Image : Lucasfilm

Sometimes, the best response to a group chat or email is a strong GIF—a small animation that can express your feelings much better than you can type them. While you can find plenty of GIFs for every occasion with a few taps of your phone’s keyboard in your favorite messaging apps, why use the same “DealWithIt.gif” meme if you can make your own?




With all the photos and videos you capture and consume daily, you probably have a treasure trove of content that can easily be turned into shareable, internet art. The tools you can use to make GIFs are mostly free and easier to use than ever. Here are some of the best ways to make GIFs regardless of your technical expertise or device—desktop, laptop, or mobile.

One GIF maker to rule all platforms: Giphy

Screenshot : Gloria Sin


What is it

Giphy is a web-based tool that lets you create and host simple animated art for the internet. Not only can you turn your photos and under-20-second videos into GIFs, you can also convert existing online videos into clips (with some restrictions). For example, the original video can’t be longer than 15 minutes, nor can it violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or Giphy’s community guidelines.

Who it’s for

Anyone who wants to create basic GIFs and don’t want to worry about things like its frame rate.


Platform

Giphy works with any web browser, so you can access this GIF-maker on any computer or mobile device. Giphy is also available as a mobile app for both Android and iOS.


How it works on your desktop or laptop

Open up Giphy and click on “Create” to start making a GIF. If you’ve already made a GIF and are just looking to upload it for use and share online, simply click on “Upload”.


How it works on Mobile

After installing the GIPHY app from your chosen app store, open the app and tap the green “+” symbol at the bottom of the screen to create a GIF. You can either snap new photos or use photos within your photo gallery to make a basic GIF. You can also drag-and-drop animated stickers, texts and photo filters to enhance your content. Once you’re happy with your GIF, you can save it to your device or upload it to GIPHY so that you can share the GIF on the internet.


For advanced Android GIF Artists: GIF Maker-Editor

Screenshot : Gloria Sin


What is it



GIF Maker-Editor is a comprehensive app for GIFs that gives you fine control over your creations, from adjusting the number of frames per second in a GIF to customizing its file size. You can apply all sorts of fun decorations to your photos, but the stickers and effects aren’t as trendy as rival apps (no mustache stickers here).




For a free app, GIF Maker-Editor is relatively light on annoying ads but it does cap your image’s resolution at 448-by-578 pixels. If you want to create GIFs in 720p, then you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro version ($2.99).

Who it’s for

Android users who want to geek out over their GIFs. Stop adding simple stickers to your photos and step up to the big leagues—make some animations!


Platform

Android

How it works

Using pictures from your photo roll, or newly-taken photos and videos, simply tap on any of the rectangle buttons on the app’s homescreen to start your GIF-making journey. (The app’s circle icons link to the folder with your finished GIFs.)


You can turn still images into an exciting slideshow by tapping the “Images to GIF” button, selecting as many photos as you like, and then tapping the “check mark” at the upper-right corner. From here, the bottom of the screen becomes a side-swiping menu that gives you more control over your GIF. You can decorate the GIF with stickers, doodle on the GIF, fine-tune the speed of the GIF, or even insert an existing GIF into your new creation.

Screenshot : Gloria Sin


When you’re happy with your GIF, save the file on your device or post it on your social media platform of choice. The process is the same if you have an existing video or would like to shoot some fresh content to turn into a GIF.

This app also makes it easy to make changes to your GIF. If you change your mind about your GIF, you can easily edit your file by tapping on the “Edit GIF” or “Quick edit GIF” button. Is your GIF file too big to share online? You can further compress your GIF file by tapping on “Compress GIF” or “Edit GIF” to adjust its resolution.


For advanced iOS GIF artists: ImgPlay

Screenshot : Gloria Sin


What is it



The free ImgPlay app gives you a lot of options when you’re creating your next GIF, from the number of frames per second it can display (up to 30fps) to the many meme-ready templates you can apply—even to videos. While not an iOS-exclusive app, this version makes it easy to turn your favorite Live Photos and Boomerangs into GIFs.


Who it’s for

Those who are unhappy with the iPhone’s stock Live Photo-to-GIF converter (or any other Shortcuts you’ve created or downloaded for making GIFs).


