Do you need a GIF as an MP4, because the app you are posting to will not take a GIF, or the file is simply too big to send?
This gif to mp4 converter makes the video with your own browser, so nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored anywhere. Every frame keeps the time it was shown for in the GIF, and the result plays on any phone, in any social app and in every browser.
Your GIF never leaves this computer. The video is made by your own browser. Nothing is uploaded.
This GIF has a single frame, so the video will be a still picture lasting one second each time it plays.
Why the MP4 is usually a fraction of the size
A GIF stores every frame as a picture of its own, squeezed down to 256 colours. Video works the other way: it stores one full picture now and then, and in between only what moved.
Think of it as the difference between photocopying every page of a flip book and writing down only the lines that change from one page to the next. For a clip where most of the picture stands still, the saving is enormous. The tool shows both sizes after it runs, so you can see the real difference for your own file rather than taking anybody’s word for it.
Every frame keeps its own timing
A GIF often holds one frame for two seconds and flicks through the next five in a blink. Many converters force everything onto one frame rate, so the pauses shrink and the quick bits smear.
Here each frame keeps its own duration inside the video, exactly as the GIF had it. The one deliberate change is a delay of 0 or 1 hundredth of a second, which every browser plays as a tenth of a second. The video keeps the speed you actually saw, rather than the number in the file, or a GIF that looked fine turns into a flicker.
What changes on the way
See-through parts are filled. MP4 video has no transparency at all, so anything see-through in the GIF comes out in the colour you pick, white or black. Choose whichever matches the page or app it will sit on.
Very sharp pixel art can soften a little. Video compression is built for real footage, and single pixel details in tiny retro GIFs are the hardest thing for it. Photographs, screen recordings and cartoons come through cleanly, and a GIF of pixel art is the one case where the GIF may look crisper.
An odd width or height gains one pixel. Video needs even sizes, so a GIF 333 pixels wide becomes 334, with the last column repeated. Nothing is cut off.
Looping, and the Play it option
An MP4 file has no loop setting inside it. Whether it repeats is up to whatever plays it: Instagram, TikTok and X loop short videos by themselves, while a video player on a computer plays it once and stops.
Play it repeats the whole animation inside the file, two, three or five times. I recommend it for a GIF under a couple of seconds, because some apps refuse very short videos, and a one second clip played three times gets past that.
If the video is going on YouTube, our guide on uploading a video to YouTube covers the settings it insists on, including the made for kids question every upload has to answer.
Which browsers can do it
The video is made by a part of the browser called the video encoder. Chrome and Edge have it on computers and Android phones, and Safari has had it since version 16.4, which covers current iPhones and Macs.
If your browser does not have it, the tool says so in plain words instead of sending your file somewhere else. That will not help you today, and opening this page in Chrome or Edge will.
When to keep the GIF instead
Converting does not work everywhere a GIF does. Email is the big one: an animated GIF plays inside most email programs, and a video plays in almost none. The same goes for email signatures, many forums and older chat apps.
If the GIF itself is only too big for one of those places, shrink it instead with our GIF resizer, which keeps every frame and the loop. If you need a single still picture out of it, GIF to PNG does that, and an animated WEBP can go the other way with our WEBP to GIF converter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my GIF uploaded anywhere?
No. The GIF is read and the video is made inside your browser, so the file never leaves the computer or phone you are on.
Will the MP4 loop like the GIF?
In most social apps, yes, because they loop short videos themselves. In a video player it plays once, and Play it repeats the animation inside the file if you need it to run longer.
Does it lose quality?
Very little. The video is not held to 256 colours the way a GIF is, so gradients often look smoother than in the original. Tiny pixel art is the exception, and it can soften slightly.
Will the video work on an iPhone?
Yes. It is saved as the most widely supported kind of H.264, the one every iPhone, Android phone, browser and social app plays.
Is there a size limit?
It stops at 40 MB, and a very long GIF at full size can run out of room in the browser before that. Choosing half size fixes it and also makes the video smaller.
Does the video have sound?
No, because a GIF has no sound to bring across. Most apps are happy with a silent video, and you can add music in the app when you post it.
If you have any issues, you can ask me via comment, and I will love to help you out.