GIF is an old format: every frame is a picture with at most 256 colours, and there is no real video compression. That’s why a few seconds of video can turn into a huge file.
Image: Animdock Stock — free to download.
The five settings that matter
- Length — size grows linearly with duration. Two to six seconds is the sweet spot for reactions, UI demos and loops.
- Width — halving the width cuts the size by about four. 320–480 px is enough for chats and docs.
- Frame rate — 10–15 fps looks smooth for most content; 24+ fps doubles the size for little gain.
- Content — flat colours and few moving pixels compress far better than noisy camera footage.
- Start point — trim to the moment that matters; every extra second costs.
Making one
Open Video to GIF, drop an MP4, MOV or WebM, set Start, Length, Width and Frame rate, and press Convert to GIF. The preview shows the result before you download it.
Image: Animdock Stock — free to download.
When not to use a GIF
If the platform accepts video, an MP4 or WebM is usually ten times smaller at better quality — GIF’s only advantage is that it autoplays everywhere. Animated an Animdock template? Export it as WebM, then turn the best moment into a GIF here.