Screen Recorder → GIF
Record a screen, window or browser tab, trim the range and save it as a GIF. Works in desktop browsers.
Press Start recording and choose what to share.
First choose the screen, window or tab in step 1. With a single screen, shrink this window, set up the site you want to record, then press step 2 here. Recording starts after the delay. It ends automatically at the max time, or use the browser's "Stop sharing".
How to use
- Choose the screen to share in step 1, then drag on the preview to set the area to record. Without a selection the whole screen is recorded.
- After stopping, scrub through the frames and trim the start and end.
- Set size and colors, make the GIF and save it.
View detailed guide
What this tool does
Records a screen, a window or a browser tab and turns it into a GIF. You can set the area to record, and after recording you trim the range and set the size and number of colors before saving. Useful for how-to clips or bug reproductions as GIFs.
Steps
- Press "1. Choose screen to share", choose the screen, window or tab to record in the browser's picker and allow it.
- If needed, drag on the preview to set the area to record. Also set the frames per second, capture width, max recording time and delay before start.
- Press "2. Start recording". Numbers count during the delay and recording starts at the end. You can stop for a moment with "Pause".
- Press "Stop recording", or after the max time, you move to the editing step. Check with the slider and "Play" and set the start/end frame.
- Set the width, loop and max colors, press "Make GIF" and then "Download".
Settings
- Frames per second: 10-60. A GIF frame is at least 0.02 seconds, so parts above 50 frames per second are merged.
- Capture width: choose from 320, 480, 640, 800, 1024. If the area or screen is smaller than this it is used as is; if larger it is shrunk to this width.
- Max recording time: 1-60 seconds. It ends automatically when the time or the memory limit (about 300MB) is reached first.
- Delay before start and voice: numbers count during the delay (Start now, 3, 4, 5 seconds), and with "Read the countdown aloud" on the numbers are read aloud.
- Recording time note: shows roughly how many seconds can be recorded with the current settings.
- Start/End frame: choose the part to make into a GIF by recorded frame number (from 1).
- Loop, Max colors (initially 128), Dithering: work as in the GIF Maker.
How it works
It captures the video received from the browser's screen share at set intervals. To save memory it compares with the previous frame and stores only the rectangle that changed; if the screen did not change it does not store a new frame and only lengthens the previous frame's display time. Every 60th frame it stores the whole picture and uses it as a base to restore the picture at any position. When making the GIF it sets frame intervals in 0.01-second units, merges a frame into the previous one if it would be shorter than 0.02 seconds, then encodes with one color table. The recording timer runs in a separate worker thread (Web Worker) so the browser does not slow it when you switch to another window.
Good to know
- It works only in a desktop browser over a secure connection (HTTPS or localhost). It cannot be used on phones and tablets. This is decided by the device you connect with, not the screen size, and on mobile pressing "Choose screen to share" or "Start recording" shows a "Not supported on mobile devices" notice. Make a video with the device's screen recording and use the Video to GIF tool.
- Sound is not recorded.
- Closing this tab while recording loses the recording. Pressing the browser's "Stop sharing" ends recording.
- The result file is named "screen_yearmonthdayhourminutesecond.gif".
- The result is gone when you close the tab.