GIF to MP4 Converter

How to Convert GIF to MP4 Online

1. Upload Your GIF: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to select one or more animated GIFs. Batch conversion is supported — every file uses the same settings.
2. Pick File Compression and Quality Preset: Default is Constant Quality at the "Very High (Recommended)" preset, which produces a near-lossless H.264 MP4 at modest file size. Switch to Constraint Quality if you need to target a specific bitrate ceiling.
3. Set Resolution (Optional): Keep the original dimensions, scale by percentage, pick a Preset Resolution (144p through 4320p, plus social-media sizes like 1080x1920 for Reels/Shorts), or enter custom Width x Height. Aspect ratio is locked by default.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert". Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after one hour — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared. Files are removed from our servers within an hour.

Why Convert GIF to MP4?

Animated GIF is a 1987 format that stores each frame as a 256-color palettised image and re-encodes the entire palette per frame. MP4 with H.264 stores motion-compensated, perceptually-coded video — for the same animation, the MP4 is routinely 10-20x smaller while showing millions of colours, smoother gradients, and no dithering artifacts. Almost every modern platform that accepts GIFs converts them to MP4 (or a similar codec) behind the scenes anyway; uploading MP4 directly skips a re-encoding pass and gives you control over the output.

• Dramatic file-size savings. A 5-second 720p screen-capture GIF is typically 8-20 MB; the equivalent H.264 MP4 is 300-800 KB. That ratio holds across most content types, with the biggest savings on photographic or gradient-heavy clips where GIF's 256-colour palette wastes the most bits.
• Fits platform upload caps. Discord's free tier dropped to 10 MB per file in September 2024, Twitter/X auto-converts GIF uploads to silent MP4 server-side, and Reddit re-encodes GIFs into its hosted video format. Converting before upload avoids surprise compression on the platform's end.
• HTML5 autoplay-loop replacement. Modern sites use <video autoplay loop muted playsinline> instead of GIFs. The page loads faster, scrolls smoother, and uses 80-95% less bandwidth. Browser autoplay restrictions don't apply when the audio track is muted or absent.
• True-colour rendering. GIF tops out at 256 colours per frame, so photographs and smooth gradients band visibly. MP4/H.264 carries 8-bit-per-channel YUV (16 million colours) — usable for screen recordings, product demos, and any clip that started life as video.
• Universal playback. H.264 inside MP4 has 96%+ global browser support (Chrome 4+, Firefox 35+, Safari 3.2+, Edge 12+) per caniuse, plus native playback on iOS, Android, Smart TVs, and every video-capable messaging app.
• Better for Reels / Shorts / TikTok. Vertical platforms reject GIF uploads outright but accept MP4. Convert once at 1080x1920 and the same file works across GIF to MOV, GIF to WebM, and direct social uploads.

GIF vs MP4 vs WebM — Format Comparison

Platform GIF Upload Behaviour

How each platform handles a GIF upload tells you whether converting to MP4 first is worth it.

Sources: platform help pages and a September 2024 announcement from Discord lowering the free upload cap from 25 MB to 10 MB.

Quality Preset Quick Guide

The Quality Preset dropdown maps to FFmpeg's CRF (Constant Rate Factor) under the hood. Lower CRF = better quality + bigger file.

Need a target file size rather than a quality target? Switch to Constraint Quality and set Target file size (%) directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the MP4 have audio?

No — animated GIFs cannot store audio data, so the resulting MP4 has no audio track at all (not even a silent one). Most platforms treat audioless MP4 the same way they treat GIFs for autoplay purposes, which is why browser autoplay rules let them play without user interaction. If you need sound, add it afterwards in a video editor or use MP4 to GIF for the reverse direction.

Will it loop like a GIF?

The MP4 container has no loop flag (unlike GIF's Netscape Application Extension), so looping is the player's job. On the web, add the loop attribute: <video autoplay loop muted playsinline>. Twitter, Discord, Reddit, and Slack auto-loop MP4 uploads under ~30 seconds. Standalone players (VLC, QuickTime) need loop turned on manually.

Why is my MP4 not as small as I expected?

Two common reasons. First, very short GIFs (under ~1 second) have more H.264 container overhead relative to payload, so the ratio is smaller. Second, GIFs that are already tiny — 320x240, 10 fps, few colours — are already efficient for what they encode, so MP4 wins less dramatically. The 10-20x savings are most pronounced on photographic content above 480p.

Will the MP4 work in emails and Slack messages?

MP4 plays inline in iMessage, Slack, Discord, Teams, and Telegram. In email, behaviour varies: Gmail and Outlook show the MP4 as a downloadable attachment rather than playing inline, since most email clients block embedded video. If you need an inline-playing animation in email, GIF is still the only universally-supported choice.

Should I pick H.264 or H.265 for GIF conversions?

Stick with H.264 (the default). H.265/HEVC produces ~30-50% smaller files at the same quality, but it has weaker browser support (Safari only on the web, no Firefox/Chrome desktop without hardware decode), so it defeats the "plays everywhere" purpose. H.264 is the right answer for any GIF replacement intended for web or messaging.

Can I convert transparent GIFs without a black background?

GIF transparency is 1-bit (a pixel is either fully transparent or fully opaque), and standard MP4/H.264 has no alpha channel — so transparent areas get filled with a solid colour (black by default). Set the Video Background Colour option to match your page if you need white or another colour. For true alpha-channel video on the web, convert to GIF to WebM instead and use VP9 with alpha.

Can I keep the original frame rate?

Yes — by default we read the source GIF's frame timing and produce an MP4 at the closest standard frame rate (most GIFs are encoded at 10, 15, 20, 24, or 25 fps). You can override this if you need a specific output fps, but matching the source avoids interpolation artifacts and judder.

Does Twitter/X really re-encode my GIF anyway?

Yes. Twitter/X has converted GIF uploads to silent MP4 since around 2014 and still does in 2026. Uploading an MP4 directly skips one re-encoding pass, which preserves quality (re-encoding always degrades, even slightly). It also avoids the 15 MB GIF cap — Twitter's MP4 cap is much higher.

Why is the converted MP4 sometimes larger than I expected for a tiny GIF?

H.264 has a minimum-size overhead from the container, headers, and keyframes. For GIFs under ~50 KB, the MP4 may actually be larger or only marginally smaller. The format pays off above ~500 KB of GIF, and dramatically so above 2 MB. If you're optimising tiny GIFs, compress GIF directly may be the better option.