Keep it short
GIF has no modern compression and stores each frame as a 256-colour image, so file size grows roughly linearly with duration and frame rate. Two to five seconds at 10-15 fps is the practical sweet spot; beyond that a WebM or MP4 will be smaller and look better.
Colour banding is inherent to the format. Gradients, sunsets and video with fine texture will look worse than the source no matter what settings you choose.
When to use GIF instead of video
Use GIF when autoplay without controls matters and the destination cannot embed video: GitHub issues, documentation, Slack, older email clients. Everywhere else, video wins on both quality and size.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my GIF larger than the video?
- That is normal — GIF is an inefficient 1987 format. Shorten the clip or lower the frame rate.
Is there audio in a GIF?
- No. GIF has no audio track at all.
Is the video uploaded?
- No. Conversion runs locally with FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly.