How to use the Compress GIF tool
- Choose your GIF.
- Pick a preset, or set the width, frames and colours yourself.
- Press Optimize GIF.
- Compare the before and after sizes, then download.
About this tool
A GIF's size comes from three things: how many pixels each frame has, how many frames there are, and how many colours it uses. This tool lets you turn all three down, and shows you exactly how much you saved.
The light preset only reduces colours, balanced also halves the frame rate and reduces the width, and strong does all of it aggressively. Dropped frames get their delay added to the frame before them, so the animation keeps its original speed and length rather than running fast.
Why use ToolsCrow for this
- Three real levers. Width, frame count and colour count.
- Keeps the timing. Dropped frames do not speed up the animation.
- Honest result. If it cannot be made smaller, the tool says so.
- Private. No upload.
Good to know
- GIF has a hard efficiency ceiling. If you can use video instead, GIF to MP4 will always beat this by a wide margin.
- Fewer colours can cause banding in gradients and photos.
Frequently asked questions
Is my video uploaded to a server?
No. Everything runs inside your browser tab using your own device's video hardware. Your file is never sent to ToolsCrow or anyone else, which also means there is no waiting for an upload and it keeps working if your connection drops after the page has loaded.
Is it really free? Is there a watermark?
It is free with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily limits. The only limits are the ones your device sets: memory and processing power.
How large a video can I use?
Because the video is processed on your device, the limit is your device's memory rather than a server quota. Phone clips of several hundred MB are fine on most devices, and desktop computers usually handle 1 to 2 GB. Files over about 4 GB are not supported.
Which browsers work best?
Current Chrome, Edge and Safari (16.4 or newer, including iPhone and iPad) work best because they include the WebCodecs video engine. Recent Firefox versions work for many files. Older browsers fall back to a much slower real-time mode or may not work at all.
How much smaller can a GIF get?
Usually 40 to 80 percent with the balanced preset. Dropping to 63 or 31 colours and halving the width saves the most.
Why is my optimized GIF not smaller?
It was already optimized. Try the strong preset, a smaller width, or convert it to MP4, which is far more efficient.
Does it still loop?
Yes, the loop setting from the original GIF is preserved.
Related video tools
- Resize GIFMake a GIF smaller in pixels while keeping the animation smooth and the timing intact.
- GIF to MP4Turn a heavy GIF into a small MP4.
- GIF to WebMTurn a GIF into a WebM video: the smallest option for putting an animation on your own website.
- Video to GIFMake an animated GIF from any part of a video.
- Video CompressorShrink any video to a fraction of its size while keeping it sharp, or type the exact size you need in MB.
- Extract Frames from VideoTurn a video into a folder of still images.
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