How to compress a GIF
- Choose a GIF, or drop it on the box above.
- Pick where it is going (a Discord emoji, a Slack emoji, an email) or type the size you need.
- Press Compress GIF. The compressor tries gentle changes first and stops at the first version that fits.
- Check the preview and download it.
What the compressor changes, in order
A GIF gets smaller in three ways, and each one costs something different. The compressor works through them gentlest first:
- Fewer colours per frame. A GIF frame can hold up to 256 colours. Going to 128 or 64 is often invisible on flat art and screen recordings.
- A smaller picture. File size follows the pixel count, so 70% of the width and height is about half the pixels.
- Fewer frames. Keeping every second frame halves the frame count. Each kept frame is shown for longer, so the animation runs at the same speed, just less smoothly.
It stops as soon as the GIF fits, so you get the least-changed version that meets your limit.
Size limits worth knowing
| Where | Limit |
|---|---|
| Slack emoji | 128 KB |
| Discord emoji | 256 KB |
| Discord sticker | 512 KB |
| Email (1 MB) | 1.00 MB |
| Twitch emote (1 MB) | 1.00 MB |
| Discord upload (10 MB) | 10.0 MB |
Platforms change their limits from time to time. If an upload is refused, aim a little lower with a size you choose.
Questions
Is my GIF uploaded?
No. It is decoded, compressed and re-encoded by this page in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server.
Why can my GIF not get small enough?
A long GIF with many frames can stay large even at a small size and few colours. Trim it to fewer frames, or make a shorter one from the original video with the Video to GIF converter.
Does it keep transparency?
Yes. Transparent areas stay transparent, which matters for emoji and stickers.