GIFs are being used more than ever today. Thanks to their prevalence on social media. You'll see everything from cute kittens to cheeky celebrities, most of which will put a big smile on your face.
In addition to GIFs used for recreational purposes, there are those used for commercial ones. For example, they are good for demonstrating the steps of a process. You can even use them in articles to give you a visual aid that goes with the written word.
Whether you want to create a GIF for business or pleasure, it doesn't have to take more than a few minutes of your time. So, here are the best GIF makers for Mac to try.
BEST FREE GIF MAKER ON MAC - FILMORA VIDEO EDITOR
Supported OS: Windows and Mac
Filmora Video Editor is used by the vast majority of inexperienced creators. Drag-and-drop allows you to add video clips and images. It contains over 130 various types of pre-set titles and text. You can also easily integrate your company's logo into your videos.
Editing GIF files with Wondershare Filmora is quick and easy: first, import your GIF or video into the media library. Second, drag your GIFs/videos/images to the timeline after that. After you've placed your video to the timeline, you can edit it with a variety of tools.
For Win 7 or later (64-bit)
For macOS 10.14 or later
Features:
3D Video Editing
Media Library
Video Capture
Video Stabilization
Pros:
Expansive video editing features
Professional appearance for an affordable price
User-friendly interface
Cons:
The video saving process may lag
Bug fixes may take time to resolve
Watermarks on the free version
Premade templates lack a professional feel
Steps On How To Make GIF In Filmora
- Import Media Files
The very first task for users is to import some editable video files or collections of photos to the timeline of Wondershare Filmora.
- Drag To Timeline
- Edit Media Files
- Add Text Effect To Gif Files
- Save And Export
SMART GIF MAKER
Supported OS: Windows and Mac
Smart GIF Maker is some other loose however extraordinarily beneficial app for Mac users. To make the procedure feasible, the creators used an incredibly simple user interface which is easy like any other popular app. With this app, users can without difficulty create new GIFs even as additionally enhancing current GIFs. Smart GIF Maker makes it easy to feature or dispose of frames from a GIF or maybe a photo.
Users may even customize the loop counts and body periods for every GIF they create. Simply drag and drop the photographs right into a body even as converting the order of the frames to your liking, and you may have a GIF prepared in no time.
Users can set the duration of each frame in the app at the same time. It even handles previews much better than it used to. In order to make things easier for users, the app asks whether or not to import the created file.
Features:
Simple UI
- Easily create new, or modify existing gifs.
- Easily add and remove frames to a gif.
- Click frames to modify images, or drag images to the frames.
- Preview gifs before exporting them.
Drag and drop
- Drag images from Finder to add to the gif.
- Drag frames inside the app to change the order.
Import and export
- Import gifs or movies, or create gifs entirely from individual images.
- Imports .gif, .mov and .mp4.
- Add .png, .jpg, .bmp, .tiff or .gif images to the gif.
- Export workspace as .gif.
Settings
- Set the frame duration of an individual or all frames.
- Set the loop counter of the gif.
Editor
- Edit frames in the gif using Paint-like features.
- Draw directly on frames, with varying colors and brush sizes.
- Use eraser and eyedropper tools to make editing easier!
Extras
- Reverse gifs,
- Set all frame durations at once.
Cons:
- Restricted features for free accounts
- Slow conversion process
Steps On How To Make GIF In Smart GIF Maker
- Import Your Video
When you import your video, the app breaks it down into frames you can then work with, remove, or edit. You can also use images with the app and import them with the same type of editing options.
- With each frame, you can change the drawing size, use an eraser tool, adjust the background color, and use the eyedropper for matching colors.
- After you edit your frames, you can set the time delay for each and the number of loops on the main screen. When you finish creating your GIF, hit the Preview button at the top and then export it to your computer if you're happy with it.
GIPHY CAPTURE
Supported OS: Mac and Windows
Because of its simplicity and ease of use, GIPHY Capture is one of the most popular and well-liked apps for creating GIFs. The app is free and allows users to capture anything on their screen and convert it into a GIF lasting up to 30 seconds. A couple of clicks are all that is required to complete the task; one click initiates the process, while another click terminates it. All that remains is to add the appropriate captions and adjust the GIF's export size, and you're done. If you are a professional, the app even allows you to make more precise edits and trim a clip at specific time frames.
