GIF is limited to 256 colors, and synonymous with short moving images. GIF opens in most environments, but another format such as WebP may suit some uses better.
WebP is a web format that is smaller than JPG and supports transparency and animation. When you convert GIF to WebP, the file gets smaller. See the comparison below for what changes.
This converter reads the file itself to confirm it is GIF, then converts it to WebP right in your browser. Your image is never uploaded.
GIF vs WebP: what's the difference?
| Item | GIF | WebP |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy or lossless |
| Transparent background | Yes | Yes |
| Animation | Yes | Yes |
| Introduced | 1987 | 2010 |
| Support in programs and upload forms | nearly everywhere | moderate |
| Shown directly in browsers | Yes | Yes |
| Photo file size (JPG = 1) | about 2.5× | about 0.7× |
What is GIF?
GIF is one of the oldest web image formats, created in 1987, and can use only up to 256 colors per image. The compression itself is lossless, but reducing the colors to 256 makes photos look visibly coarse.
What is WebP?
WebP is a web image format Google released in 2010. At the same quality it can be roughly 25-35% smaller than JPG, and it handles lossy and lossless compression, transparency and animation in a single format.
What changes when you convert GIF to WebP
Lossy compression is applied
GIF loses no quality, but WebP drops information the eye barely notices to shrink the file. Even next to the GIF original, the default quality of 90 is hard to tell apart, and the slider lets you tune size against quality.
You can adjust quality, size and background color
When converting GIF to WebP, you can use the quality slider (default 90), exact width-and-height sizing with margin fill, and percentage resizing. GIF is lossless, so lowering quality to around 80 usually still looks natural. Lower it when size matters, and raise it to 95 or more for archiving.
How the file size changes
WebP is far smaller than GIF (roughly 1/4 the size). This is for photos; for simple images such as logos and screenshots, PNG can actually come out smaller.
WebP has narrower support than GIF
GIF support is nearly everywhere and WebP support is moderate. Check that the recipient can open WebP first, and if you're not sure, JPG or PNG is safer.
When to convert
- You need to shrink a GIF file for an email attachment or an upload size limit
- You want to make GIF images lighter so pages load faster
- You're preparing an image for typical WebP uses (optimizing website images, transparent web graphics)