Platform

iOS and Android

How it works

This app automatically organizes all the content that is already on your device by file type—videos, photos, Live Photos, burst shots, and GIFs—so that you can start picking all the relevant files to create your next GIF as soon as you open the app. And if you want to shoot some new images in your next GIF, you only have to tap on “Camera” at the bottom of the app to start up your photo session.


Once you’ve selected the images or video you want to use in your GIF, the interface will transform into three regions. The top bar displays all the frames that are within your GIF, the middle contains the content you’re trying to edit, and the bottom menu shows you all the design options that are at your disposal, including handy templates called “Canvases.”

Unfortunately, this free app slaps a watermark onto your GIFs before you can share them on the internet, but it disappears when you upgrade to the ImgPlay Pro app ($4.99).


For GIFing anything on your PC: ScreenToGif

Screenshot : Gloria Sin


What is it



ScreenToGif is a free, open-source program designed to record whatever is displaying on your computer. Whether you’re watching your favorite Twitch livestream, joining a web conference, or doodling on a digital sketchboard, this little app can help you transform what you’re viewing into a GIF. The possibilities are endless.




Who it’s for

Windows users who want to record their digital lives—like epic gaming battles or viral moment in YouTube videos — to share with friends and family. Mac users can give GIPHY Capture a try to access similar features.


Platform

ScreenToGif: Windows.

GIPHY Capture: Mac

How it works:

After installing the latest version of the app, open it up and select the type of content you’d like to record: Recorder, Webcam, (sketch) Board or (content) Editor. Let’s say you’re trying to make a GIF of the historic gymnastic move that Simone Biles landed for the first time in 2019. What you’d need to do is:

Open the video that you want to record on your computer Open the ScreenToGif program and select “Recorder” Drag the ScreenToGif interface so that it is on top of your video. Feel free to resize the box so that your video is visible within the rectangle box. Queue the video to the place you want to record. Play video. Hit the “red” circle (on the ScreenToGif frame) to begin recording. Hit the “blue” square (on the ScreenToGif frame) to stop, which will open the rest of the program that allows you to edit and save your GIF. If you want to share your high-resolution GIF with the internet, you’ll have to upload it to an image hosting service like Imgur


For Serious GIF Action: Adobe Photoshop

Screenshot : David Murphy


What is it



Photoshop is the industry standard photo-manipulation software. This is most definitely not the route for anyone who wants a cheap (or free) way to create GIFs, but Photoshop gives you plenty of of powerful tools for editing and optimizing your animations.




Who it’s for

If you’re a serious photographer who wants to make some high-resolution GIFs to impress Redditors, or you want to do some serious tweaking to your GIFs’ image quality or visual effects, Photoshop is your friend.


How it works

If you just want to make a GIF of some funny video or movie you’re watching, start by pulling a clip from the full video file using the VLC media player.


Open the video in VLC Under View, select “Advanced controls”. Position the playhead about 5-10 seconds before the action you want to record. Press the red Record button. Press Play on the video. When you’ve finished recording the action, press the Record button again. Go find the clip on your PC (likely in your regular “Videos” folder)

Now it’s time for the fun stuff. Photoshop allows you to do just about anything to the individual frames of the animation that you can do with regular images. Rather than getting too wild, here’s how you can start by making a simple animated GIF:

In Photoshop, select File > Import > Video Frames to Layers… In the dialog that pops up, use the left and right handles to trim the clip down to the exact frames you want to import. (Optional) Use the text tool or filters to edit and modify individual frames To export the GIF, select File > Save for Web… Here, you’ll have a lot of options you can tweak. The primary change you should make is picking “Adaptive” in the first drop-down box beneath “GIF.” if it’s not already selected. Otherwise, tweak as you see fit, but the default options should give you a decent-quality GIF. At the bottom, under “Looping Options” ensure that “Forever” is selected. Click “Save...” to give your animation a name and place it somewhere.

That’s it! Once it’s done, you can upload it to Imgur or any other file hosting service you prefer—or just drop them in your emails to your bosses and/or friends.


These five methods for making GIFs should cover most basic needs, but there are always newer and better tricks out there. If you have a preferred method, app, or utility you love, let us know in the comments.

This story was originally published on 1/1714 and was updated on 8/27/19 to provide more thorough and current information.