The Complete Guide to Making Animated GIFs

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Sometimes the best response to a group chat or email is a strong GIF – a small animation that can express your feelings better than you can print them. While you can find tons of GIFs for any occasion with a few taps on your phone keypad in your favorite messaging apps, why use the same “DealWithIt.gif” meme when you can create your own?

With all the photos and videos you shoot and consume on a daily basis, you probably have a treasure trove of content that can easily be turned into web art to share. The tools you can use to create GIFs are mostly free and easier to use than ever. Here are some of the best ways to create GIFs regardless of your technical background or device – desktop, laptop, or mobile.

One GIF maker to manage all platforms: Giphy

What is it

Giphy is a web-based tool that lets you create and host simple animated images for the web. Not only can you convert your photos and videos under 20 seconds in length to GIFs, but you can also convert existing online videos to clips (with some limitations). For example, the original video cannot be longer than 15 minutes and cannot violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or the Giphy Community Guidelines .

Who is it for

Anyone who wants to create simple GIFs without worrying about things like frame rate.

Platform

Giphy works with any web browser, so you can access this GIF maker on any computer or mobile device. Giphy is also available as a mobile app for Android and iOS .

How it works on your desktop or laptop

Open Giphy and click ” Create ” to start creating your GIF. If you’ve already made a GIF and just want to download it to use and publish on the web, just click Download .

How it works on mobile devices

After installing the GIPHY app from the app store of your choice, open the app and tap the green “+” symbol at the bottom of the screen to create a GIF. You can take new photos or use photos in your photo gallery to create a simple GIF. You can also drag and drop animated stickers, texts and photo filters to enhance your content. Once you’re happy with your GIF, you can save it to your device or upload it to GIPHY so you can share the GIF online.

For advanced Android GIF artists: GIF Maker-Editor

What is it

GIF Maker-Editor is a comprehensive GIF app that gives you precise control over your creations, from adjusting GIF frames per second to adjusting file size. You can apply all sorts of fun decorations to your photos, but stickers and effects are not as trendy as competing apps (no mustache stickers here).

As far as the free app is concerned, GIF Maker-Editor relatively doesn’t show annoying ads, but limits your image resolution to 448 by 578 pixels. If you want to create 720p GIFs, you need to upgrade to the Pro version ($ 2.99).

Who is it for

Android users who want to mock their gifs. Stop adding simple stickers to your photos and climb to the big leagues – make some animations!

Platform

Android

How it works

Using images from your camera roll or recently captured photos and videos, simply press any of the rectangular buttons on the app’s home screen to begin your GIF maker journey. (The circular app icons indicate the folder with your finished GIFs.)

You can turn still images into an immersive slideshow by clicking the Images to GIF button, selecting any number of photos, and then clicking the checkmark in the upper right corner. From here, the bottom of the screen becomes a sidebar that gives you more control over your GIF. You can decorate the GIF with stickers, draw a drawing on it, adjust the GIF speed, or even insert an existing GIF into your new creation.

When you’re happy with your GIF, save the file to your device or post it to your chosen social network. The process is the same as if you already have a video or want to capture fresh content to turn it into GIF.

This app also makes it easy to edit your GIF. If you change your mind about your GIF, you can easily edit the file by clicking the Edit GIF or Quick GIF Editing button. Is your GIF too big to publish on the web? You can further compress the GIF file by clicking Compress GIF or Edit GIF to adjust its resolution.

For advanced iOS GIF artists: ImgPlay

What is it

The free ImgPlay app gives you a lot of options when creating your next GIF, from the number of frames per second it can display (up to 30 frames per second), to tons of ready-made meme templates that you can apply – even to videos. This version is not exclusive to iOS, but makes it easy to turn your favorite Live Photos and Boomerangs into GIFs.

Who is it for

Those who are not happy with the standard Live Photo-to-GIF to iPhone converter (or any other shortcuts you have created or downloaded to create GIFs).

Platform

iOS and Android

How it works

This app automatically organizes all the content you already have on your device by file type – Videos, Photos, Live Photos, Burst Shots, and GIFs – so you can start selecting all matching files to create your next GIF as soon as you open Appendix. And if you want to take some new images in your next GIF, all you have to do is tap Camera at the bottom of the app to start a photo shoot.

