Free · no signup · never uploaded
GIF to MP4 Converter
Turn a heavy animated GIF into a far smaller MP4.
Drop a GIF here or choose a file
or drop your file here.
GIF · converted in your browser, never uploaded
Runs in your browser — your file is never uploaded.
Short answer
To convert GIF to MP4, drop your GIF below and download the MP4. An MP4 of the same animation is typically 5–10× smaller than the GIF, because GIF has no motion compression. It runs entirely in your browser.
Why the MP4 is so much smaller
GIF stores each frame almost independently and is capped at 256 colours. H.264 does the opposite: it stores occasional full frames and then describes only what changed between them — which, in an animation where most of the frame is static, is very little. That’s why converting typically cuts size by 5–10× while actually improving colour fidelity, since MP4 isn’t limited to a 256-colour palette.
Where an MP4 can replace a GIF — and where it can’t
On the web, MP4 is usually the better choice: a <video> element with autoplay, loop and muted behaves just like a GIF but loads far faster, which is exactly what Twitter/X, Imgur and Giphy do behind the scenes with the GIFs you upload. Where MP4 can’t substitute is anywhere expecting a real image file — email signatures, some chat clients, and older forum software still want an actual .gif.
Video formats to MP4 — what happens to your file
| Input format | Usual codecs inside | Conversion | Max file size |
|---|---|---|---|
| MOV (QuickTime) | H.264 + AAC | Rewrap (lossless) | 500 MB |
| MKV (Matroska) | H.264 + AAC | Rewrap (lossless) | 500 MB |
| WebM | VP8/VP9 + Opus | Re-encode to H.264 | 100 MB |
| AVI | MPEG-4/DivX | Re-encode to H.264 | 100 MB |
| GIF | Animated GIF | Re-encode to H.264 | 200 MB |
A rewrap copies the existing video and audio streams into an MP4 container untouched — it is lossless and finishes in seconds. A re-encode decodes and re-compresses, so it takes longer and loses a little quality. Size caps differ because everything runs on one thread in your browser.
How this conversion works
Everything happens locally in your browser with ffmpeg — here is exactly how:
- Load the engine. ffmpeg compiled to WebAssembly loads once from this site — your file is never uploaded.
- Even out the dimensions. H.264 in yuv420p requires even width and height, and GIFs often have odd ones, so each dimension is rounded down to the nearest even number.
- Encode as H.264. the frames are encoded with libx264 in yuv420p, the pixel format players actually accept, removing the inter-frame redundancy GIF keeps.
- Write the MP4. the result is muxed into an MP4 with the moov atom at the front so it plays immediately.
Assumptions
- Everything runs client-side; speed depends on your device and the animation’s length.
- GIF has no audio, so the MP4 is silent.
- Width and height are rounded down to even numbers, which H.264 requires.
Last reviewed: July 19, 2026
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a GIF to MP4?+
Drop your .gif in above and press convert. The animation is encoded as H.264 video in your browser — nothing is uploaded — and the MP4 is usually many times smaller than the GIF.
Are my videos uploaded to a server?+
No. Everything runs 100% in your browser using ffmpeg compiled to WebAssembly, so your file never leaves your device. Nothing is uploaded, stored, or sent anywhere — and once the converter has loaded it even works offline.
How much smaller will the MP4 be?+
Usually 5–10× smaller, sometimes more. GIF has no motion compression and repeats near-identical frames, which is exactly the redundancy H.264 removes.
Will the MP4 loop like the GIF did?+
Looping is a playback setting rather than part of the file. Add the loop and autoplay attributes to a video element on a web page and it behaves just like the GIF did.
Why is the first conversion slower?+
The first time, your browser downloads the ffmpeg engine (about 31 MB) and starts it up. That happens once — later conversions reuse the loaded engine and are much faster.
Does the MP4 have sound?+
No. A GIF contains no audio at all, so there is nothing to carry over — the resulting MP4 is silent.
Related tools
Video is processed entirely in your browser with ffmpeg and never uploaded.