Words fail us all the time. In a world of texts, emails, and social posts, we're constantly hitting that emotional ceiling where typing 'LOL' or 'OMG' just doesn't capture what we're actually feeling. That's where GIFs come in—those little animated loops that somehow communicate exactly what paragraphs of text never could.

Much more effective, right?

Here's the thing most people don't realize: creating your own GIFs isn't some mysterious technical art form. You don't need to be a designer or animator. With the right GIF maker and a few minutes to spare, you can create GIFs for everything from group chats to marketing campaigns without breaking a sweat.

This guide cuts through the noise to show you the actually good GIF makers that let you convert videos or images into high-quality animated media—whether you're looking to punctuate a text message or elevate your brand's visual communication.

How to plan your GIF design for maximum impact

Creating a GIF that stands out starts with a clear plan. Begin by identifying your theme or message, then sketch out each frame or create a short storyboard to keep your concept on track. A consistent color palette helps unify the final animation and ensures it fits your brand. For a balanced look, choose just a few core colors and make sure every image or frame is the same size and resolution. If you’re starting from static images, confirm they share the same dimensions for a crisp outcome. If your final file is too large, try using Ezgif to compress it without compromising too much on quality.

What is a GIF maker?

A GIF maker is a program that lets you make a GIF from photos, drawings, animations, and videos, or by looping together video snippets. Modern smartphones and computers offer built-in tools for making GIFs, but dedicated GIF maker tools provide more features, higher quality output, and a more streamlined workflow.

Here's how it works: GIF makers let you upload images or video files, customize frame rates and quality settings, add text or effects, and export your animation in the optimal format and file size for your needs.

• Upload a video or image file to the GIF maker.
• Select the part(s) you want to convert into a GIF.
• Add text, filters, stickers, or other effects.
• Export and share your GIF.

Troubleshooting common GIF issues

Even the best GIF maker can produce a glitchy result if frame rates and dimensions aren’t matched. If your GIF refuses to animate on some platforms, check for file size restrictions or format incompatibilities. By compressing large files and removing unnecessary frames, you can make your GIF more universally compatible. Tools like Descript and GIPHY offer watermark-free exports, so opt for those if branding is a concern. For smoother transitions, lower your frame rate to about 15 FPS, which balances fluid motion and file size. Always test your GIF on multiple devices or browsers before sharing it broadly.

4 benefits of making GIFs

Promote products or events with GIFs

GIFs make perfect bite-sized teasers for: • Product demonstrations • Tutorial snippets • Social media posts • Email marketing campaigns • Website animations

• Promoting your brand ethos
• Showcasing products or services
• Building excitement for an upcoming announcement or event
• Providing product, service, or navigation instructions
• Sparking conversations

Many brands also use GIFs to drive brand awareness. Starbucks, for example, makes visually appealing and engaging GIFs to show off new products, like this one, which promotes Starbucks' vegan whipped topping.

Increase engagement using GIFs

Your audience is more likely to notice and share GIFs than static images. GIFs can evoke emotional responses and are more versatile than memes or videos. Plus, they're smaller in file size (typically under 10MB) and easier to load or share on your website, blog, or social media platforms where file size limitations exist.

Use GIFs to break up monotonous, text-based content, convey your emotions or reactions, and reply to comments. This makes your brand come across as positive, approachable, and direct.

Wendy's, for example, uses relevant GIFs to dish out witty comebacks, which elicits audience engagement:

Improve customer service with GIFs

You can also use GIFs to give visual instruction in customer support documents, like your website's help center or knowledgebase, Release Notes, and other help resources.

A simple screenshot may work to focus users' attention on a specific directive on a page or illustrate how a new feature works—especially if it's difficult to use. If you need multiple screenshots to articulate a process or clarify simple points of confusion, wrap it up in a GIF. It's a few seconds long and plays automatically on a loop, so your audience can watch as many times as they need to fully understand how to execute a task. For optimal viewing, keep tutorial GIFs under 15 seconds and under 5MB for faster loading.

Descript, for instance, uses a mix of text, videos, and GIFs in its tutorials, making it easy for users to follow along. Here's one that explains how to add scenes to a video.

Simplify concepts and data using GIFs

GIFs are dynamic and offer a simple way to simplify complex concepts. Instead of creating lengthy tutorials to instruct your audience, use GIFs to animate complex data, visualize step-by-step processes, and make information more digestible. This is especially effective for showing before-and-after comparisons or demonstrating software features.