Once you've completed all of this and are satisfied with the end result, the next step is simple. Users can choose to save the GIF to their GIPHY account or share it directly with their friends and family.
Features:
Capture Instantly
- Create your GIF with just a couple of clicks
- Click to start, click to stop
- Capture GIFs up to 30 seconds long
Edit Precisely
- Super simple editing lets you get creative, fast
- Pick which kind of loop you like best
- Adjust the frame rate to your liking
- Animated captions: add them, style them, animate them
- Preview the file size of your GIF before saving
Quickly Save and Share
- Email your friends your favorite videos as GIFs
Simple Upload To Giphy
- Hold onto your favorite GIF creations forever
- Easily access them whenever you want
- Share your GIFs on Facebook, Tweet them to Twitter, or send them on Facebook Messenger
Cons:
● App Notifications are not working properly
● Audio / video loading problem
● App installation issues
● Login issues or account related issues
Steps On How To Make Gif In Giphy Capture
1. Once you’ve opened GIPHY Capture - open up your browser, video, or whatever you want to record. Adjust the size of your GIPHY capture frame by grabbing any of the sides or corners and stretching to your desired frame size.
After your frame is set up, you’ll want to record a clip by pressing the red circle button. After 30-seconds (or less if you stop the recording sooner) the raw footage will be saved on the bottom of your GIPHY Capture window. This footage will be saved indefinitely, so if you close the app and reopen it at a later date you can pick up where you left off. However, if you delete the GIPHY Capture app from your computer, your videos will be deleted too.
You can take this 30-second clip and edit the length. It’s best to keep the GIF between 2-6 seconds if the intention is for the GIF to be shared in messaging apps and on the web. If you are making a “how-to” or tutorial GIF for an app or workflow you may need to make the length longer than 6 seconds.
You can choose to edit the loop type, pixel size, and frame rate. Changing these can affect the quality and file size of your GIF. In most cases leaving the standard preset options works best.
- Under the Captions tab, you can easily add captions to your GIFs. Your captions can either have the regular or italicized text and come with a few preset options for changing the text color. You can edit the animation of the caption, just in case you want it to fade or drop into the frame. You can even edit the duration of the caption in your GIF. If you have a 6-second GIF but only want the caption to be in the frame for the final 2 seconds you can do so by editing the start and end time of the caption.
- Now that you’ve created your GIF you can upload it directly to your GIPHY account and allow people to share it, provided you have a branded GIPHY channel.
- If you don’t want to upload your new creation directly to GIPHY, you can download it as a .gif or .mp4 file locally to your computer.
GIFROCKET
Supported OS: Mac
GifRocket is the only downloadable record converter for developing GIFs. The only disadvantage is that it is only available to Mac users. This program is used to convert a video file to GIF format. That means you must already have the video file created. You can use a small clip from a previous video that you made or a clip that you downloaded. After you've downloaded and installed GifRocket on your computer, simply drag and drop your video file over the GifRocket tool window. The converter will begin working, and you will have a perfect GIF in a matter of seconds.
The production value must be the same as a full-length marketing video but the file size must be smaller, this tool is ideal for creating banner videos for site pages.
Features:
- Intuitive interface
- Change quality and file size of the outputted file
Cons:
- Lack of features like crop and frame rate, only available for Mac.
Steps On How To Make Gif In GIF Rocket
- After you download the app, open it, and there you will see a blank canvas. You’re supposed to drag the file here to start the conversion to GIF. But not so fast. First, click the Settings button. Here you’ll get three fields.
- Enter the start and endpoint. Remember this is in the Hours: Minutes: Seconds layout so if your video is short, don’t forget to add zeros for the hours or minutes mark, or else the GIF won’t work.
- Second, select the width of the GIF you want to create. The default is 320px. You can take it up to 500 or 600 if you’re dealing with a widescreen video but if you make the GIF too wide the size of the resulting file is also going to go up.
