What happens when you convert EMZ to GIF
- The EMZ is unpacked on our conversion server, because it is an EMF drawing compressed with gzip, and the EMF inside is opened by Inkscape, the open-source vector editor, and saved as a PDF, and MuPDF draws it at 300 dpi, so a drawing 10 cm wide becomes about 1,180 pixels wide. The longest side is capped at 6,000 pixels.
- The drawing is placed on a white background, so the GIF has no transparency.
- The GIF has a palette of at most 256 colours, built from the drawing, which suits flat colours; soft gradients may show bands.
- This conversion runs on our server: the file is uploaded, converted, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result has been sent back to you. Nothing is kept. Files up to 25 MB are accepted.
How to convert EMZ to GIF online
- Press "Choose EMZ files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. Files up to 25 MB each can be converted.
- There are no settings to choose: the converter keeps everything the target format can hold.
- Press "Convert to GIF". The file is uploaded to our conversion server, converted in a few seconds, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result is sent back.
- Save each GIF with its download button. Our server has already deleted both your EMZ and the GIF by then.
Why convert EMZ to GIF?
EMZ files usually come from pictures inside Office files and web pages saved from Word or PowerPoint. People convert them to GIF to share, print or place the picture anywhere: GIF opens on every phone and computer, with no special program needed.
How to convert EMZ to GIF on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your EMZ files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each GIF is saved to your Downloads folder.
On a Mac
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the EMZ files from Finder onto the drop zone and the GIF files land in Downloads.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the page in Safari and tap Choose EMZ files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted GIF appears in Files, in the Downloads folder; to put it in your photo library, open it there, tap Share and choose Save Image.
On Android
Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose EMZ files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The GIF is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.
Best settings for EMZ to GIF
There are no settings: the drawing is rendered at 300 dpi on white, with the longest side capped at 6,000 pixels.
Keep the EMZ as the master copy, and convert from it again whenever you need another format.
EMZ vs GIF: the differences
| EMZ | GIF | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Compressed Enhanced Metafile | Graphics Interchange Format |
| Type | image | image |
| Created by | Microsoft | CompuServe |
| First released | 1993 | 1987 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossless |
| Transparency | No | Yes |
| Animation | No | Yes |
| Vector or raster | Vector | Raster |
| Colour | Windows drawing commands, which can also hold bitmaps | 256 colours per frame from a palette |
| In a browser | does not open in browsers; Word, PowerPoint and LibreOffice show it inside documents | opens and animates in every browser |
| Common uses | pictures inside Office files and web pages saved from Word or PowerPoint | short looping animations, reactions and simple graphics |
| MIME type | image/x-emz | image/gif |
About EMZ and GIF files
What is an EMZ file?
An EMZ is an EMF drawing compressed with gzip. Office stores pictures this way, and a web page saved from Word or PowerPoint comes with a folder of image001.emz files, which is where most EMZ files people want to open come from.
What is a GIF file?
GIF stores each frame with a palette of at most 256 colours, so photos turn grainy and animations get large fast. Transparency is on or off per pixel, with no soft edges.
EMZ to GIF not working? Common problems
- "Files up to 25 MB can be converted." Server conversions have a size limit. Compress the images inside the file, or split it, and try again.
- "The conversion took too long and was stopped." Very long or complex files can pass the 90 second limit. Split the file and convert the parts.
- "This file is not really in EMZ format." The converter checks every file before it runs anything, so a file of another format renamed to .emz is refused. Choose the page for its real format.
Convert EMZ to GIF from the command line
gzip and Inkscape do the same on your own computer:
gunzip -c input.emz > input.emf
inkscape input.emf --export-type=png --export-dpi=300 --export-background=white --export-filename=output.png
magick output.png output.gifConverting on your own computer keeps the file entirely local, which is worth it for very large or very sensitive documents. For everything else, the converter on this page does it without installing anything.
EMZ to GIF converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting EMZ to GIF?
The drawing is rendered to pixels at 300 dpi, sharp for print at its own size. GIF keeps at most 256 colours, which flat drawings rarely exceed; choose PNG for gradients.
Why is the GIF a different size from the EMZ?
The GIF stores every pixel, so it is usually larger than the EMZ, which stores drawing commands.
Are my EMZ files uploaded?
Yes, for this conversion. A faithful EMZ to GIF conversion needs Inkscape and MuPDF, two open-source tools, which cannot run in a browser. The file travels over an encrypted connection, is converted in a private temporary folder, and is deleted together with the GIF as soon as the result has been sent back to you. We do not keep, read or share it.
Can I convert several EMZ files to GIF at once?
Yes. Select or drop as many files as you like; they are converted one after another and each gets its own download button.
How do I open a GIF file?
GIF opens and animates in every browser. GIF is common for short looping animations, reactions and simple graphics.
Is this EMZ to GIF converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no watermark. Because this conversion uses our server, there is a fair-use limit of 25 MB per file and a number of files per hour, which stops the service being overloaded.
Can I convert EMZ to GIF on my phone?
Yes. It works in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android. The conversion happens on our server, so it is as fast on a phone as on a computer; the GIF is saved to your Downloads folder.