Why GIFs get so big
GIF stores every frame as a separate image with up to 256 colors. A few seconds of animation can add up to many megabytes, which is often too big for chat apps, email attachments, forum posts, or a fast-loading web page.
Snipgif’s compressor shrinks the file in three ways, and you can combine them.
Three ways to shrink a GIF
- Fewer colors. Choose 256, 128, 64, or 32 colors. Simple graphics, screenshots, and cartoons often look the same with far fewer colors.
- Skip frames. Keep every 2nd or 3rd frame to cut the file roughly in half or by two thirds. Snipgif keeps the total length the same, so the animation plays at the same pace, just less smoothly.
- Smaller width. Shrinking the width makes every frame smaller. If the GIF will be shown small anyway, this is the change you will notice least.
Compare before you download
After compressing, Snipgif shows the new GIF with its file size next to the original, so you can see how much you saved. If you don’t like the result, change a setting and compress again. Your original file is never changed.
Private and free
The compressor runs entirely in your browser with ffmpeg.wasm. Your GIF is not uploaded, there is no sign-up, and no watermark is added. Made the GIF from a video? The video to GIF converter has a “Small for chat” preset that keeps files light from the start.