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Compress GIF

Three levers, one lighter animation: fewer colours, fewer frames, smaller dimensions. The preview plays as you adjust.

Drop, paste or pick an image

Animated GIF — up to 50 MB

In browser

Settings

Colours

Frames

Scale

Original
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Result
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Processing runs in this tab. Your images are never uploaded to a server.

Colours, frames and size: what each GIF lever saves

A GIF stores every frame as its own picture with up to 256 colours. That is why animations get heavy, and why there are three separate ways to slim them down.

LeverOptionsEffect on the fileVisible trade-off
Scale100%, 75%, 50%The biggest lever: 50% keeps about a quarter of the pixels in every frameFine text and thin lines get harder to read
FramesKeep all, every 2nd, every 3rdRoughly halves or thirds the number of frames to storeFast motion looks choppier; duration stays the same
Colours256, 128, 64, 32Smaller palette and simpler pixel data per frameGradients and faces show banding at 64 and below

Levers multiply. Scaling to 75% and keeping every 2nd frame usually beats squeezing colours alone.

Start with the scale

A reaction GIF rarely needs its original width. Dropping to 75% is often invisible in a chat window.

Then thin out frames

Screen recordings and slow animations survive losing every 2nd frame well. Quick action scenes are better left with all frames.

Colours last

Cartoons and UI demos handle 64 colours; real-life footage usually needs 128 or 256 to avoid blotchy skin and skies.

Size limits in chat apps and email

GIFs are shared where upload caps apply. These figures change over time, so treat them as a guide and check the app if an upload fails.

WhereUsual capTip
Discord (free account)around 10 MB per fileScale to 75% and keep every 2nd frame first
Email attachmentabout 20–25 MB per messageKeep each GIF well under 5 MB so it opens quickly
Website or blog postno hard cap, but every MB slows the pageAim for 1–3 MB and a smaller width

Some apps also convert GIFs to video on upload. Limits listed here are approximate and may differ by plan or region.

Check the file, not the preview

The new file size is shown after each change, so you can stop as soon as you are under the cap you need.

Long clips need more than one lever

A ten-second GIF at full width can be tens of megabytes. Combine scale and frame skipping before touching colours.

Trim length elsewhere

This tool keeps the full animation. If it is still too heavy, cut the clip shorter in your recorder or editor first.

What stays the same after compression

Compression changes how the GIF is stored, not how it behaves. The things people notice most are preserved.

Timing is kept

When frames are skipped, their display time is added to the frame that remains, so the animation lasts as long as before.

Looping is kept

The output loops the way GIFs normally do, so a reaction or sticker keeps repeating in chat.

Transparency is kept

Transparent pixels stay transparent. GIF only supports on/off transparency, so soft edges were already hard in the original.

Compress GIF: questions

How do I compress a GIF without ruining the animation?

Lower the scale to 75% first, then try keeping every 2nd frame. Watch the preview after each step; timing and looping are kept, so only smoothness and sharpness change.

Why does my GIF look grainy after compressing?

The colour count is too low for that footage. Move back up to 128 or 256 colours and win the size back with scale or frames instead.

Can I compress a GIF under 10 MB for Discord?

Usually yes. Combining 75% scale with every 2nd frame often cuts a GIF to well under half its size; check the new file size shown before downloading.

Does skipping frames make the GIF play faster?

No. The delay of each dropped frame is merged into the one kept before it, so total duration is unchanged. Motion just becomes a little less fluid.

Why does compressing a big GIF take a few seconds?

Every frame is decoded, rebuilt and re-encoded on your own device. Long or wide animations mean hundreds of full images to process, all without uploading anything.

Does the GIF compressor turn my file into a video?

No, you get a GIF back that plays anywhere GIFs do. Converting animations to video formats is not part of this tool.

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