GIF is a common format of sharing animations. However, the size of a GIF file becomes too large and occupies such vast spaces if it is huge. It usually cannot be sent as an attachment via e-mail and some websites or posts. Once you resize your GIF, that will only make your GIF file size smaller, but it will also lose its animation quality. Resizing GIFs-the Right Way: In this tutorial, we'll show you how to resize GIFs with their animation intact, recommend the best tools around, and discuss some best practices on getting your GIFs looking great when resized.
Here are some benefits of resizing GIFs:
Reduces File Size: The smaller GIFs load quicker; hence users with slower connectivity or platforms that enforce restriction on file size will be helped.
Facilitates Compatability: In some applications, whether social media or email clients, there are limits to the size of GIF files that can be uploaded. Resizing does facilitate meeting those limits.
Enhances User Experience: The minification of file size ensures playback is smooth. That will make the GIF user-friendly and quite convenient to play back across devices.
GIFs are somewhat different from other static images. They are made up of a number of frames that create an animation. The negative to resampling GIFs is that it resizes the frames, which is problematic end
Loss of Animation Smoothness: Lowering the frame rate or frames will make the file much smaller but choppy
Loss of Image Quality: GIFs scaled down may lose details and sharpness, especially if higher compression is applied.
Color Banding: The GIF palette is very limited; thus, it sometimes creates banding or artifacts, which degrade animation quality. How to Resize GIFs Without Losing Quality
Some tools have been made to resize GIFs while maintaining their quality. Tools that are designed for GIFs will work on every frame delicately, so you won't lose your animation while the image doesn't distort.
Some great tools to resize GIFs:
EZGIF: One of the online free tools with strong GIF editing, EZGIF lets you resize, compress, crop images, and eventually save this animation in its best quality.
Adobe Photoshop: Photoshop allows better editing of GIFs, resizes GIFs at a smaller file size and maintains quality but costs money.
Giphy's GIF Maker: Giphy also has a free tool called the GIF Maker which presents simpler resizing and editing tools designed to create socially optimized GIFs.
GIF Resizer Apps (iOS/Android): Mobile apps including GIF Maker (Android) or ImgPlay (iOS) will resize your GIF on the fly.
As with the previous method, lowering the frame rate a little will reduce the file size, although it won't negatively impact your GIF quality much. In this manner, every frame remains at a higher resolution and quality although you might not display that many frames per second.
Upload your GIF into EZGIF, then click the "Optimize" button.
Choose the "Change frame rate" and select it lower a little bit (for example, from 20 fps to 15 fps).
Preview to ensure the animation is smooth.
Scaling down a GIF should not be done bit by bit. Sharper results will be if the dimensions are downsized in small increments.
How to Resize in EZGIF:
Upload your GIF in EZGIF.
Go to the "Resize" option and choose another dimension of about 10-20% lower than the original.
Use the "Resize image" and save.
Step-by-Step Guide: EZGIF Resize GIF
EZGIF is an online free tool that let you edit and optimize your GIFs. Here is a step guide on how to use this so that you can start resizing your GIFs.
Upload GIF to begin resizing: Go to ezgif.com and choose "Resize" from the menu. Now upload your GIF file from your device.
Select New Dimensions: You select a smaller width and height, keeping locked the ratio so that the dimension will not distort.
Optimize : Reduce the number of colors to as low as feasible, and if possible, use even a little compression.
Shrink the GIF and preview so that quality is retained
Download: Once resized download an optimized GIF and test it for smoothness by opening it in a new browser window or embedding.
Keep the Same Aspect Ratio: The aspect ratio is not used to stretch or distort the GIF.
Do Not Over Compress: When compression exceeds a certain limit, the GIF looks all grainy. So use your discretion about compression options.
Color Palette Reduction: One can decrease the size of the GIF files by reducing color palettes, but then there's a threshold beyond which the colors are so minimal that it starts showing some form of banding and losing important details.
Resize with Lossless Tools: Some lossless image resizing software is specifically designed for GIFs, like EZGIF, which deals with GIF frames without overly burdening quality.
Free programs for resizing GIFs with no loss of quality
Best For: Advanced resize and quality control.
Steps:
Open the GIF in Photoshop by clicking "File" > "Import" > "Video Frames to Layers."
Move to "Image" > "Image Size" and enter dimensions as desired.
Export using "Save for Web" with optional color settings.
Best for: Quick easy resizing for social media GIFs.
How to use:
Upload your GIF on Giphy's GIF Maker.
Choose new sizes and options to optimize the GIF for one of the social networks such as Instagram or Twitter.
Download resized GIF.
Best for: Mobile resizing
How to use:
Download a GIF resizer app, such as "GIF Maker" if you're on Android or "ImgPlay" if you're an iOS user.
Download it.
Import your GIF and select the resize tool to enter new sizes.
Save the resized GIF, checking playback to ensure quality .
1. What dimensions should I use for resized GIFs?
Optimal dimensions may vary, but generally, it's okay to resize to a width of about 600-800 pixels for social media or email delivery.
2. Why does my resized GIF look blurry?
This might be caused by undersampling if you compress way too heavy or reduce dimensions too much. Reduce dimensions step-wise or you might want to use a tool like EZGIF - even this sizes down while keeping the quality intact.
3. How do I scale down the size of the GIF file without sacrificing the quality?
Reduce the frame rate by a bit, color optimize and make use of a tool like TinyGIF that compresses it without damaging animation quality.
4. Can I resize GIF on my phone?
Sure thing, there are mobile apps like ImgPlay for iOS and GIF Maker for Android, which can resize gifs and on the move modify the dimensions.
5. What should I export the resized GIF in?
Save it as a GIF to preserve animation. Some resizers provide other formats, like MP4, that can save you a bit of file size but no longer be a GIF.
Resizing GIFs would be challenging without loss in quality. The dimensions, frame rate, and color count must be fairly balanced. Dedicated GIF resizing tools include EZGIF, Photoshop, or Giphy's GIF Maker, which can enhance the GIF most effectively to maintain the visual appeal of the animation. Use these tips to ensure quality, shareable GIFs and make them appear good as well as quick-load on any platform.