GIFs still work in places video does not: README files, email newsletters, Slack threads, Jira tickets and old forums. Pick an MP4, set the start and end of the moment you want, and ConvertCove builds a looping GIF with a palette tailored to that clip. No watermark, no upload.
How to convert MP4 to GIF
- Click Select MP4 files or drag them onto the box above. You can add as many as you like.
- Check that the target says GIF. Click the slider icon next to a file to change its options.
- Press Convert. Each file shows its own progress, and the work happens on your device.
- Download files one by one, or use Download all (ZIP). Press Convert more to start a new batch.
Use the trim fields to cut the clip to the 3–6 seconds that matter before anything else. Halving the duration halves the file; nothing else has as big an effect.
MP4 vs GIF
What is MP4?
MP4 video stores frames with H.264 or HEVC, which only records what changes between frames, so a minute of HD video can be just a few megabytes. It plays sound and supports millions of colours. More about the MP4 format.
What is GIF?
GIF is a 1987 image format that can hold a sequence of frames. Each frame has at most 256 colours and is compressed losslessly with LZW. It has no sound and no inter-frame compression to speak of, which is why GIFs are so much larger than the videos they come from, yet they autoplay and loop everywhere images are allowed. More about the GIF format.
| MP4 | GIF | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | MPEG-4 video | Graphics Interchange Format |
| Extensions | .mp4, .m4v | .gif |
| MIME type | video/mp4 | image/gif |
When to convert MP4 to GIF
- You want a short demo of a UI feature in a GitHub README or documentation.
- An email newsletter needs motion, and email clients do not play video.
- You are reacting with a clip in a chat or forum that only accepts images.
- A bug report is clearer with a looping recording of the problem.
Quality and settings
The converter runs two passes in one go: it first analyses the clip to build the best 256-colour palette, then maps every frame to it with light ordered dithering, which avoids the banding of generic palettes. Size grows with width × height × frame rate × duration, so keep GIFs short. 480 px wide at 12 fps is a good default; 320 px at 8–10 fps for chat, 640–800 px at 15 fps for documentation. Screen recordings with flat colours compress far better than camera footage. A GIF over about 15 MB triggers a hint to trim further.