Convert to GIF Image

Who still needs GIF?

More people than you might think. GIF is supported by literally every browser and email client ever made, which keeps it alive in email signatures, newsletter templates, old intranet pages, forum avatars, embedded device screens, and software that was written before PNG or WEBP existed. Some platforms only offer a GIF slot for badges, banners or small animated graphics. When you are working with any of those, you need your images in GIF regardless of what format they started in.

Convert to GIF Image accepts JPG, JPEG, PNG, WEBP, JIFF, BMP and GIF uploads and writes each one as a .gif file on our server. You can scale images down at the same time, which is often the single most important step when making a good GIF.

The 256-colour rule

Everything about GIF quality comes back to one limit: each frame can use a palette of no more than 256 colours. That is plenty for a logo, a pictogram, a chart or a cartoon with flat fills. It is not much for a photograph, which may contain hundreds of thousands of distinct shades. When a colourful image is converted, the encoder has to choose the best 256 and approximate the rest, usually by mixing nearby colours in a fine dot pattern called dithering. Up close, skies and skin can look speckled or banded.

This is a property of the format, not of the converter, and no setting on the page removes it. What you can do is choose sources that suit GIF and keep them small.

Matching sources to GIF

On transparency: GIF can mark one palette colour as fully transparent but has no partial transparency. Soft, anti-aliased edges from a PNG or WEBP can therefore come out jagged or with a light fringe. Check the preview of any transparent source, and if the edges look rough, keep the image as PNG with Convert to PNG.

Animated sources

If you upload a GIF that is already animated, the server is designed to handle its frames one by one, so resizing an animated GIF while keeping it a GIF is a sensible use of this page. Results depend on the image library running on the server, so preview the output before you replace the original. Still images from JPG, PNG, WEBP or BMP become single-frame GIFs; the converter does not assemble several pictures into an animation.

Settings, and which ones matter here

The Configuration card opens with Convert Format set to GIF.

Resize Unit is the control that matters most. GIF files grow quickly with pixel count, especially for photo-like images, so set the exact size you will display. For an email signature logo that might be Pixel with a Width of 300; for a forum avatar, 150 by 150. Choosing a unit reveals the Width and Height boxes. With Pixel, filling only one side keeps the proportions; with Percent, Inch, Centimeter or Millimeter, fill both.

Quality (10% to 100%, default 75%) is designed for lossy formats. With GIF it has little or no visible effect, so do not count on it to reduce file size.

DPI can be filled in, though GIF is used on screens and the value is rarely read. It matters mainly if you resize in physical units, where it sets how many pixels an inch or centimeter becomes (96 when left empty).

Converting to GIF, in order

1. Pick a Resize Unit and the target size.
2. Drop your images on Select Images or click Select File; any image type can be chosen here.
3. Look over the Upload Queue. The format badge on each card shows what you are converting from, which helps you spot photos that will not look good as GIF.
4. Press Process on one card to preview how a representative image turns out.
5. Press Process Queue for the rest.
6. Click each output thumbnail for a larger view and check for banding, fringes or jagged edges.
7. Click Download, or Copy Base64 to paste a small GIF directly into an HTML email template or stylesheet.

The From URL button accepts image links, one per line, so you can convert logos that are already published without saving them first. Remember to rename those downloads; they come back without the original name.

Signs your GIF is too heavy

If the output card shows an up arrow beside the file size, the GIF is heavier than the source. That nearly always means a photo-like image at a large size. Cut the dimensions, perhaps by 50% with Percent, or choose a different format. For a photo, JPG or WEBP will be both lighter and better looking.

Best practice

• Design graphics for GIF with flat colours and crisp shapes.
• Resize to the exact display size before or during conversion.
• Keep originals in PNG or your design tool's format; GIF is an export, not a master.
• Test the result where it will be used, for example by sending a test email with the signature.

Avoid

• Converting full-colour photographs for normal web use.
• Relying on the Quality slider to shrink GIFs.
• Expecting smooth semi-transparent edges.
• Uploading files larger than 10 MB, which the server rejects.

Limitations

• Accepted inputs: JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, WEBP, JIFF and BMP, up to 10 MB each.
• Width, Height and DPI accept whole numbers only.
• All files in one queue run use the same configuration; a failure on one makes the batch report an error.
• Metadata is stripped by default and orientation is applied automatically.
• No crop, rotate, flip or zoom controls, and no tool for building animations from separate images.

Where your images go

The conversion is performed on our server by a server-side image library, not in your browser. Uploaded images are processed, the GIF comes back as Base64 inside the response, and the temporary server file is deleted afterwards.

Need a GIF from a single JPG with more format background? See JPG to GIF.

Frequently Asked Questions