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MP4 to GIF

iPhone and QuickTime videos

MOV to GIF Converter for iPhone Videos and Screen Recordings

Turn an iPhone clip, a Mac screen recording or any QuickTime MOV into a GIF. Pick the seconds, keep it narrow for portrait video, and save it to Photos. Nothing is uploaded.

Drop a video here

MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV or AVI, up to 1 GB. A GIF works too: it becomes an MP4.

Your video never leaves this device: it is converted in your browser.

Convert MOV to GIF in three steps

MOV is the QuickTime format Apple devices record in. The steps are the same on an iPhone, an iPad or a Mac:

  • Tap Choose video and pick the clip from your Photos library or Files (on a Mac, drop the .mov file on the panel).
  • Drag the handles on the filmstrip to the moment you want; one GIF holds up to 30 seconds.
  • Keep 320 px for a portrait clip (or choose wider for landscape), press Convert to GIF, then Save to Photos or Download.

iPhone video to GIF

iPhone videos are portrait by default, 1080 or more pixels wide and 1920 or more tall. Scaled to 480 px wide, a portrait GIF is already 853 px tall, which is more than most chat windows show. That is why this page starts at 320 px: a 320 × 569 GIF fits a phone screen and stays small enough to send.

When you choose a video in Safari, iOS may first prepare a compatible copy (you will see a short progress message). That is normal: the copy is the one the page converts, and your original stays untouched in your library.

Saving the GIF to your camera roll

After converting, tap Save to Photos and choose Save Image in the share sheet. Photos keeps animated GIFs animated; you will find it in the Animated album. Download saves it to the Files app instead.

Live Photos and HDR clips

A Live Photo is a still image plus a short video. To make a GIF from one, open it in Photos and use the share sheet's Save as Video option (available in recent iOS versions), then convert that video here. HDR clips recorded in Dolby Vision can look slightly flat as a GIF, because a GIF has no HDR; turning off HDR Video in the camera settings gives the most faithful colors.

Screen recording to GIF

Screen recordings are the most common reason to convert MOV to GIF: a bug report, a feature demo or a how-to for a colleague. On a Mac, Shift-Command-5 records the screen and saves a .mov file on the desktop; on iPhone, the Screen Recording control in Control Center saves to Photos.

Screen content is different from camera footage. Text needs pixels, so choose 640 or 800 px for desktop recordings. Motion is slow, so 8 to 12 fps is plenty. Colors are flat, so the Small preset (64 colors) usually looks identical to Sharp at about half the size. A 10-second recording of a menu interaction at 800 px, 10 fps, Small typically comes out at a few megabytes.

MOV vs MP4: why it does not matter here

MOV and MP4 are both containers: boxes that hold a video stream, an audio stream and timing data. Most iPhone and Mac clips store H.264 or HEVC (H.265) video inside the MOV box, the same codecs found in MP4 files. The converter reads either container and either codec, so you do not need to convert MOV to MP4 first.

One difference shows up in browsers: some desktop browsers cannot play HEVC, so the preview may be blank. The converter decodes the file itself, so the GIF still comes out right; you just set the start and end by time instead of by picture. The MP4 to GIF converter on the home page works the same way for MP4 files.

Settings that work for MOV clips

Starting points that keep files small without visible loss:

  • Portrait iPhone video: 320 px, 15 fps, Balanced.
  • Landscape iPhone video: 480 px, 15 fps, Balanced.
  • Mac screen recording: 800 px, 10 fps, Small.
  • iPhone screen recording: 320 px, 12 fps, Small.
  • Slow motion clip: 480 px, 20 fps, Sharp (slow-motion footage is often recorded at 120 or 240 fps and stored for slow playback, so the GIF keeps the slowed-down look).

Your MOV stays on your device

Phone videos are personal. This MOV to GIF converter never uploads them: the conversion runs in your browser with FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly, and the GIF is saved directly to your device. The first conversion downloads the 31 MB converter once; after that it starts instantly. For other formats like WebM or AVI see video to GIF, and for step-by-step methods in other apps read how to convert MP4 to GIF.

MOV to GIF FAQ

Can I convert MOV to GIF on my iPhone?

Yes. Open this page in Safari, tap Choose video, pick the clip, convert, then tap Save to Photos. No app needed.

Why is the preview black in my browser?

Some browsers on Windows and Linux cannot play HEVC (H.265) video, which recent iPhones record by default. The converter decodes it anyway, so the GIF comes out right; set the start and end by time.

Do I need to convert MOV to MP4 first?

No. MOV and MP4 use the same video codecs, and the converter reads both containers directly.

How do I make a GIF from a Mac screen recording?

Record with Shift-Command-5, drop the .mov file here, choose 640 or 800 px, 8 to 12 fps and the Small preset, then download.

Will the GIF have sound?

No. GIF cannot store audio. If you need the sound, share the MOV or an MP4 instead.