GIF Cropper

Crop animated GIFs to a square, a circle or any size while they keep playing - every frame, delay and transparent pixel stays put. Need a different size or a lighter file afterwards? The GIF Resizer and GIF Compressor pick up where this leaves off.

No GIF handy? Try or
Related tools
GIF Resizer GIF Cutter Compress GIF GIF Speed Changer GIF to MP4

How to Crop an Animated GIF

  1. Add your GIF. Drop an animated GIF into the box, browse for it, paste it with Ctrl+V or try a sample.
  2. Draw the crop box. Drag over the playing GIF, pick a ratio such as 1:1 or 16:9, or type exact X, Y, width and height in pixels.
  3. Pick a shape if you like. Keep the rectangle, or choose a circle or rounded corners with transparent edges.
  4. Resize in the same step if needed. Turn on Resize output for emoji sizes like 128 x 128, or leave it off to keep the cropped size.
  5. Crop and download. Press Crop GIF, compare before and after with the real file size, and download your GIF.

No GIF handy? Grab one from the animated GIF samples.

Starting from a video clip? Make the GIF with Video to GIF first, then crop it here.

Crop a GIF to a Square, Circle or Any Shape

Pick the shape that fits where the GIF is going.

Square (1:1)

The go-to for emojis, avatars and Instagram posts.

The Discord emoji and Twitch emote presets also resize the result to the right pixel size.

Circle

Crops a square and cuts a round shape out of it, with transparent corners.

Ideal for profile pictures and round stickers. For soft edges, convert to animated WebP.

Rounded corners

Any rectangle with corners from slightly soft to pill-shaped.

Great for cards, banners and chat reactions.

Free or exact

Drag freely, choose 16:9, 9:16, 4:5, 4:3 or 3:2, or type X, Y, width and height.

For still images, the Image Cropper works the same way.

GIF Crop Sizes for Discord, Twitch and Social Media

Each platform wants its own shape.

The presets set the ratio, and the resize step where one is needed.

WhereCrop ratioFinal sizeTip
Discord emoji1:1128 x 128, under 256 KBShort loops stay under the limit
Twitch emote1:1112, 56 and 28 pxCrop tight - small emotes need big shapes
Slack emoji1:1128 x 128, under 128 KBThen run it through Compress GIF
Profile pictureCircle256 x 256 or largerMost sites round the corners for you
Instagram post4:5 or 1:1Keep the cropped sizeInstagram turns GIFs into video
Stories, TikTok, Reels9:16Keep the cropped sizeLeave room at the top and bottom
YouTube, X, websites16:9480 px wide is plentySmaller GIFs start playing sooner

Smart Helpers That Save the Fiddling

Trim borders

Finds solid-colour or transparent edges that never change in any frame.

One click crops them off - handy for screen recordings and letterboxed clips.

Fit to motion

Looks at every frame and boxes in the part that actually moves.

Perfect for turning a big reaction GIF into a tight emoji.

Live preview

The GIF keeps playing under the crop box, and the small preview shows the result with its shape.

So you can check the whole animation stays inside before you crop.

Pixel-exact control

Type X, Y, width and height, nudge with the arrow keys, and undo with Ctrl+Z.

The rule-of-thirds grid helps you frame the subject.

What Stays the Same When You Crop

Cropping changes the picture area, not the animation.

Every frame keeps its own delay, and the loop count - forever, play once or a set number of times - is copied across exactly.

Many GIFs only redraw the part of the picture that changes, or clear areas between frames. The cropper takes that into account, so you get no ghost trails, no broken transparency and no frames from outside your crop leaking in.

Plain rectangle crops are done losslessly whenever the GIF allows it: the original colours are kept, with no new dithering.

Tips and Related GIF Tools

Cropping is often one step in a longer GIF workflow.

  • Too many frames? Trim them with the GIF Cutter first - a shorter GIF crops faster and ends up smaller.
  • Need an exact size? Turn on Resize output here, or use the GIF Resizer for percentages and target file sizes.
  • Still too heavy? The GIF compressor shrinks the file without changing its size on screen.
  • Want a caption? Add text to the GIF after cropping, so the words land where you want them.
  • Busy background? Clear it with the GIF background remover, then crop it into a circle.
  • Wrong speed? Fix it with the GIF speed changer.
  • Got an animated WebP or APNG? Convert it with WebP to GIF or APNG to GIF, then crop it here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Add your GIF, drag the crop box over the playing animation and press Crop GIF.

Every frame, every delay and the loop count are kept, and transparent pixels stay transparent.

Yes. Open Shape and pick Circle - the crop becomes a square and the corners turn transparent.

GIF transparency is on or off per pixel, so the edge is crisp rather than soft. For smooth round edges, convert the result to animated WebP.

Click the Discord emoji preset: it locks the crop to 1:1 and resizes the result to 128 x 128 in the same step. Twitch emote does the same at 112 x 112.

Still over the size limit? Run it through Compress GIF, or use the target file size option in the GIF Resizer.

Trim borders finds solid-colour or transparent edges that stay the same in every frame and crops them away.

Fit to motion finds the area where something actually moves and puts the crop box around it.

This tool crops the picture area. To remove frames from the start, middle or end, use the GIF Cutter - cut first, then crop the area you want.

Usually yes, because every frame keeps fewer pixels. The result shows the real file size of the cropped GIF, measured after cropping.

For a much smaller file, compress it or convert it to MP4.

GIFs up to 50 MB and 3,000 frames. For longer animations, trim frames with the GIF Cutter first.

Only while you work. Uploaded and cropped GIFs are deleted automatically within 4 hours and are never shared or reused.

Guides & Tutorials

All 14 guides
Optimization GIF Resizing Masterclass: Shrink File Size Without Losing Animation Quality Read the guide Comparison PNG vs JPG: Which Image Format Should You Actually Use? Read the guide Optimization How to Reduce Image File Size Without Losing Quality Read the guide