10 best GIF makers for brands and creators

1. Descript: Best GIF maker
2. GIPHY: Best for beginners
3. Canva: Best GIF templates
4. Adobe Photoshop: Best for making GIFs on the go
5. Biteable: Best for converting videos to GIFs
6. ImgPlay: Best for merging video clips into GIFs
7. GIFs.com: Best for making GIFs from online videos
8. ImgFlip: Best for making GIFs with sound
9. EzGIF: Best online GIF maker
10. GIMP: Best open-source GIF maker

1. Descript: Best GIF maker

Descript is an all-in-one audio and video editor with a free GIF maker and built-in stock library. Plus, it's connected to the GIPHY library, which contains thousands of unique and viral GIFs to enhance any project. Unlike dedicated GIF makers, Descript lets you create high-quality GIFs directly from your video editing workflow.

Making GIFs in Descript is easy with a simple step-by-step process: open a new video project and upload your video or image files, trim to your desired length, add text and effects, choose your GIF's dimensions (standard sizes include 480×270, 640×360, or square 500×500), and export it.

Descript supports popular image formats, like JPG, PNG, WEBP, TIFF, and BMP. You can make a GIF from images and customize the order of the photos, resize, or set the animation speed (typically between 0.1-1.0 seconds per frame). For videos, upload an MP4, MPEG, or MOV file, and use the multi-track timeline editor to cut your media layers or edit the auto-generated transcript to set your video's start and end points.

When you're happy with the outcome, download your GIF to your device or publish it to YouTube or Wistia.

There's a lot more you can do in Descript with features like:

• Automatic transcription, to get captions to add to your GIFs, videos, or images.
• Studio Sound, to remove background noise and improve audio quality.
• AI features, like Green Screen, Social Post Writer, Script Generator, YouTube Descriptions, Find Good Clips, and more.
• Stock library of premium videos, images, GIFs, and GIF stickers.

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Powerful GIF editor
• Variety of design elements and effects
• Pocket-friendly premium plans

Cons

• No mobile app
• Free plan offers only one watermark-free export per month

Pricing: Free, paid plans start at $12/month.

2. GIPHY: Best for beginners

GIPHY is a popular GIF-making platform with one of the largest GIF databases and hundreds of millions of users.

Its user-friendly interface makes it super easy to create GIFs from an image, video, or URL from YouTube or other sites. You can decorate your GIF with filters, captions, stickers, freehand drawings, and more. Then, add tags or a source URL to credit the original source.

GIPHY also has a CAM app for making GIFs from footage recorded with a smartphone camera. Plus, you can change your GIF's visibility from public to private and vice versa. Public GIFs are visible to anyone on the platform and other places, like TikTok, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram Stories, or Facebook Messenger. Switching to private mode ensures no one but you can see and share your GIFs. Be aware that some platforms compress GIFs or convert them to MP4 format, which may affect animation quality.

When you're finished, download your GIF to your device or share it directly on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, or Tumblr.

Best features

• Large GIF database
• Mobile and desktop apps
• GIPHY API

Pros

• Free to use
• Cross-platform
• Exports GIFs with no watermarks
• Accepts popular file formats
• Allows brands to promote their GIFs

Cons

• Basic editing options
• Requires an account to use
• No offline support
• Uploads limited to 15 seconds and 100MB
• GIFs appear mostly on small screens and messaging windows

Pricing: Free

3. Canva: Best GIF templates

Canva makes creating GIFs easy for beginners and pro-level users alike. You can make your own GIFs from scratch or use any of its professionally designed templates to make basic or complex GIFs.

Start out with a short loop of slides, altering them gradually until you master the basic GIF. Then, up your GIF game by creating more complex with multiple moving objects and a longer loop of slides, or make video GIFs—provided you own the footage or copyright to it.

Canva also offers a mobile app for creating GIFs on the go from iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android devices. You can import GIFs from your photo library or social media platforms in a few clicks, add text, embellish with stickers, transitions, or filters, and download it within seconds.

Don't like your GIF's background? Use Canva's one-click background remover to erase image backgrounds so your GIF is more aesthetic and easier to share. You can also add a colleague or friend or copy and send them a shareable link, so you can collaborate in the design process.

