Compress GIF

How to Compress a GIF

Add your GIFs. Drop one or up to 20 animated GIFs into the box, browse for them, paste with Ctrl+V, or try a sample.
Pick a level or a size. Keep Balanced, or open Target file size and pick 8 MB for chat apps or 256 KB for emoji. Fewer colours and fewer frames save even more.
Compare. Click a file - both versions play side by side. Drag across them and use 100% to check fine detail. Every size shown is the real file.
Download. Save files one by one or press Download - three or more GIFs come as one ZIP. Then resize, cut or speed up the result without uploading it again.

Three Ways a GIF Gets Smaller

Lossy compression

Lets the encoder reuse nearly identical pixels. Quality 50-70 usually cuts 30-50% with no visible change; lower adds a light grain.

Fewer colours

GIFs can hold 256 colours per frame. Cartoons, screen recordings and stickers look the same with 64-128 and shrink a lot.

Fewer frames

Keep every 2nd frame and the file roughly halves. Each kept frame stays on screen longer, so the GIF plays at the same speed.

All three stack, and the target size option combines them for you. Resizing helps most of all - a GIF at half the width is about a quarter of the size.

GIF Size Limits by App

Where	Limit	Try
Discord emoji	256 KB	Emoji 256 KB preset (128 px)
Slack emoji	128 KB, 128 px	Custom 128 KB + Resize
Email newsletters	1-2 MB recommended	1 MB or 2 MB target
Chat apps and forums	often 8-10 MB	Under 8 MB preset
Websites	as small as possible	Web 480 px preset

Limits change now and then, so check the app if a file is refused. For Discord emoji and stickers in the right size and shape, the GIF Resizer has ready-made presets.

Still Too Big?

Cut it shorter. Every second of animation costs - trim the start and end with the GIF Cutter.
Make it an MP4. The same clip as video is often 10x smaller and still loops on most sites: GIF to MP4.
Use animated WebP. Smaller than GIF with full colour - GIF to WebP.
Check the result. The Compression Analyzer measures how much quality was lost.

Frequently Asked Questions

Drop it into the box above. Balanced usually removes 30-50% with no visible change. For an exact limit, open Target file size and pick a size - the tool finds the best quality that fits.

Pick Lossless. gifsicle repacks every frame without changing a pixel - expect 5-20% on GIFs that were not optimised before. For more, a quality of 60-70 is very hard to tell apart.

Yes. Every frame, the frame timing, the loop count and transparent areas are kept. If you drop frames, each kept frame lasts longer, so the speed stays the same.

Use the Emoji 256 KB preset for custom emoji, or Under 8 MB for messages. For exact Discord sizes and stickers, the GIF Resizer has Discord presets.

Some GIFs are already optimised. If a compressed version would be bigger, the tool returns your original instead - it never makes a file bigger. Try fewer colours, every 2nd frame or Resize.

Yes - GIFs are compressed on our server with gifsicle, the best GIF optimiser. Files are deleted within 4 hours, or right away when you press Clear. They are never shared or kept.

Up to 30 MB per GIF and 20 GIFs at a time. Bigger files: cut or resize them first with the GIF Cutter or GIF Resizer.

Before and after

Your files