What happens when you convert HTML to GIF
- The page is opened in Chromium, the open-source browser behind Chrome, on our conversion server and captured as one tall image 1,280 pixels wide, the width of a laptop window, which ImageMagick saves as a GIF. A page taller than 16,384 pixels is cut off at that point.
- GIF allows 256 colours, which is plenty for text and flat colours; photos on the page pick up some banding.
- The image shows the page as a browser window shows it, with its colours, backgrounds and layout.
- For your safety and ours, the page is opened with no network access at all. Everything inside the file is shown: its text, inline CSS, scripts, and images embedded as data. Anything it would fetch from the web, such as linked stylesheets, web fonts and remote images, is not loaded, so save the page as a single file (in Chrome, Save as, then "Webpage, Single File") if it depends on them.
- 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 HTML to GIF online
- Press "Choose HTML 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 HTML and the GIF by then.
Why convert HTML to GIF?
HTML files usually come from web pages, emails and documents meant to be read in a browser. People convert them to GIF because a GIF loops silently in any chat app, email or forum post without a play button.
In short, HTML is good at what it was made for, and GIF is the more practical choice when the file has to open, upload or print somewhere else. HTML opens in every web browser, while GIF opens and animates in every browser.
How to convert HTML to GIF on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your HTML 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 HTML 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 HTML 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 HTML 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 HTML to GIF
There are no settings: the page is shown in a window 1,280 pixels wide and captured from top to bottom, up to 16,384 pixels tall.
For the best result, make the HTML self-contained: inline its CSS and embed its images as data URIs, or save it from Chrome as "Webpage, Single File". Fonts from Google Fonts or other web services are replaced with fonts installed on our server.
HTML vs GIF: the differences
| HTML | GIF | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | HyperText Markup Language | Graphics Interchange Format |
| Type | document | image |
| Created by | Tim Berners-Lee | CompuServe |
| First released | 1993 | 1987 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossless |
| Transparency | n/a | Yes |
| Animation | n/a | Yes |
| Vector or raster | n/a | Raster |
| Colour | n/a | 256 colours per frame from a palette |
| What it holds | text with tags for headings, lists, links, tables and images | 256 colours per frame from a palette |
| In a browser | opens in every web browser | opens and animates in every browser |
| Common uses | web pages, emails and documents meant to be read in a browser | short looping animations, reactions and simple graphics |
| MIME type | text/html | image/gif |
About HTML and GIF files
What is an HTML file?
HTML is the language of web pages. A converted document saved as HTML keeps its headings, lists, tables and links and opens in any browser.
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.
HTML 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.
- Images or styling are missing. The page is opened without network access, so anything it links to online is not loaded. Save the page as a single file and convert that.
Convert HTML to GIF from the command line
Chromium takes the screenshot on your own computer, as tall as the window you give it (set the height to the length of the page), and ImageMagick saves it:
chromium --headless --window-size=1280,5000 --screenshot=page.png input.html
magick page.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.
HTML to GIF converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting HTML to GIF?
The image is exactly what a browser window 1,280 pixels wide shows. GIF keeps text crisp but limits photos and gradients to 256 colours. Anything the page would load from the web is missing, by design.
Why is the GIF a different size from the HTML?
The GIF stores every pixel of the rendered page, so it is much larger than the HTML, and grows with the length of the page.
Are my HTML files uploaded?
Yes, for this conversion. A web page cannot save another page as a GIF file, so the HTML is rendered by Chromium and ImageMagick, two open-source tools, on our conversion server. 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 HTML 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 HTML 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 HTML 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.