — the size each platform asks for.