- The last setting is quality. There is a slider and frankly, it’s not that helpful. There are only three points on it. I found the middle point, 50% to work the best. Once you’ve got the settings the way you want, click X, drag in the file and wait for Gifrocket to do its thing.
BEST PAID GIF MAKER ON MAC
PICGIF
Supported OS: Mac
PicGIF is yet another app for Mac users to express their contemporary entertainment in the form of a GIF. When it comes to gif creation, the app is quite versatile, and the quality of a created gif is truly astounding. PicGIF generates exceptionally eye-catching gifs with advanced high-satisfaction and stability, as opposed to other apps' commonly crappy and blurry gifs.
You can make GIFs from movies or from a collection of photographs. All you have to do is select all of the photographs, adjust the fullness, and then select the rate at which the frames will flip. It's a simple, easy-to-use, and brief app, but the lack of right cropping functionality can be a deterrent for users looking for it.
Features:
- Support a vast number of file formats
- Support hundreds of image formats like JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG, TGA, RAW, PIC, etc., and any image size.
- Support almost all common video formats: MOV, MPEG, MP4, M4V, 3GP, AVI, and more.
- Support combining multiple formats – images, GIFs, and videos into a new single GIF.
Pros:
- The PicGIF software is safe to use
- The support of PicGIF is good
Cons:
- Requires OS X 10.7 Lion or later
Steps On How To Make Gif In Pic GIF
- Importing
The picGIF app accepts many different image formats and all common video formats. The app says you can drag and drop onto the pop-up screen on opening the app, but it wouldn’t allow me to do this. However, I was able to work around it by just choosing “Add Photo” or “Add Video” in the File menu, or by doing “Command + O” or “Command + D”, respectively. Even though it says “Add Photo,” you can add multiple files at once.
2. Customization of Pictures
Once you have added the photos, you have several options to customize the gif. Under the “Properties” menu in PicGIF, you can change the size of the output or keep with the default of 360 x 240 pixels and can also choose whether they will be presented as portrait or landscape. At the bottom, you can also choose whether you want it auto optimized for quality or whether you want better quality, which will of course take longer.
Next is deciding how it will handle the photos if they don’t match the exact size of the output, whether you want them sized to fit, stretched, etc., and to choose a background color for when they don’t fit. Speed is the next option to be determined, either leave it on Auto or set the speed yourself. The photos will either be in the sequence you added them in or you can choose to have it go in reverse.
In the “Effects” menu, you can choose among popular options – Original, Vintage, Marcato, and B&W. After you make your choice, you can set the bars for Saturation, Hue, Exposure, Contrast, and Brightness. These are much like you would find in your standard photo apps.
Hit the play button to test your GIF, and if it’s to your liking, click “Create GIF”. It only took seconds to create my GIF, but I only had six pictures and left it at the default size.
- Customization of Videos
There aren’t that many options for creating video GIFs. There are, but you need to buy the full version app for $4.99. For this price, you will be able to trim the video as you wish, add text, and add stickers. By sticking with the free version you are limited to either having it autoplay or changing the frames per second. You can also import existing GIFs and edit them. Saving this gif took longer than with the photos, but I was using a longer video.
GIFABLE
Supported OS: Mac
Gifable is another macOS application that enables user to create GIFs as well as save the display screen. This software is simple to use. It first takes a screenshot of the display and converts it to GIF format. This tool currently transmits data at a rate of 12 frames per second. Gifable advanced feature is that it can copy the GIF to the clipboard for clean copy and paste operations. However, there is a help menu that instructs newcomers on how to use the software. This device is ideal for blogging, tutorials, sharing with colleagues, and social media.
Features:
- Currently records at 12 fps
- Shows a preview of the gif when the recording is finished
- Ability to copy the gif to your clipboard for easy copy and paste
- Quickly locate the file you created with a find in finder button
- Help menu to show you how to use Gifable
Pros:
- Click and drag to record
- Records automatically
Cons:
- Not compatible with all operating systems
- Low fps recording
Steps On How To Make Gif In Gifable
- Click the Gifable icon in your menu bar, and select record.
