Compress GIF
Make an animated GIF smaller, or get it under the limit for Discord, Slack or email. Compare before and after, then download. Nothing is uploaded.
Drag a GIF here or click to select
Animated GIFs up to 50MB. You can also paste one. Nothing is uploaded.
How to compress a GIF
- Drop your GIF in the box above, choose it from your files, or paste it
- It is compressed right away with light settings; the new size and how much smaller it is show above the result
- Need a set size? Pick a target like Discord or Slack emoji, or type your own limit
- Compare the two GIFs, then press Download GIF, or Share on a phone
Compress a GIF to a target file size
Most of the time you don't need the smallest possible GIF, you need one that is accepted: under 10 MB for a Discord message, under 256 KB for a Discord emoji. When you pick a target, the tool encodes the GIF again and again, each time a little more aggressively, and stops at the first result that fits. It goes from the changes you are least likely to notice to the ones you will: stronger lossy compression, then fewer colors, then a smaller size, and only then fewer frames. You can still move any slider afterwards, and the badge tells you whether the result is under the limit.
What each setting does to the file size
| Setting | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Lossy compression | Pixels that changed only a little since the last frame, like film grain, dither and flicker, are not stored again. Anything that really moves is always redrawn, so nothing leaves a trail. | GIFs made from video, where it often saves a third or more; cartoons and logos gain little |
| Colors per frame | A GIF frame can hold at most 256 colors. Fewer colors means smaller numbers to store and longer repeats. | Fine for cartoons, logos and screen recordings; photos start to band below 128 |
| Frames | Keeps every 2nd, 3rd or 4th frame and shows each kept frame for longer, so the GIF lasts just as long. | Halves the size quickly, but motion gets choppier |
| Scale | Shrinks the width and height. At 70% the GIF has about half the pixels. | The cleanest way to save a lot when the GIF is shown small anyway |
Why GIFs are so big
The GIF format is from 1987. It stores every frame as a picture of up to 256 colors and compresses it with LZW, which only saves space when the same run of pixels repeats. There is no motion prediction like in video, so a three second clip can easily be 5 MB as a GIF and 300 KB as an MP4. Noise is the enemy: film grain and dithering change from pixel to pixel and from frame to frame, so every frame has to be stored almost whole. Lossy compression looks for those tiny changes. In a patch where nothing really moved, pixels that only flickered keep their old color instead of being stored again. Where something moved or faded, every changed pixel is redrawn exactly, so moving edges stay clean. In a test on a grainy 1.6 MB clip, the light setting saved about 40% and the strongest more than half.
GIF size limits for Discord, Slack, X and email
| Where | File limit | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Discord message (free account) | 10 MB | Nitro raises the upload limit |
| Discord emoji | 256 KB | Shown at 128 × 128 px or smaller |
| Slack emoji | 128 KB | Square works best, 128 × 128 px |
| Twitch animated emote | 1 MB | 112 × 112 px, up to 60 frames |
| X (Twitter) | 15 MB on the web, 5 MB in the app | The 5 MB preset works for both |
| Email newsletter | about 1 MB | Not a hard limit: big GIFs load slowly on phones |
Limits as published by each service at the time of writing; they change now and then. For emoji and emotes the size in pixels matters as much as the file size, so those targets also scale the GIF down to fit. To crop a GIF to a square first, use Resize GIF.
Compress a GIF without uploading it
Most online GIF compressors send your file to their server, process it there and send it back, often with a queue and a size cap. Here the GIF is decoded, compressed and saved by your own browser. Nothing is uploaded, so it works for screen recordings with private information on them, it is quick even on a slow connection, and there is no daily limit.
More Image Tools
To change a GIF's width and height, crop it, rotate it, speed it up or reverse it, use Resize GIF. For JPG, PNG and WebP photos, the Image Compressor does the same job. Saving GIFs from Pinterest? The Pinterest Video Downloader keeps them animated.
FAQs
How do I compress a GIF to a specific size?
Drop the GIF above and pick a target such as Discord message (10 MB) or Slack emoji (128 KB), or type your own limit in KB or MB and press Fit. The tool tries the lightest settings first and only scales the GIF down or drops frames if it has to. The result and its size show next to the original before you download.
How do I make a GIF under 10 MB for Discord?
Choose the Discord message target. Free Discord accounts can send files up to 10 MB; Nitro allows more. If the GIF was made from a video, lossy compression alone often gets it under, so it keeps its size and every frame. Otherwise the tool also uses fewer colors or scales it down a little.
Does compressing a GIF lower the quality?
GIF compression that makes a real difference is lossy: some detail is traded for size. At the light setting the change is hard to see on most GIFs. Compare the before and after side by side. If parts of the picture look frozen or blotchy, lower the lossy level; if edges look rough, use more colors.
What is the best setting to compress a GIF without losing quality?
Start with lossy compression at 30 and all 256 colors, which is the default. That keeps every frame and the full size. If you need it smaller, go to 60 before you reduce colors, and scale down before you drop frames: a slightly smaller GIF looks better than a choppy one.
Why did my compressed GIF get bigger?
GIFs saved by Photoshop or another GIF optimizer are often already well packed. Re-encoding them with light settings can come out larger. Raise the lossy level, try 128 or 64 colors, or scale the GIF down; the size next to the result updates each time.
Why does lossy compression not make my GIF smaller?
Lossy compression here skips tiny changes between frames, like film grain, dither and flicker. Cartoons, logos, stickers and screen recordings have none of that: every change is a real one, so there is nothing to skip. For those GIFs, use fewer colors and scale them down instead.
Can I compress a GIF on my iPhone or Android phone?
Yes. Tap the box to pick a GIF from your photos or files. When it is done, Share sends the smaller GIF straight to Photos or a chat. Very long GIFs can run out of memory on a phone; cut them shorter first if that happens.
Is my GIF uploaded to a server?
No. Decoding, compressing and saving all happen in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, so it also works for private GIFs and keeps working on a weak connection once the page has loaded.
Should I convert my GIF to MP4 or WebP instead?
If the place you are posting accepts video, an MP4 of the same animation is often 5 to 10 times smaller than any GIF. Emoji, many chat apps, email and some forums only take GIFs, and for those compressing the GIF is the way to go.