Best features

• Thousands of free stock videos
• Premium images and music tracks
• Variety of GIF templates
• Collaborative features

Pros

• Free plan available
• Simple, user-friendly interface
• Cross-platform
• Exports GIFs with no watermarks
• Multiple sharing options

Cons

• Useful features locked in paid plans
• Doesn't work offline

Pricing: Free, Canva Pro: $6.50/month, Canva for Teams: $5 per user, per month.

4. Adobe Photoshop Express: Best mobile GIF maker

Adobe Photoshop Express brings Photoshop's popular editing features, like color grading, lighting, sharpness, and even making GIFs in a simple mobile app.

While the app is especially useful for making photo collages, it can also convert videos to GIFs with just a few taps.

It's easy: upload a video (up to one hour long) from your phone or tablet's media library, select a file size and aspect ratio, trim it to the exact moment you want to capture, then instantly download or share your new GIF with your online audiences.

You can do a lot more on the go with Photoshop Express, including making endlessly looped video sequences and animated images.

Best features

• Trimming tool
• Multiple sharing options

Pros

• Free to use
• Accepts videos up to one hour long
• Variety of GIF sizing options
• Converts any video type to GIF format

Cons

• No desktop app
• Basic editing tools
• Carries the natural limitations of a mobile app
• Lacks effects and design elements

Pricing: Free

5. Biteable: Best for converting videos to GIFs

Biteable is a free online tool for making and editing videos, but it offers two ways to make GIFs from videos.

You can build your video in Biteable and use the option to create a GIF in the video editor. This will create a 30-second GIF from your video.

Alternatively, you can use Biteable's free video-to-GIF converter to turn any video into a GIF. Just upload a video, pick your preferred frame rate and aspect ratio, trim to size, then download to your computer.

Best features

• Built-in video-to-GIF tool in Biteable editor
• Online video-to-GIF converter
• Trimming tool

Pros

• Easy to use
• No watermarks

Cons

• No mobile app
• Basic editor with no effects or design elements

Pricing: Free

6. ImgPlay: Best for merging video clips into GIFs

With ImgPlay, you can make and customize GIFs from still, live, or burst photos and videos, then share them directly on platforms like WhatsApp, X, Instagram, iMessage, and more.

The free app has four camera modes, different canvas styles, frame views, overlays, and a merging tool that lets you easily merge multiple video clips into one GIF.

Pick a canvas size based on where you're posting the GIF, then select design elements to add to your GIF, like static or animated stickers, filters, and more. You can also use Imgplay's pen drawing feature to sketch on top of a GIF and generate custom designs.

Best features

• Animation speed control
• Sketch with pen drawing
• 30+ filters
• 20+ text animation effects
• Video merging tool

Pros

• Variety of effects and design elements
• Multiple canvas sizes for different platforms
• Can create memes alongside GIFs

Cons

• No desktop apps
• Text animation only in paid plan
• Exports with watermarks

Pricing: Free, Pro: $4.99/month, $1.99/week, premium features: $4.99, Lifetime: $69.99.

7. GIFs.com: Best for making GIFs from online videos

GIFs.com lets you make GIFs from videos hosted on your website or social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Vine, or YouTube.

To get started, copy the URL of the video you want to turn into a GIF, paste the link into the URL field, and the software will automatically find and upload it. You can also drag and drop or upload images, videos, or existing GIFs from your device, add stickers and captions, filters, and tags, then hit the GIF creator button to generate your GIFs.

One unique functionality in GIFs.com is the ability to make animated stickers or GIFs from live stream videos in real time. The online GIF maker also offers an embed player for playing GIFs on your website.

The free version exports GIFs with watermarks, but you can upgrade to a paid monthly plan and get full access to all the GIFs.com features and watermark-free exports.

Best features

• Ready-to-stick sticker packs
• Frame-by-frame editing
• Instant effects

Pros

• Easy to use
• Simple interface
• Web-based app

Cons

• Basic GIF editor
• Free version exports GIFs with watermarks
• Video uploads limited to 150MB
• GIFs limited to 15 seconds
• Dated stickers and effects

Pricing: Free, Premium: from $1.99/month (GIFs) to $59.99/month for unlimited GIFs.

8. ImgFlip: Best for making GIFs with sound

ImgFlip has both image-to-GIF and video-to-GIF capabilities.

