SCREEN · GIF · NO AUDIO · NO UPLOAD
Turn Your Screen into a GIF
Record a short clip of your screen and save it as an animated GIF that plays anywhere, from a README to a chat message. Nothing is uploaded.
Recorded and saved on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
How to turn a screen recording into a GIF
Record a short clip
This page starts at 720p with audio off, since GIFs are silent. Share a window or tab, or choose an area, to keep the frame tight, and stay under 30 seconds.
Trim to the moment
When you stop, the GIF export opens. Trim the start and end so the loop begins and ends where the action does.
Export and save
The GIF is built on your computer at up to 960 px wide and 10–15 fps. Save it, and keep the full recording as a video too if you want it.
When a GIF is the right format
GIFs play automatically, loop forever and show up inline in places that won’t embed a video: README files and pull requests, issue trackers, documentation, many email clients and most chat apps. That makes them ideal for showing a UI interaction, a three-second bug or a before-and-after.
They’re the wrong format for anything long, anything with sound, or anything full of fine color detail. GIF allows only 256 colors per frame, so gradients and camera footage come out banded and speckled. For those, save the recording as MP4 instead.
Good uses for a screen GIF
A screen GIF works best when it shows one thing happening, start to finish.
- Pull requests: show the UI change a reviewer would otherwise have to check out and run.
- Bug reports: a few seconds of the problem happening beats a paragraph describing it.
- Documentation and READMEs: a looping demo of a feature right next to the text that explains it.
- Chat: answer “how do I do that?” with a clip that plays inline, with nothing to click.
Keeping GIF files small
GIF compression is old and simple, so file size climbs quickly with frame size, length and motion. A few habits keep files easy to share:
- Record a window or a tab rather than a whole high-resolution screen. Less area means fewer pixels in every frame.
- Better still, turn on “Choose an area after sharing” and drag a box around just the button, menu or panel you’re showing. Nothing outside the box ends up in the GIF.
- Shrink the app window before you start, so text stays readable when the GIF is scaled to 960 px or less.
- Keep it short. Five to ten seconds is usually enough to show one interaction, and the export stops at 30.
- Move the mouse deliberately. Fast scrolling and animated backgrounds change every pixel and make each frame expensive.
- Use a plain background. Flat colors compress far better than photos or gradients.
What the GIF export does
These limits keep GIFs to a size people can actually post. Beyond them, files quickly grow to many megabytes.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Maximum length | 30 seconds |
| Maximum width | 960 px, with height scaled to match |
| Frame rate | 10–15 fps |
| Sound | None, because GIF has no audio |
| Where it’s made | On your computer, with nothing uploaded |
Frequently asked questions
Can I make a GIF longer than 30 seconds?
Not with this tool. For anything longer, save the recording as MP4 or WebM, which will also be far smaller than a GIF of the same length.
Why does my GIF look grainy?
GIF can show only 256 colors per frame, so photos, gradients and video look dotted or banded. Screen content with flat colors and text comes out much cleaner.
Does the GIF have sound?
No. The GIF format can’t hold audio, which is why this page records with the microphone and system audio switched off.
Will there be a watermark?
No. There’s no watermark, no account and no upload. The GIF is encoded in your browser and saved to your device.
Which browser should I use?
Any current desktop browser can record the clip. Chrome and Edge add the floating mini controls and a “Save as” dialog, which help when you’re capturing another app.
Can I record a GIF on my phone?
Not of the screen, because phone browsers can’t capture it. Use your phone’s built-in screen recorder instead.
How do I make text in the GIF readable?
Capture a smaller area with bigger text. Zoom the app in with Ctrl + plus (Command + plus on a Mac), and shrink the window or choose an area around the part you need, so the GIF needs less scaling to fit within 960 px.
Why only 10 to 15 frames per second?
It’s smooth enough for cursor movement and UI transitions, and it keeps the file much smaller than a GIF at video frame rates.
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