Convert videos or image frames into optimized, loopable animated GIF files.
Created by CompuServe in 1987, the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is one of the oldest image formats still widely used on the web. Despite its age and massive inefficiency compared to modern formats like WebM or MP4, its universal support across every browser, OS, and messaging app keeps it relevant.
A GIF is fundamentally limited to a palette of maximum 256 colors per frame.
When you upload high-resolution 24-bit photographs (which can contain millions of colors) to this tool, the image data must be quantized. The algorithm analyzes the image and builds a custom mathematical palette of the 256 most important colors to approximate the original image.
Because 256 colors isn't enough for smooth gradients, the encoder uses Dithering—scattering pixels of different available colors next to each other to create the optical illusion of a missing color. This is why complex GIFs often look grainy.
To reduce file size, GIFs use Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW) compression. This is a lossless algorithm that finds repeated patterns of pixels (like a large area of solid blue sky) and stores them efficiently in a dictionary.
Interestingly, LZW is the exact same algorithm used in the famous ZIP file format. Because it relies on exact pixel matching, applying dithering (which adds noise) usually destroys LZW compression efficiency, causing the file size to balloon.
Why do high-quality photographs often look grainy when converted to a GIF?
