GIF recipe

Convert MP4 to GIF with FFmpeg

Create a high-quality GIF from MP4 using a generated palette.

Command

ffmpeg -i "input.mp4" -vf "fps=12,scale=640:-1:flags=lanczos,palettegen" palette.png && ffmpeg -i "input.mp4" -i palette.png -filter_complex "fps=12,scale=640:-1:flags=lanczos[x];[x][1:v]paletteuse" "output.gif"

Use this when

You need a short animated GIF from a video clip.
You want better colors than a one-pass GIF conversion.
You can keep the clip short enough for GIF file sizes.

Customize it

Create high-quality GIF commands from MP4 using palette generation.

Open MP4 to GIF

Parameter breakdown

fps=12

Limits frames per second to control size.

scale=640:-1

Sets width to 640px and preserves aspect ratio.

palettegen

Creates a color palette for the clip.

paletteuse

Uses the generated palette for better GIF color quality.

Variants

Smaller GIF

ffmpeg -i "input.mp4" -vf "fps=8,scale=480:-1:flags=lanczos,palettegen" palette.png && ffmpeg -i "input.mp4" -i palette.png -filter_complex "fps=8,scale=480:-1:flags=lanczos[x];[x][1:v]paletteuse" "small.gif"