GIF to animated WebP
Convert an animation to WebP — usually a third of the size, with full colour.
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Processed securely and deleted within the hour.
The straightforward upgrade
Animated WebP is what GIF would be if it were designed now. It is typically around a third of the size, it carries 24-bit colour instead of 256 per frame, and it has a real alpha channel rather than GIF's single fully-transparent index. So a WebP usually looks better as well as being smaller, which is rare enough to be worth stating plainly.
Every current browser plays it. That has been true for years now, and the caution people remember is out of date.
Why GIF still exists anyway
Compatibility outside the browser. Paste an animated WebP into a chat window, an email, a slide deck or a word processor and it will very often show only the first frame or refuse entirely. GIF's advantage is not technical — it is that thirty years of software knows what to do with it. If your animation is going on a web page you control, use WebP. If it is going anywhere else, keep the GIF.
The one real trap: transparency at the edges
GIF transparency is binary — a pixel is either fully transparent or fully opaque — which is why GIF logos have jagged edges. WebP supports partial transparency, but converting from GIF cannot invent the soft edge that was never there. You get the same jagged edge in a better container. Going the other way, WebP to GIF, genuinely loses information and looks noticeably worse.
Lossless or lossy
Lossy is right for anything photographic or video-derived, and it is where the large savings come from. Lossless is right for screen recordings, line art, logos and anything with flat colour and hard edges — and for photographic content lossless WebP is frequently larger than the dithered GIF it came from, which surprises people. The result says so when it happens rather than quietly handing back a bigger file.
Trimming while you convert
Since the animation is being re-encoded anyway, resizing or reducing the frame rate at the same time costs nothing extra. A screen recording at 25 fps almost always looks the same at 12 and is half the size.
MP4 is smaller still
If the destination is a web page and the animation has no transparency, MP4 beats WebP by a wide margin — a tenth of the GIF rather than a third. WebP wins when you need transparency or when you need something that behaves like an image rather than a video element.
Common questions
Is animated WebP supported everywhere?
In every current browser, yes. Outside the browser — chat apps, email clients, word processors — support is patchy, which is the main reason to keep a GIF.
How much smaller will it be?
Usually around a third of the GIF for photographic content. Screen recordings and flat colour vary more, and lossless can be larger.
Should I use lossless?
For screenshots, line art and logos, yes. For anything photographic, no — lossless WebP of a photograph is often bigger than the GIF.
Will transparency survive?
Yes, but GIF transparency is all-or-nothing, so a jagged edge stays jagged. WebP can store soft edges; it cannot invent them.
Why is my file bigger?
Almost always lossless on photographic content. Turn it off. The result tells you when this has happened.
WebP or MP4?
MP4 for a web page with no transparency — it is far smaller. WebP when you need transparency or an image rather than a video element.