Create an Animated GIF from Any Video

YOU’LL NEED THIS

A VIDEO If you don’t have your own video to convert to a GIF, we explain how to source one below.

SHOTCUT

Download this free app from

www.shotcut.org.

THEY SAY A PICTURE is worth a thousand words, but an animated GIF is worth a million. Despite the rise of HTML5 video, these little animations are still hugely popular—partly because of their relatively small file size, which is friendly to mobile devices on limited data plans, and also because the format is so widely supported.

Sites such as Giphy ( https://giphy.com) are a great source of ready-made animations, but sometimes you can only express yourself by creating your own—and with the right tools, it’s surprisingly easy to do.

If you already have a video file, skip straight to Step 5 to find out how to edit and convert it. Alternatively, you can grab and convert a video from YouTube, as explained in Step 1, or make a recording from your desktop, as described in Step 3. This is a great way to make a GIF from a game or movie playing on your PC. –CAT ELLIS 1 FIND A VIDEO ONLINE If you have the copyright holder’s permission, or you uploaded it yourself, you can download a video from the web to turn into a GIF. Download and install 4K Video Downloader ( www.4kdownload.com), then find the video you want online, and copy its address from your web browser. Open 4K Video Downloader and click the green “Paste link” button [ Image A]. 2 SAVE IT TO YOUR PC You’re now prompted to choose a quality option. Part of the appeal of animated GIFs is their small size, so the “High quality 480p” option is fine. Leave the format as MP4, choose a location for the saved file—we recommend either your desktop or your “Videos” directory—and click “Download.” You’ll see a green progress bar; once this is full, your video is ready for you to use. 3 CAPTURE A VIDEO FROM YOUR SCREEN If you want to make a GIF from a game or other software, you need free screen recorder OBS Studio. It might look intimidating at first, but it’s remarkably easy to use. Download it from https://obsproject.com/download, and run the installer. You don’t need the plugins, so feel free to uncheck them. When it’s done, launch the software, and skip the optimization wizard [ Image B]. 4

START AND STOP RECORDING Click the “+” icon under “Sources,” and select “Display capture” from the drop-down menu [ Image C]. Click the “Start recording” button on the right, then minimize OBS Studio, and do whatever you want to record. When you’ve finished, maximize the recorder, and click “Stop recording.” The captured footage is saved automatically in FLV format, and stored in your “Videos” directory. 5 DOWNLOAD SHOTCUT Whether you’ve downloaded a video, recorded your own, or found one somewhere else, Shotcut is the best tool for converting it to GIF format. It’s totally free, doesn’t add watermarks to your videos, and is packed with lots of handy tools and filters to make your GIFs look great. Download it from

www.shotcut.org, and run the installer. When it’s done, click “Close,” and launch the program. 6 CROP YOUR VIDEO Click “Open file” and load your chosen video. GIFs work best if they’re tightly cropped to focus on the most important part of the action. If your video needs cropping, click “Filters,” then the “+” icon to add a new filter. Click the small monitor icon to see video filters, then click “Crop.” Use the sliders to adjust how much is cut off the top, bottom, and sides of the video [ Image D]. 7 KEEP IT BRIEF Drag the video preview into the timeline at the bottom. Try to make your GIF 10 seconds long or shorter. Drag the vertical white bar (the playhead) along the waveform until you find the point where you want your GIF to start, and click “Split at playhead” [ Image E]. Select the section of video you want to remove and tap Delete. Now do the same for the end of the video. 8 PREPARE TO EXPORT When you’ve trimmed your video, click “Export,” and select “GIF” as the format. Now look at the resolution. The ideal size depends on where you’re planning to use it, but 800x600 should be fine for most purposes [ Image F]. Click the “Codec” tab, and change the codec to “GIF”—you need to scroll down to find it. 9 SAVE YOUR GIF GIF format doesn’t support sound, so click “Audio” and select “Disable audio.” Reduce the frame rate to approximately 15fps, click “Export file,” give it a name ending in the extension “.gif,” and click “Save” [ Image G]. A status bar on the right shows you when it’s finished processing. Congratulations, you’ve turned a video into an animated GIF, ready to share wherever you like. 10 GET THE SIZE RIGHT Want to share your GIF on a certain site, but not sure about the best size? Sprout Social has a handy guide at http://bit.ly/2Gb2QR7 that shows the optimum image dimensions for popular social networks, including Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest [ Image H]. It’s a very useful reference that will help ensure your GIFs look as good as possible when you publish them.