Free video to GIF converter that never uploads your file
Clipwipe makes a looping GIF of up to 30 seconds from one video file on your device: MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV, up to 640 pixels wide and 20 frames per second, with no sound. Trim it, crop it, and set the width, frame rate and colours. It is free, with no signup and no watermark, and nothing is uploaded.
What the MP4 to GIF and video to GIF converter does
It reads a video file from your disk, decodes the frames in the part you choose, shrinks and crops them, and writes them into one GIF. That all happens inside your browser tab. You can watch the GIF on the page and see its real size before you save it. If your clip came from Veo or Gemini, take the visible star off first, because making a GIF won’t remove it. Have several clips? Merge them into one video first, then make the GIF.
How to turn a video into a GIF
- Drop your video on the tool above, or press Choose a video. On a phone, pick it from your files or gallery. It is read from your device and never uploaded.
- Choose the part you want. Type a start and an end in seconds, or pause the player on a moment and press Use player time. It starts on the first 5 seconds, and the longest GIF is 30 seconds.
- Choose a crop, width, frame rate and colours. 480 pixels at 10 frames per second is the place to start.
- Press Make GIF and wait for the bar to finish. The tab has to stay open.
- Watch it, check the size, then press Download GIF. The file keeps your video’s name, with .gif on the end. Too big? Press Change settings and make it again.
How to make a GIF smaller
GIF is an old format that stores video far less efficiently than MP4, so a few seconds can make a large file. In our test below, a 2.70 MB video gave an 8.71 MB GIF of half its length. The tool shows the real size when it finishes, and the same settings give very different results from different clips. Four things change it:
- Length. Half the seconds means half the frames.
- Width. The picture has four times the pixels at 640 pixels wide as at 320, for the same shape.
- Frame rate. 10 frames per second stores half the frames of 20. Lower rates look choppier, which is fine for a slow clip and poor for a fast one.
- Colours. Fewer colours can save some size, and they show quickly as bands across skies, skin and gradients.
Cropping doesn’t always help, because the width you choose stays the same. A square crop of a wide video at 480 pixels is 480 × 480, which has more pixels than the 480 × 270 you get from keeping its shape.
Only the parts of the picture that change from one frame to the next are stored, so a clip with a still background comes out smaller than one where everything moves, such as a handheld shot.
The whole GIF shares one palette, and the tool doesn’t dither, so smooth gradients can show bands, especially at 32 or 64 colours. A clip with very different scenes shares those colours between them.
Tested on this page: a 2.70 MB video made an 8.71 MB GIF
On 13 November 2026 we ran one 10-second MP4 of 2.70 MB through this page 3 times, in headless Chromium 151 on an Apple M2 Pro Mac. The tool kept the first 5 seconds, which is where it starts. The runs took 5.29, 5.38 and 5.30 seconds, and each gave a 5.0-second GIF of 8.71 MB.
The GIF was larger than the video it came from: 8.71 MB for 5 seconds, against 2.70 MB for all 10 seconds of the MP4, so about 6 times the bytes for each second. One frame, at 2.5 seconds, scored 0.912 SSIM (1 is identical) and 26.14 dB PSNR against the video. That is a single frame of a single clip on one machine: your device will be faster or slower, and a different clip gives a different size.
What the tool can and can’t do
A GIF can be up to 30 seconds long. There is a second limit, because every frame stays in your device’s memory until the file is written: 80 million pixels across all the frames. The tool does the sum as you change the settings and tells you before it starts. Some examples:
Three of the four example settings below can’t reach 30 seconds.
| Size | Frame rate | Longest GIF |
|---|---|---|
| 480 × 270 (16:9) | 10 fps | 30 seconds |
| 640 × 360 (16:9) | 15 fps | About 23 seconds |
| 640 × 360 (16:9) | 20 fps | About 17 seconds |
| 480 × 853 (9:16) | 10 fps | About 19 seconds |
These are the limits the tool enforces, not a promise that your device will finish. A phone can run out of memory well before them, so start short there. The tool can’t add text or make a transparent GIF, and it won’t enlarge a video past its own width.
Clipwipe or Ezgif?
Ezgif does more than Clipwipe. Use Clipwipe when you want your file to stay on your device without changing a setting. Use Ezgif for a longer GIF at a low frame rate, or for formats Clipwipe doesn’t read.
