Free GIF Maker
Turn a set of images into an animated GIF. Set the frame speed, the output width, looping and a bounce effect, then download it.
Frames run in the order they were added. To reorder, remove and re-add them.
Width is the biggest lever on file size.
Getting the Settings Right
| What you are making | Frame speed | Width |
|---|---|---|
| A slideshow of photos | 1200 to 2000 ms | 600 to 800 px |
| A before and after comparison | 800 to 1500 ms | 600 px |
| A UI demo or tutorial step | 500 to 900 ms | 700 to 1000 px |
| A smooth animation | 60 to 120 ms | 320 to 480 px |
| A reaction GIF | 80 to 150 ms | 320 px |
Bounce is useful when a loop would otherwise jump. A pendulum swinging, a door opening, a chart building up. It doubles the frame count, so it also roughly doubles the file size.
Keeping the File Small
GIF is an old format. It stores 256 colours per frame and compresses badly compared with anything modern, which is why GIFs balloon so quickly.
- Width matters most. Halving the width cuts the file to roughly a quarter.
- Fewer frames. Ten frames at 150 ms often reads the same as thirty at 50 ms.
- Flat colour compresses well. Screen recordings and illustrations make small GIFs. Video and photographs do not.
- A still background helps. GIF only stores what changed between frames, so keep the camera locked off.
Doing It in GIMP
- Open the first frame, then File > Open as Layers for all the rest. Each layer is one frame, bottom layer first.
- To set individual timings, rename a layer to include the delay, for example
frame1 (300ms). - Preview it with Filters > Animation > Playback.
- Run Filters > Animation > Optimize (for GIF). This alone often halves the file size.
- File > Export As, name it with a .gif extension, and tick As animation in the export dialog.
The advantage of GIMP is per frame control and the optimiser. The advantage of this tool is that it takes ten seconds.
Common Questions
Why does my GIF look grainy?
GIF is limited to 256 colours per frame. Photographs and gradients get dithered down to fit, which shows as speckling. Flat graphics are unaffected.
Can I upload a video?
Not here. Export the video frames as images first, then bring those in.
Do the frames have to be the same size?
They are all scaled to match the first frame. Mismatched shapes will look stretched, so crop them to the same ratio first.
How do I make it play only once?
Untick Loop forever. It plays through once and stops on the last frame.