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ImageConverter

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PNG to GIF Converter

Convert a PNG into a GIF. The file usually gets substantially smaller — around 70% in testing — but two things are lost along the way, and the one people notice is soft edges. PNG stores 256 levels of transparency; GIF stores one.

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Drag and drop your PNG images here

Add several at once. Each file is processed and then deleted from our server.

Up to 20 MB per file Batch ready

#ffffff

GIF cannot store transparency, so it is filled with this colour.

Step by step

How to convert PNG to GIF in 3 steps

  1. Add your PNG

  2. Pick a background colour

    Pick a background colour for the semi-transparent areas — this matters more than it sounds, and the reason is below.

  3. Download your GIF

Format comparison

PNG vs GIF

PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

Lossless

Stores every pixel exactly as it was saved, so nothing is lost however often the file is opened and saved.

  • Pixel-perfect: ideal for screenshots, logos and text
  • Supported everywhere, including every browser
  • Photographs make large files — often several times the JPG size

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

256 colours

The long-standing format for simple animations, limited to a palette of 256 colours per frame.

  • Animation that plays almost anywhere
  • Tiny files for flat graphics with few colours
  • Only 256 colours, so photographs look grainy or banded

Transparency: 256 levels down to one

This is the difference that catches people out, and it is specific to this pair of formats.

A PNG's alpha channel stores 256 levels of transparency per pixel. That is what makes a logo's curved edge look smooth: the pixels along the edge are partly transparent, blending the shape into whatever is behind it.

GIF has no such thing. Each pixel is either fully opaque or fully invisible — one bit, no middle. So every one of those carefully graded edge pixels has to be forced to one extreme or the other.

The result is the jagged, stair-stepped edge people describe as "my logo went pixelated". It is not a resolution problem and no setting fixes it; the format simply has nowhere to put the information.

Why the background colour matters

Semi-transparent pixels that are not made invisible get flattened onto a colour, and that choice is permanent.

Match it to wherever the image will actually sit. A logo flattened onto white and then placed on a dark page shows a pale fringe around every edge — the ghost of the background you picked. Getting this right is the difference between an acceptable result and an obviously amateur one.

Why it still gets smaller

Unlike JPG to GIF, this conversion usually reduces the file considerably — a 487 KB PNG became a 129 KB GIF in testing.

That is because PNG is lossless: it stores every colour of a photograph exactly, which is expensive. Reducing to 256 colours throws most of that away, and the saving is large.

For flat graphics — logos, icons, diagrams — the difference is much smaller, because a PNG of flat artwork was already compact and may well have used few colours to begin with. Occasionally the GIF comes out slightly larger.

Quality

Quality and file size

There is no quality setting. The palette limit is the format itself.

What converts well, and what does not

  • Flat graphics, logos, icons, simple diagrams — convert well. They may already use under 256 colours, in which case the only real loss is the soft edges.
  • Screenshots of interfaces — usually fine. Interfaces use limited palettes.
  • Photographs — badly. Expect banding across skies and skin, or a haze of dithering. If the PNG is a photograph, consider JPG or WebP instead, both of which will be smaller and better.
  • Anything with a drop shadow or a glow — badly, for the transparency reason above. A soft shadow becomes a hard-edged blob.

If it is the size you are after

GIF is rarely the best way to shrink a PNG. PNG compression reduces the palette while staying PNG, keeping full transparency and often saving 60–70%. WebP is smaller again and keeps everything.

Choose GIF when something specifically requires GIF — not as a compression strategy.

Animated PNGs

An APNG converts to a single still frame. If you need the animation as a GIF, that needs a tool built for frame sequences.

When this conversion makes sense

  • A system that only accepts GIF — the honest main reason.
  • Frames for an animation being assembled elsewhere.
  • Very old email clients, some of which handle GIF more reliably than PNG.
  • Legacy documentation or software whose asset pipeline expects GIF.

Keeping edges usable

If you must produce a GIF of something with soft edges, the practical approach is to stop relying on transparency:

  • Flatten onto the exact background colour the image will sit on, and do not use transparency at all. Edges stay smooth because they are blended into a real colour.
  • Redraw with hard edges if the artwork is simple enough. A shape with crisp boundaries converts perfectly.
  • Make it larger. Jagged edges are less obvious at bigger sizes, since each step is a smaller fraction of the shape.

The one thing GIF still does that PNG does not

Animation — and even that is now better served by animated WebP, which is smaller and not limited to 256 colours.

Outside animation there is nothing GIF offers that PNG does not do better. If you have a choice, PNG is the right format; this page exists for when you do not.

Privacy

What happens to your file

This tool runs on our server, so it works the same on every phone and computer. Your file is uploaded, and this is exactly what happens to it:

  • Stored outside the public web root under a random name, never under your file's name.
  • Processed, with the original upload deleted immediately — whether it succeeded or failed.
  • The result sits behind a signed link that only you receive, which stops working after 20 minutes, and the file is deleted the moment you download it.
  • Anything never collected is deleted automatically within 30 minutes.
  • The image itself is never logged or kept. If a conversion fails, we record the formats involved and the error — not the file.
  • Camera metadata, including any GPS coordinates recording where a photo was taken, is removed from the result. Only the rotation needed to show the image the right way up is kept.

Questions & answers

PNG to GIF: frequently asked questions

Why did my logo get jagged edges?

Because PNG stores 256 levels of transparency per pixel and GIF stores one — each pixel is either fully opaque or fully invisible. The partly-transparent pixels that made a curved edge look smooth have to be forced to one extreme, producing a stair-stepped edge. It is not a resolution problem and no setting fixes it; the format has nowhere to put the information.

What background colour should I choose?

Whatever the image will actually sit on, because the choice is permanent. Semi-transparent pixels get flattened onto it, so a logo flattened onto white and then placed on a dark page shows a pale fringe around every edge — the ghost of the background you picked.

Why is the GIF so much smaller than the PNG?

Because PNG is lossless and stores every colour of a photograph exactly, which is expensive. Reducing to 256 colours discards most of that — a 487 KB PNG became a 129 KB GIF in testing. For flat graphics the difference is much smaller, and occasionally the GIF is slightly larger.

Is GIF a good way to shrink a PNG?

No. PNG compression reduces the palette while staying PNG, keeping full transparency and often saving 60–70%. WebP is smaller again and keeps everything. Choose GIF only when something specifically requires GIF.

My drop shadow turned into a hard blob.

Same cause as jagged edges: a soft shadow is made entirely of partly-transparent pixels, and GIF cannot store them. Either flatten onto the real background colour and keep no transparency at all, or use a format that supports it — PNG or WebP.

What happens to an animated PNG?

You get a single still frame. Converting an APNG to an animated GIF needs a tool built for frame sequences, which this is not.

Keep going

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