One of the most popular pastimes on the web today is creating GIFs and sharing them with the world. We love them because, for the most part, GIFs are entertaining. We’re sure many folks would love to create their own but lack the knowledge of how to do it. That’s fine because we’ve got your back on this.
Creating the perfect GIF is pretty easy, though it takes some time because you’ll need a video, an image, and the right tool to get it up and run. There are several tools out there, and we’re going to talk about some free online tools to create an animated GIF while explaining how to turn a short video clip or image into a neat animated GIF. We take a look at Giphy.com and GIF.com.
You’ll show it off to your friends by the end of this article. They’ll give you cookies and milk because you’ll be so awesome.
Online tools to create animated GIF
As we’ve stated above, you’ll need a short video. We do not suggest going for a long video because that would defeat the whole idea of creating and sharing a GIF on the web. GIFs need to be short for the best performance and entertainment value, you know, a couple of seconds fast.
Giphy.com
After getting your video clip, you’ll need a program to turn gold into magic. We suggest playing with web tools instead of software because they are more accessible. We recommend Giphy, one of the best tools for creating awesome GIFs.
Giphy is awesome because it allows users to upload their videos or point to a YouTube URL. However, the video size cannot exceed 100MB.
On the website, click on “Create” to get things started. It should open the GIF maker, which allows the user to upload video files or add YouTube links. If you wish to create a GIF from pictures, you can upload a slideshow. Furthermore, there are other options here as well. They allow the user to add a caption and other cool things.
The option is also there to change each video’s duration and start time. It is especially great for YouTube videos, as you won’t cut the video beforehand. You can visit Giphy.com.
GIF.com
While creating GIFs via Giphy is easy, an issue shows its ugly head when you’re ready to do this via a mobile device. Giphy isn’t ideal, and as such, we recommend GIF.com. This website is perfect for making GIFs from a smartphone and for YouTube videos. Creating GIFs via GIF.com is similar to how things are done on Giphy, so there’s no huge learning curve.
If you are looking for desktop freeware to create animated GIFs, take a look at these:
- Screen To GIF lets you create animated GIF Image
- AnimatedGIF is another free animated GIF maker for Windows.
How do I turn my video into a GIF?
Many tools accept video files and allow you to convert them into a GIF file. Since it’s a sequence of images in repeat, doing so is not a big problem. All the video editor must extract those pictures or frames from the video and convert them into a GIF file.
