APNG (animated PNG) keeps full colour and smooth transparency, but some programs and sites only accept GIF. Converting an APNG to GIF keeps the frames, their timing and the loop count.
How to convert APNG to GIF
- Upload the APNG. It usually has the
.pngextension;.apngworks too. - Convert to: GIF.
- Download the GIF.
A PNG that turns out not to be animated is reported as a still picture.
What happens
- Frames: each frame is composed as the APNG shows it (APNG frames can update only part of the picture and blend over the previous one).
- Timing: each frame keeps its delay, rounded to hundredths of a second as GIF stores them.
- Looping: an APNG that plays twice gives a GIF that plays twice; one that loops forever, a GIF that loops forever.
- Colours: one palette of up to 256 colours is built from all frames, with smooth dithering for gradients.
- Transparency: transparent pixels stay transparent. GIF has no partial transparency, so soft edges become hard ones.
Tips
- If the animation has soft shadows or anti-aliased edges over transparency, consider animated WebP instead: it keeps them, and is supported by current browsers.
- APNG animations faster than 50 frames per second are reduced to 50 fps, the fastest GIF viewers show.
- To make a video from the APNG, choose MP4, WebM (keeps transparency) or MOV.
More about what this tool reads and writes: GIF to MP4 Converter.