PNG to GIF Converter: Make Static or Animated GIFs Free and Privately
A PNG to GIF converter rewrites PNG images as GIF files, either one static GIF per image or one animated GIF made of several PNG frames. To do it free and privately, add your images in the tool above, choose the output, and download. Your browser builds the GIF on your device, so nothing is uploaded, and the Network tab in DevTools will show that.
GIF holds at most 256 colours per palette, so flat graphics convert exactly and photographs are reduced. The reason to choose GIF today is animation that plays almost everywhere: chat apps, forums, documentation and newsletters. For a single still picture, PNG is usually the better format, so keep your PNG originals.
PNG to GIF Table of Use: Inputs and Results
| You add | Settings | You get |
|---|---|---|
| One opaque logo PNG with 256 colours or fewer | Download GIF | A static GIF with exactly the same colours |
| One photo PNG | Dithering on or off | A static GIF reduced to 256 colours |
| Twelve frames, frame1.png to frame12.png | Sort by File Name, 100 ms, Loop forever | One looping animation, 1.20 s per loop, named frame1-animation.gif |
| Five slides | 2000 ms, Play once | A slideshow GIF of 10 s that stops after one play |
| Frames of different sizes | One animated GIF | Largest size used; smaller frames centred on a transparent surround |
| Twenty PNG icons | Separate GIFs | converted-gif.zip with one GIF per image at its own size |
PNG to GIF Converter Features
- Static or animated. One image gives a static GIF. Several give one animated GIF, or separate GIFs in a ZIP if you pick that output.
- Frame control. Drag frames, use the arrow buttons or Sort by File Name, which orders numbers naturally so 10 comes after 9. Play and Pause preview the animation.
- Timing and looping. A delay slider from 20 ms to 2 s, and a Repeat menu: Loop forever, Play once, or 2, 3, 5 or 10 plays.
- Colour handling. If all frames use 256 colours or fewer (255 with transparency), those exact colours become the palette. Otherwise one shared palette is built by median cut, with optional Floyd-Steinberg dithering.
- Smaller files. Without transparency, each frame after the first stores only the area that changed. With transparency, every frame is stored whole.
- More than PNG. JPG, WebP, GIF and BMP files are accepted too. Images over 65,535 pixels per side, the GIF maximum, are refused with a message.
- Browser only. No upload; progress shows as "Encoding frame 3 of 12".
How to Use the PNG to GIF Converter
- Click Add PNG Images or drop files onto the upload box.
- With several images, choose One animated GIF or Separate GIFs under Output.
- For an animation, arrange the frames, set Frame Delay and Repeat, and press Play to preview.
- Leave Dithering on for photos and gradients, or turn it off for flat graphics and smaller files.
- Click the download button, labelled Download GIF, Download Animated GIF or Download N GIFs (ZIP).
Who Can Use the PNG to GIF Converter
Marketers making simple banner and product animations, technical writers turning screenshots into a short how-to clip, teachers animating diagrams step by step, and pixel artists exporting sprite animations. Get frames ready first: crop them identically with the Image Cropper, resize with the Image Resizer, enlarge sprites with the Pixel Art Scaler, or caption them with Add Text to Image. To go the other way, the GIF to PNG Converter extracts frames. For static images, the PNG to WebP Converter and PNG to JPG Converter give smaller files, and JPG photos can be added as frames directly; the JPG to PNG Converter is only for separate PNG copies. Some desktop versions of Outlook for Windows show only the first frame of an animated GIF, so put the key message there if you plan to email it.
PNG to GIF FAQs
How do I make an animated GIF from PNG images?
Click Add PNG Images and select all the frames. Put them in order by dragging, using the arrow buttons, or clicking Sort by File Name for files like frame1.png to frame10.png. Set the frame delay and Repeat, press Play to preview, then click Download Animated GIF.
Does converting PNG to GIF reduce image quality?
It can. Quality drops when the image needs more than 256 colours (255 when it has transparent areas), counted across all frames of an animation. Logos, icons, pixel art and flat screenshots within that limit keep their exact colours. Photos and gradients get a palette chosen by median cut, and dithering hides banding at the cost of grain and a bigger file. Semi-transparent pixels also change, because GIF transparency is on or off.
Is transparency kept when I convert PNG to GIF?
Yes, as GIF transparency, which is on or off per pixel. Pixels with an alpha of 128 or more become solid and the rest become fully transparent, so soft shadows and anti-aliased edges lose their smooth fade. For the cleanest edges on a known background, place the image on that colour before converting.
What frame delay should I use for a GIF?
GIF timing is stored in hundredths of a second. 100 ms (10 frames per second) suits most simple animations, 40 to 70 ms looks smooth for motion, and 500 ms or more suits slideshows. The slider starts at 20 ms because many browsers play very short GIF delays as 100 ms, which would make the animation slower.
How do I make a GIF play once or loop forever?
Use the Repeat menu. Loop forever writes the standard NETSCAPE2.0 looping block with a count of 0, which browsers repeat endlessly. Play once leaves the block out. Play 3 times stores a repeat count of 2, because the count means extra plays after the first. The menu appears with two or more images and One animated GIF selected.
What happens if my PNG frames are different sizes?
The animated GIF takes the largest width and height among the frames, and smaller frames are centred on it with a transparent surround. For a clean result, make all frames the same size first, for example with the Image Resizer or Image Cropper.
Is it safe to make a GIF from PNG images online?
With this tool, yes. Your browser encodes the GIF on your own device, so the images are never uploaded to ZipConvert or anyone else, which suits private or unreleased artwork. You can confirm it in the Network tab of DevTools; the page fetches only its own code, such as the ZIP library for batch downloads.