About the GIF Compressor
GIF Compressor makes animated GIFs smaller so they load faster and fit into email, chat and upload limits. It works in four ways that you can mix: it makes the picture smaller (100, 75, 50 or 33 percent), it lowers the number of colours per frame (down to 16), it keeps only every second or third frame, and it writes only the pixels that changed from one frame to the next. A quality loss setting decides how different two neighbouring colours must be before the tool treats them as a change. Light, Medium and Strong buttons give you a good starting point, and the new file size is shown next to the preview so you can decide before downloading. The GIF is opened and rewritten in your browser and is never uploaded. Some GIFs are already well packed, and for those a setting that is too gentle can even make the file larger. The tool says so when that happens.
Updated October 2026
How to use the GIF Compressor
- 1Choose Select GIF, or drop a .gif file on the page.
- 2Press Light, Medium or Strong, or set the picture size, colours, frames and quality loss yourself.
- 3Press Compress GIF and compare the new size and the preview with the original.
- 4If it is still too big, try a stronger setting. When you are happy, choose Download compressed GIF.
What makes a GIF big
A GIF stores every frame as a picture, so the size grows with three things: how many pixels each frame has, how many frames there are, and how much changes between frames. Photographs and video clips are the worst case, because almost every pixel changes all the time and GIF can hold only 256 colours per frame. A flat animation, such as a logo or a simple cartoon, is usually small already.
Which setting saves the most
- Picture size has the biggest effect. Halving the width and height leaves a quarter of the pixels.
- Dropping every second frame roughly halves the file, and the tool stretches the delays so the animation keeps its length, though it looks a little less smooth.
- Fewer colours helps most with photos. Down to 64 colours is often fine; 16 looks posterised.
- Quality loss helps when the background flickers slightly with noise, which is common in screen recordings and video clips.
Reaching a size limit
If you need a GIF under a particular size, such as 1 MB for a chat app or 2 MB for a web page, start with Medium and look at the result. Go to Strong if it is still too big. If even Strong is too large, the animation is too long or too big for the GIF format. Cutting it shorter, or using a video format for the page instead, will do more than squeezing the colours further.
When the result is bigger
GIFs made by good tools are already optimised, and rewriting them with gentle settings can cost more than it saves. When that happens the page says the result is larger than the original. Use a stronger preset, lower the picture size, or keep the original file. If the file is still too big, you can also shrink the frames with the Image Resizer or turn the GIF into still pictures with GIF to Images. The Compress Image tool handles normal photos, the Image Converter changes the format, and GIF Maker builds a lighter animation from fewer frames.
Features
- Shrink the picture to 75, 50 or 33 percent
- Reduce colours per frame from 256 down to 16
- Keep every frame, every second or every third, with the timing adjusted
- Only changed pixels are stored from frame to frame
- Quality loss setting from none to high
- Before and after size, with the percentage saved
- Transparency is kept
- Runs in your browser: nothing is uploaded
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a GIF under 1 MB?
Start with the Medium preset and check the new size. If it is still too big, use Strong, or cut the GIF shorter before compressing. Size and frame count matter most.
Will compressing a GIF reduce its quality?
Usually a little. Fewer colours, a smaller picture and dropped frames all cost some quality. Setting quality loss to None, colours to 256 and size to 100 percent changes the least, but saves little.
Why did my GIF get bigger?
It was probably already well optimised, and the settings you chose were too gentle to beat that. Choose a stronger preset or a smaller size, or keep the original.
Does dropping frames make the animation faster?
No. When a frame is dropped, its delay is added to the frame before it, so the animation keeps its length. It looks less smooth but plays at the same speed.
Is my GIF uploaded?
No. The GIF is read and rewritten inside your browser. Nothing leaves your device, and nothing is stored after you close the page.
Does it keep transparency?
Yes. A GIF with see-through areas stays see-through, though each frame is stored in full, so the savings are smaller than for opaque GIFs.
Is there a size limit?
Every frame is held in memory while compressing, so very long or very large GIFs can be refused or may run out of memory on a phone. Trim the GIF or lower its size and try again.