- Click and drag your mouse over the area you would like to record.
- Recording starts automatically!
- Click the Gifable icon, then stop recording, to stop the recording.
GIFOX
Supported OS: Mac
Gifox is yet another cutting-edge GIF generator with an appealing user interface. It is extremely simple to use and has a plethora of wonderful features. The app allows you to record your screen and then convert it to GIFs. It includes a sophisticated compression option that allows customers to tailor the output high-satisfactory and size. Gifox additionally permits you to pick the FPS for its animations.
Gifox is a cleverly specified and expertly crafted app that captures your display screen and converts it into lively gifs – a wonderful opportunity to static pix and huge videos. It's the ideal companion for:
- Product demonstrations and micro-screencasts
- Reporting bugs and providing entertaining instructions
- Capturing precise video on the display screen
Features:
- Gifox allows us not to convert video clips, but we can also capture what is displayed on the screen, either full screen or a part of it.
- We can set the number of fps in each screen recording.
- We can also adjust the number of fps of playback when we convert the video.
- When performing video compression, we can adjust the number of colors we want to use in the conversion
- When recording the screen of our Mac to make a GIF, we can make use of keyboard shortcuts to start and stop recording.
- Once we have created the GIF, we can share it by dragging it to other apps, uploading it directly to our storage service, or even from Imgur.
Pros:
- It is vastly easy to use compared to many other apps in the market.
- It comes with the most dynamic interface.
Cons:
- File sizes of the produced GIFs are big in some cases, which leads to a slow upload on websites with huge traffic.
Steps On How To Make Gif In Gifox
1. Record Your Screen
After clicking the fox icon in the menu bar, you can find the buttons to record the screen on the left side of the interface.
Gifox provides two modes for recording the screen – area and window. This means you can record part of the window or choose to record the full window.
For an area recording, Gifox allows you the freedom to select the area. You can select any area by dragging your mouse from corner to corner.
When using the window recording mode, one great feature is that it doesn’t matter if several windows are overlapping. You can just select the one you want to record, and Gifox will ignore the other window.
Gifox also offers shortcuts so that you don’t have to always open the icon from the menu bar. This makes it even easier to use as a daily utility.
2. Flexible Setting
Gifox is not only easy to use but also a very flexible application. Here are just some of the options that you can customize:
- Mouse cursor appearance
- Window shadow
- Desktop background recording fps
- Playback fps
- Repeat count and pause
- Max colors
- Bayer scale
All of these are available in the Gifox settings window.
3. Compress
If you’re sharing a GIF on the internet, you’re going to like it to be of good quality but with the smallest file size possible. Gifox makes this possible. Available in preferences, the compress settings allow you to have full control over the quality of the GIF. You can change the color count, the palette, the dither, and the bayer scale. This eliminates the need to install a second program just for compressing your file.
WHICH SHOULD I CHOOSE: FREE OR PAID GIF MAKER ON MAC?
If the main reason you want this powerful and advanced GIF software is to create GIFs from videos, you should invest in the advanced version. Since there is not much you can do with videos and the free version.
However, if you want to make GIFs from photos, this free or open-source version will suffice.
FAQS ABOUT MAKING GIFS FROM VIDEO
- What tip can I have in editing GIFs?
You don't need to make your GIF colorful. You need to use fewer colors. The fewer colors your GIF has, the more fun it is. Because if your GIF has a lot of colors, you will have a problem exporting it.
- Is it possible to export GIFs without watermarks?
Yes, some GIF editors have a feature to remove the watermarks using a free account. However, there are also GIF editors where you need to pay a flat amount first before exporting GIF without watermarks.
- Can I use Video Converter Ultimate offline to edit a GIF?
Absolutely, yes. Even without internet access, you can modify and quickly convert your GIF in no time.
Conclusion:
If the proper GIF editor is used, animated GIFs can be edited with little effort. There are GIF software programs that are highly recommended by users due to their ease of use and simple interface. It's time to give them a shot!