Create an Animated GIF

Create an animated GIF file from a selection of your video capture or the entire video.

Open a video capture or click to select a video from the Recent Captures Tray.
Drag the green and red handles to select a portion of the video for the Animated GIF.

Tip: Keep it short!

It is recommended to select a segment less than 30 seconds.
Drag the playhead to the green handle and click the Play button to preview the selection.
When you are satisfied with the selection, click the Save As Animated GIF button.
Confirm if you are using the selection you just chose or if you would like to use the whole video to create the GIF.
The Create GIF dialog appears. Select an Optimize For option:
- Screen Video (Default): Select this option if the video contains screen recording.
- High Motion Video: Select this option if the video contains real world video or games.
- Reduced File Size: Select this option if you want to optimize for file size. Snagit scales the video dimensions down to have a max width or height of 200 pixels.
- Custom: Select this option if you want to customize the settings. See Custom GIF Settings.
Click the Create button.
The animated GIF appears on the canvas to review and share.

Custom GIF Settings

Setting	Description
Frame Rate	Number of frames per second. A higher frame rate produces smoother video playback and can result in larger file sizes.
Dimensions (unit)	Select the unit to display the width and height dimensions.
Dimensions (Width and Height)	Enter the width and height dimensions for the Animated GIF file. Decreasing the dimensions can result in lower file sizes for the Animated GIF.
Lock Aspect Ratio	It is recommended to lock the aspect ratio, the ratio of the width to the height of a video. Unlocking the aspect ratio may result in skewed or blurry video content.
Enable Dithering	Enable Dithering to prevent color banding and to produce smoother video content. Dithering can result in larger file sizes.
Looping	If looping is enabled, the Animated GIF plays back on a continuous loop. If looping is disabled, the Animated GIF plays until the end of the video.
Dynamic Colors (Mac)	This option is recommended for most videos. Enabling this option can result in increased file sizes. If you need to decrease the file size, you may consider disabling this option for videos with low color variation.
Fade to Black	Add a transition to the end of the Animated GIF to fade the last frame to black.

Note: This tutorial is for Snagit version 2024. Previous versions may look or function differently.

To check your version, select Help menu (Windows) or Snagit menu (Mac) > About Snagit.
If you have a previous version of Snagit, see tutorials for previous versions or upgrade to the latest version.
For unexpected behavior with Snagit, visit the TechSmith Help Center.