Can I crop an animated GIF without losing animation?

Yes. Convert Media crops every frame of your GIF consistently, preserving the full animation. The two-pass FFmpeg process regenerates the color palette specifically for the cropped region, so the output maintains the same visual quality as the original. All frames, frame delays, and loop settings are preserved through the crop operation.

Will cropping change the file size of my GIF?

Cropping almost always reduces file size significantly because smaller dimensions mean fewer pixels to encode per frame. The reduction scales with how much you crop: removing 50% of the width and height typically reduces file size by 60-75%. If you are trying to bring a large GIF under a platform's file size limit, cropping away blank margins or irrelevant areas is often the most effective approach.

How do I crop a GIF to a specific size?

Upload your GIF and drag the crop handles to your desired region. The crop info badge below the preview shows the exact pixel dimensions of your selection in real time. For precise aspect ratios, use the built-in presets: Square (1:1), Landscape (16:9), Standard (4:3), or Portrait (9:16). These snap the crop selection to the chosen ratio while keeping it as large as possible within your current selection.

Does the crop tool work on mobile?

Yes. The crop tool supports touch input on mobile browsers. Tap and drag inside the crop overlay to reposition the selection, or drag the corner and edge handles to resize it. The aspect ratio preset buttons at the bottom of the crop area are also touch-friendly. For the most precise control, you may find it easier to use a desktop browser with a mouse.

What is the maximum GIF size I can crop?

The practical limit is around 100MB, though very large GIFs will use significant browser memory during processing. Files under 50MB process smoothly on most devices. If you have a very large GIF, consider whether you can reduce it first by converting from the original video source at a lower resolution, then crop the result.

GIF Crop Tool

Crop your animated GIFs with precision. Interactive handles, aspect ratio presets — all processed in your browser.

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Drop a video file here, or click to browse

Supports MP4, WebM, AVI, MOV, MKV and more

Max file size: 2GB (recommended: under 200MB)

GIF Cropping: Get the Perfect Frame

Everything you need to know about cropping animated GIFs while preserving their quality and animation.

Why Crop an Animated GIF?

Cropping a GIF lets you isolate the most important part of an animation without re-creating it from scratch. You might have a reaction GIF where the subject is off-center, a screen recording GIF with unnecessary UI chrome around the edges, or a wide GIF where only one side of the frame is relevant to your audience.

Unlike video cropping, GIF cropping presents a unique challenge: every frame of the animation must be cropped consistently, and the color palette must be regenerated to maintain quality. Convert Media handles this automatically with a two-pass FFmpeg process: the first pass analyzes the cropped region to build an optimal 256-color palette, and the second pass applies the crop and palette to every frame simultaneously. The result is a cropped GIF that matches the original in quality.

The Two-Pass Cropping Process

Most simple GIF tools naively copy frames from the original, which can produce poor color quality because the color palette from the full image no longer fits the cropped region accurately. Convert Media takes a different approach using FFmpeg's advanced palette generation:

Palette generation pass. FFmpeg analyzes every frame of the GIF restricted to your crop region. It identifies the most visually important colors across the entire animation and generates a 256-color palette optimized specifically for the cropped content. The stats_mode=diff flag ensures animated changes are weighted correctly.

Encoding pass. Each frame is cropped and then color-quantized using the palette from pass one, with Sierra2_4a dithering for smooth gradients. The diff_mode=rectangle option enables delta encoding, where only the changed portions of each frame are re-encoded. This keeps file sizes smaller and matches how the original GIF was likely encoded.

Choosing the Right Crop Dimensions

The aspect ratio of your cropped GIF matters depending on where you plan to use it. Convert Media's crop tool includes built-in presets:

Square (1:1)

Instagram feed posts, profile thumbnails, and grid-based layouts. Square GIFs are the most versatile because they do not distort in circular or square display contexts.

Landscape (16:9)

Standard widescreen ratio matching most monitor and video content. Use this for GIFs embedded in blog posts, GitHub READMEs, or documentation where horizontal content looks natural.

Standard (4:3)

Legacy screen ratio good for older content or platforms that display slightly-wider-than-tall content well, such as email newsletters and Slack messages.

Portrait (9:16)

Vertical format for mobile-first platforms and Stories-style content. Use when the important action in your GIF runs vertically rather than horizontally.

Cropping as a File Size Reduction Strategy

Cropping is one of the most effective ways to reduce GIF file size without touching frame rate or quality settings. GIF file size is directly proportional to pixel count: if you crop away half the width and half the height of a GIF, you reduce the pixel count to 25% of the original, which typically translates to a file size reduction of 60-75%.

This makes cropping particularly valuable when you have a GIF that is close to a platform's file size limit. A quick crop to remove empty margins or irrelevant background elements can bring an 18MB GIF well under GitHub's 10MB limit without any visible quality loss in the part of the frame that matters.

Original Resolution	Cropped To	Approximate Size Reduction
640 × 360	480 × 270	~44% smaller
640 × 360	320 × 180	~75% smaller
800 × 600	400 × 400	~67% smaller
1024 × 768	512 × 512	~67% smaller

Your GIFs Never Leave Your Browser

Convert Media processes everything locally. When you upload a GIF, it is read directly into browser memory. The FFmpeg engine runs as WebAssembly code inside your browser tab. The cropped output is generated entirely on your device and downloaded directly from browser memory to your hard drive. No data is ever sent to a server.

This is particularly important for GIFs that contain sensitive content such as screen recordings of internal tools, private conversations, or confidential designs. You can crop sensitive GIFs without any risk of data exposure.

More GIF Tools

Need to do more with your GIFs? Try our other specialized tools:

GIF Maker

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MP4 to GIF

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Video to GIF

All video formats supported

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about Convert Media.