You can upload a still image or video from your computer or mobile device or paste in the URL of a video you want to turn into GIFs. Customize the GIF with stickers, captions, animations, or drawings and download to your device or share it via a link or directly to social media platforms.

The downside with using ImgFlip is it puts a watermark on your GIF. Upgrading to a Pro account removes watermarks, disables ads, and unlocks advanced options, like 1600 frames per GIF, sound on GIFs, higher resolution and video segment length, and unlimited dimensions (HD, UHD, and more).

Best features

• Variety of text, images, stickers, font options
• Crop, rotate, resize, or reverse tools
• Sound on GIFs
• Motion of images and text
• Drawing, outlining, or scribbling tools

Pros

• Free and user-friendly
• Cross-platform
• Supports multiple video formats

Cons

• Limited free plan
• Free version has ads and exports with watermarks

Pricing: Free, Pro: $12.95/month.

9. Ezgif: Best online GIF maker

Ezgif goes a notch higher than other tools by offering a wide variety of settings to change the file size, speed, and color of your GIFs. Making GIFs with Ezgif is simple: upload an image or video file you want to convert into a GIF, set the start and end point for your GIF, and hit the convert to GIF button.

Ezgif gives you the option to use images as frames and adjust the animation speed and frame order before making your GIF. A Crossfade frames tool is available to create a smooth, fading transition between images or create photo slideshows.

Best of all, it doesn't apply a watermark or attributions to your GIF. This makes Ezgif ideal for creating GIFs for social media.

Best features

• Subtitles
• Variety of editing tools
• Speed control tool
• Frame rate control

Pros

• No watermarks
• You can convert up to 2,000 files
• Can convert transparent videos to transparent GIF files
• Supports many image and video formats

Cons

• Limits file size to 200MB
• Lacks effects and design elements

Pricing: Free.

10. GIMP: Best open-source GIF maker

GIMP is a free, open-source image editor that works with Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.

You can make a GIF or export images or videos you create in GIMP as GIFs. To get started, upload all the pictures you want to use for your GIF, then edit or convert them into a GIF as they currently are. If you're happy with your creation, save it as a GIF image, enable the continual loop and adjust delay time between frames, and then export as a GIF.

Best features

• Graphic design elements
• Color management features
• Add-ons for more functionality

Pros

• Free to use
• Customizable interface
• Powerful image and GIF editor
• Has Photoshop-like capabilities
• Supports popular file formats

Cons

• Slight learning curve

Pricing: Free.

📚 Read more: The best free video editing software with no watermark: Top 10 picks

Frequently asked questions about GIF makers

How do I make a high-quality GIF?

Using Descript's GIF maker. Here's how:

1. Open a new video project.
2. Upload a video file.
3. Choose your GIF's dimensions (square, landscape, portrait, or custom).
4. Trim and adjust your video in the timeline editor to form one animated GIF.
5. Add text, transitions, and other effects.
6. Click Publish > Export to download your GIF.

What is the best free GIF maker app?

GIF-making software like Descript, GIPHY, and Canva offer free, simple, user-friendly interfaces. You can upload an image file to create, resize, and add static text or animated captions in unique styles, fonts, colors, and other cool effects to your GIFs. For optimal file size and quality balance, aim for GIFs under 10MB with frame rates between 10-15fps for smooth animation.

Can I turn videos and images into GIFs?

Absolutely. Descript's intuitive editor lets you turn images and video clips into animated GIFs quickly and easily. Upload an image or video file, customize the quality, frame rate (from 10-30fps), resolution (up to 1080p), and aspect ratio (16:9, 4:3, 1:1, 9:16), add text or effects, and export your GIF. If you encounter issues with file size, Descript automatically optimizes your GIF for the best balance of quality and size.

What is the ideal frame rate for a smooth GIF?

Frame rate typically falls between 10 and 30 frames per second for a balanced blend of motion and file size. According to Ezgif best practices, using 15 frames per second often provides fluid animation without making your GIF unwieldy. If you want a more cinematic look, you can bump it closer to 24 or 30 frames per second, but watch out for longer load times.

How do I ensure my GIF is accessible to all users?

You can start by adding descriptive alt text, which helps screen readers interpret the GIF for visually impaired visitors. Keep flashing or strobing transitions to a minimum to avoid triggering photosensitive conditions. Offering a play or pause option helps users control motion. Always test how your GIF appears in different lighting conditions and on various devices to maintain clarity and readability.