Ezgif allows 60 seconds only at 5 fps, and its file cap is 200 MB.
| Clipwipe | Ezgif | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Always in your browser | Uploads to its server, unless you turn on its local processing option |
| Largest file | No limit set; your device’s memory is the ceiling | 200 MB |
| Longest GIF | 30 seconds, less at large sizes | 60 seconds at 5 fps, 30 seconds at 10 fps |
| Video formats | MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV | Those, plus AVI, MPEG, FLV, OGG, M4V, WMV, ASF, 3GP and others |
| Keeping your file | Never receives it | Deleted 1 hour after upload on its video to GIF page; its privacy page says up to 1 hour after last use |
What Clipwipe handles
Video in: MP4, MOV, WebM and MKV, one file at a time, when your browser can decode them.
GIF out: up to 30 seconds, looping forever. Width 240, 320, 480 or 640 pixels, never above your video’s own. 5, 10, 15 or 20 frames per second. 32, 64, 128 or 255 colours.
Crop: keep the original shape, or take the middle of the picture at 1:1, 16:9 or 9:16. You can’t move the crop.
Left out: the sound, because GIF has none.
Not supported: web links, copy-protected (DRM) videos, AVI files and transparent GIFs.
Responsible use
Only make GIFs from videos you made or have the right to use. Turning a clip into a GIF doesn’t change who owns it, and it doesn’t remove a visible watermark.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a video to a GIF for free?
Drop the video on the tool on this page, choose the part you want and the settings, press Make GIF, and download the file. It is free, needs no account, and adds no watermark.
Can I convert an MP4 to a GIF?
Yes. Drop the MP4 on the tool on this page, choose up to 30 seconds, and press Make GIF. MP4 to GIF runs in your browser, so the file is not uploaded. Your browser has to be able to decode the video inside the MP4: H.265 video can fail in some browsers, and the tool says so when it does. The GIF has no sound.
Is my video uploaded when I make a GIF?
No. The frames are read and built into a GIF inside your browser tab, so neither the video nor the GIF is sent anywhere. Your browser’s developer tools show this: the Network tab has no request carrying your video while it runs. The connection only loads the page and the tool.
How long can the GIF be?
Up to 30 seconds. Large sizes and high frame rates lower that, because every frame is held in memory: 640 pixels wide at 20 frames per second stops at about 17 seconds for a 16:9 video. The tool tells you before it starts.
How big a video can I use?
The tool sets no limit on the size of the file, because it reads the part you choose, plus the file’s index. The real limit is your device’s memory and whether your browser can decode the video. We have not published a tested maximum.
Why is my GIF so big?
GIF stores video far less efficiently than MP4, and it grows with the width, the frame rate, the length and the amount of movement in the clip. In our test, the first 5 seconds of a 2.70 MB, 10-second MP4 made an 8.71 MB GIF. Shorten the clip first, then lower the width, then the frame rate.
What settings should I use?
Start at 480 pixels wide and 10 frames per second with 255 colours, watch the result and check its size, and change one thing at a time from there.
Can I crop the GIF?
Yes, to the middle of the picture at 1:1, 16:9 or 9:16, or keep the original shape. You can’t choose a different part of the picture to crop to.
Does the GIF keep the sound?
No. GIF has no sound. If you need the sound too, keep it as a video, or save it separately with Video to MP3.
Why does my GIF show bands of colour?
A GIF can use at most 255 colours here, and the whole file shares them. Smooth gradients such as skies show that most. Use 255 colours, and pick a clip with less variety in it if you can. The tool doesn’t dither.
Can I make a GIF from a YouTube, TikTok or Instagram link?
No. The GIF has to come from a video file already on your device, because the tool does not download from websites.
Which video formats can I turn into a GIF?
MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV files whose video your browser can decode. An iPhone’s H.265 video can fail in some browsers, and the tool says so when it does. AVI files are not supported.
Why is it slow, or why did it stop?
The whole job runs on your device. Reading the frames shows progress, but building the GIF at the end can sit on one step for a while on a long clip. Keep the tab open, or press Cancel and try a shorter clip or a lower width. If it stops, your device may have run out of memory, which is more likely on a phone.
More free tools that run on your device
- Merge videos online: Join several clips into one continuous video, with transitions, without uploading them.
- Video to MP3: Save a video’s soundtrack as an MP3, without uploading the file.
- MP4 to MP3: Save an MP4 file’s soundtrack as an MP3 at 128, 192 or 320 kbps, without uploading the MP4.
- Compress video: Shrink a video file by quality and resolution, without uploading it.
- Gemini watermark remover: Erase the Gemini sparkle from AI images and video, with exact-pixel recovery on images.