Compress GIF · make animated GIFs smaller
Shrink animated GIFs with gifsicle, by quality or to fit a file size like 10 MB. Compare the result with the original before you save it.
Need it much smaller and the site takes video? Convert the GIF to MP4, which is often 80–95% smaller with better colours.
More image & GIF tools
all 17 →How to compress a GIF
- Drop one or more GIFs onto the box above.
- Pick a Compression level, and if needed a smaller Size or fewer Frames. Or choose Fit a file size and the limit you need.
- Click Compress, compare the original and the result side by side, and save.
What each setting does
Lossless rewrites the GIF more efficiently and strips comments and metadata; the frames look exactly the same. Light to Maximum add gifsicle's lossy compression, which lets similar colours merge so the GIF's LZW compression finds longer repeats, and from Medium on they also reduce the palette (192, 128 and 64 colours). How much that saves varies a lot: on real GIFs we tested, Medium saved up to 39% (typically about 8%), Strong up to 50% (about 20%) and Maximum up to 66% (about 40%). Photos and videos with fine noise shrink the most; diagrams and cartoons with a few flat colours hardly at all.
Size scales every frame down; half the width and height is roughly a quarter of the file. Frames keeps every second or third frame and adds the removed frames' delays to the ones that stay, so the animation keeps its length and speed.
Fit a file size
The tool first tries the gentler compression levels. If even Strong is too big, it shrinks the frames just enough, and only for very large GIFs also drops every second frame. If a GIF can't get under the limit, you get the smallest version it could make and the reason.
Frequently asked questions
How much smaller can a GIF get?
It depends on the GIF: typically about 8% at Medium, 20% at Strong and 40% at Maximum, more for photos and less for flat graphics. Resizing and dropping frames work on every GIF. You never get a file larger than the original.
How do I get a GIF under 10 MB for Discord?
Choose Fit a file size and pick 10 MB.
What does lossless mean here?
The GIF is re-encoded more efficiently and metadata is removed, but every frame looks exactly the same.
Does dropping frames change the speed?
No, the removed frames' delays move to the frames that stay.
Are my GIFs uploaded?
No. gifsicle runs inside your browser tab as WebAssembly, on your own device.