Free Video to GIF Maker

Upload a video, trim the part you want, and turn it into an animated GIF — free, no sign-up, nothing leaves your browser.

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Drop a video file here, or click to browse
MP4, WebM, MOV
0:00 Selected: 0:00 0:00

⚠️ GIFs get very large quickly — clips longer than ~10 seconds may take a while and produce a big file.

Capturing frames…

Why GIF stuck around despite better formats existing

Technically, GIF is an old, inefficient format — it's limited to 256 colors per frame and compresses far worse than modern video codecs, which is exactly why GIF files balloon in size compared to an equivalent short video. What kept it dominant anyway is behavior, not quality: GIFs autoplay on loop without sound almost everywhere — social media, messaging apps, forums, comment sections — without needing a play button or making noise, which made it the default way to share a short looping clip long before better alternatives existed. Newer formats like WebP or APNG can do the same job more efficiently, but GIF's near-universal support is hard to displace once a format becomes the expected way something gets shared.

Frequently asked questions

Is this GIF maker really free?

Yes, completely free with no sign-up and no watermark by default.

Why does a longer clip take a while?

Making a GIF means capturing and encoding many individual frames — longer clips or higher frame rates mean more frames to process, so it takes proportionally longer.

Does my video get uploaded anywhere?

No. Everything happens locally in your browser — your video is never sent to a server.

Why is my GIF file so large?

GIF is an older, less efficient format than modern video codecs. Try a lower frame rate, a smaller width, or a shorter clip to reduce the file size.

Ad blocker detected

We've noticed an ad blocker is active. Cwtch.es relies on ads to stay free, so GIFs created while a blocker is active will include a small Cwtch.es watermark in the corner. Disable your ad blocker for this site (or add it to your allow-list) and recheck to create one without it.