How to Convert GIF to MP4 (And Why You Absolutely Should)

The entire internet runs on GIFs. You text them, you see them on Twitter, and you post them in Slack. Because they are short and loop seamlessly, most people assume that a GIF is a tiny, lightweight file format.

That assumption is completely wrong.

The GIF format was invented in 1987. It was designed for incredibly basic, low-resolution dial-up graphics. To make an image “move” using a GIF, the format literally just stacks dozens of uncompressed static images on top of each other.

Because the format involves practically no modern compression, an animated GIF is actually enormous compared to a modern video file. A high-quality, five-second GIF can easily weigh 15 Megabytes. If you saved that exact same animation as an MP4 video, it would likely be less than 2 Megabytes.

If you are a web designer trying to make your website load faster, or a marketer trying to upload an animation to Instagram (which explicitly blocks standard GIF files), you must convert the GIF to an MP4.

Why online GIF converters are terrible

Because GIFs have exploded in popularity, there are thousands of websites offering to convert them for you.

The problem with almost all of these sites is that they rely on cloud processing. They force you to upload your 15-Megabyte GIF to a server. You sit there waiting for the progress bar to finish. Then, the server converts the file, and you have to download the resulting MP4.

This is an incredibly inefficient way to handle a simple video conversion. It wastes your time, it depends entirely on your internet connection speed, and it forces you to hand your files over to a third-party server.

Convert GIF to MP4 instantly in your browser

You do not need to rely on an external server to compress an animation.

Using the GetAnyFile Video Converter, you can handle the transcode locally. Our WebAssembly technology turns your web browser into an offline video processor.

Here is how you drastically shrink your animations for free:

1. Open the GIF to MP4 Converter on your computer or phone.
2. Drag and drop your massive .gif file directly onto the web page.
3. The target format will already be set to MP4.
4. Click Convert.

Because the conversion runs on your own hardware, there is zero upload time. The progress bar will fly across the screen, and you will immediately be handed a clean, compressed MP4 file.

You can now upload that MP4 directly to Instagram, embed it seamlessly into a high-performance website, or just save gigabytes of space on your hard drive. The GIF was a brilliant invention for the 1980s. But for modern video sharing, MP4 is vastly superior.