Once you’ve selected the images or videos you want to use in your GIF, the interface transforms into three areas. The top panel displays all the frames that are in your GIF, the middle one contains the content you’re trying to edit, and the bottom menu shows you all the design options you have at your disposal, including handy templates called Canvases.

Unfortunately, this free app watermarks your GIFs before you can share them online, but it disappears when you upgrade to the ImgPlay Pro app ($ 4.99).

For gifts on your PC: ScreenToGif

What is it

ScreenToGif is a free open source program designed to record everything that is displayed on your computer. Whether you are watching your favorite live stream on Twitch, attending a web conference, or drawing on a digital drawing board, this little app can help you convert the image you are watching to GIF. The possibilities are endless .

Who is it for

Windows users who want to record their digital life – like epic gaming battles or viral moments in YouTube videos – to share with friends and family. Mac users can try GIPHY Capture to access similar features.

Platform

ScreenToGif: Windows . GIPHY Capture: Mac

How it works:

After installing the latest version of the app, open it and select the type of content you want to record: Recorder, Webcam, (Thumbnail) Whiteboard, or (Content) Editor. Let’s say you’re trying to make a GIF of a historic gymnastic movement that Simone Biles first did in 2019. What you need to do is:

  1. Open the video you want to record on your computer.
  2. Open ScreenToGif and select Recorder.
  3. Drag the ScreenToGif interface so that it is on top of your video. Feel free to resize the window so your video can be seen inside the rectangular box.
  4. Queue the video where you want to record. Play video.
  5. Press the “red” circle (in the frame of the ScreenToGif) to start recording.
  6. Click the blue square (in the ScreenToGif frame) to stop and the rest of the program will open, allowing you to edit and save your GIF.
  7. If you want to share your high resolution GIF with the internet, you will have to upload it to an image hosting service like Imgur . Otherwise, save your work and you’re done!

For Serious Action with GIFs: Adobe Photoshop

What is it

Photoshop is the industry standard photo editing software. This is definitely not the way to go for those looking for a cheap (or free) way to create GIFs, but Photoshop gives you many powerful tools to edit and optimize your animation.

Who is it for

If you’re a serious photographer looking to create multiple high-res GIFs to impress Redditors , or you want to seriously tweak the image quality or visuals of your GIFs, Photoshop is your friend.

How it works

If you just want to create a GIF from some fun video or movie you are watching, start by extracting a clip from a full video file using the VLC media player .

  1. Open the video in VLC
  2. In the View section, select More Controls.
  3. Position the playhead about 5-10 seconds before the action you want to record.
  4. Press the red record button.
  5. Click “Play” on the video.
  6. When you’re done recording the action, hit the record button again.
  7. Find the clip on your computer (probably in your regular Videos folder).

Now is the time to have some fun. Photoshop lets you do just about anything you can do with regular images with individual frames of animation. Rather than worrying too much, here’s how you can get started by creating a simple animated GIF:

  1. In Photoshop, choose File > Import > Video Frames To Layers.
  2. In the dialog that appears, use the left and right handles to trim the clip to the frames you want to import.
  3. (Optional) Use a text tool or filters to edit and modify individual frames.
  4. To export a GIF, choose File > Save For Web.
  5. Here you will have many options that you can customize. The main change you should make is to select “Responsive” in the first dropdown under GIF. if not already selected. Otherwise, tweak as you see fit, but the default options should give you a decent quality GIF.
  6. At the bottom of the Loop Options section, make sure Forever is selected.
  7. Click “Save …” to give your animation a name and place it somewhere.

That’s all! Once that’s done, you can upload it to Imgur or whatever file hosting service you prefer, or just email them to your bosses and / or friends.

These five methods for creating GIFs should satisfy the most basic needs, but there are always new and better tricks. If you have a preferred method, application, or utility that you like, let us know in the comments.

This story was originally published on 1/1714 and was updated on 08/27/19 to provide more complete and up-to-date information.

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