When you'd do this
An animated WebP sticker or clip won't play where you want to post it — an older chat app, an email, a forum or a CMS that only takes GIF — or a tool you use doesn't know WebP.
What to expect
Every frame, its timing and the loop count come across, so the GIF plays like the WebP. Expect it to be bigger: a GIF has at most 256 colours a frame and compresses far less than WebP, and soft or photo-like frames are dithered to fit those colours. Animations over 1,000 frames keep only the first.
Recommended settings
Keep GIF colours at 256 and Dithering on for photo-like clips. For flat cartoons and stickers, try 64 or 128 colours with Dithering off — a smaller GIF with cleaner areas of colour.
Where it opens
Everywhere a GIF plays: browsers, chat apps, social sites, forums and most email clients — some versions of Outlook for Windows show only the first frame.
Good to know
- A GIF's transparency is all or nothing: half-transparent edges are made solid against the Background colour, and the rest becomes clear.
- GIF is limited to 256 colours a frame, so gradients and photos look grainier than in the WebP.
- Frames set to 10 ms or less are written as 100 ms — the speed browsers play them at anyway.
How to do it
- Choose your WebP files, or drop or paste them on the page — as many as you like.
- Each is set to GIF. Change one on its own row if you like, and set Background, GIF colours, Dithering and Resize in Settings.
- Convert all, then download each GIF, or all of them in one .zip.
Questions
- Will my animated WebP still move as a GIF?
- Yes. Every frame, its delay and the loop count are kept.
- Why is the GIF so much bigger than the WebP?
- GIF is a 1980s format: 256 colours at most and simple compression. WebP stores the same animation far more efficiently.
- Can a GIF be transparent?
- Yes, but each pixel is either fully clear or solid. Soft edges are made solid against the Background colour you choose.