What GIF is
GIF is limited to 256 colours per frame and uses dated LZW compression, which is why a few seconds of animation can weigh more than a minute of video. It persists because every chat app, forum and office tool plays it.
Use GIF when
- Short reaction loops in places that don't play video or animated WebP.
- Simple flat-colour animations.
Avoid GIF when
- Photographic content, where 256 colours band and dither.
- Anywhere animated WebP or video is accepted: both are far smaller.
How ConvertX handles GIF
- Reads GIF on every platform. Converting a GIF to WebP keeps the animation; converting to JPG, PNG, AVIF, BMP or TIFF takes the first frame.
- The compressor recompresses GIFs losslessly in "Exact quality" mode and keeps them animated in both modes.
- ConvertX does not write GIF, so there is no "to GIF" conversion.
Extensions: .gif. Metadata: no EXIF is written by ConvertX.
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Convert GIF to…
Need the file smaller rather than in another format? See compress GIF.
Frequently asked questions
Does converting a GIF to PNG keep the animation?
No. PNG output is the first frame. Convert to WebP to keep the animation.
Can ConvertX make a GIF smaller?
Yes. The compressor recompresses the file and keeps it animated; the savings depend on how the GIF was made.