How to Convert MPEG to GIF

Converting your MPEG video to an animated GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is something someone may want to do if they want to have an animated icon to add to the web or just to have on their computer. Essentially doing this process will allow you to have a small video clip as a small image file, requiring no special video player or codec that will be visible on most web sites. Animated GIFs are especially popular in online forums as users' avatars.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• River Past Video Cleaner (trial)
• River Past GIF Booster Pack (trial)
• MPEG video file

1. Download the free trials of River Past Video Cleaner and the GIF Booster Pack (add-on). These will allow you to convert a video clip of many file formats into other formats, including GIF.

2. Install Video Cleaner. After completion, install the GIF Booster Pack.

3. Launch Video Cleaner. The application may prompt you to load certain codecs necessary for conversion; this might take seconds to minutes depending on your system.

4. Click the "+ Add Files" button in the top-left of the application. Find the MPEG file that you wish convert and click "Open."

5. At the bottom of the application, find the section that says "Output Format." Click the little triangle icon next to the text to expand the options for the output format and select "Animated GIF (demo)."

6. Specify where you want to save your GIF in the "Output Directory" menu. Click "Convert."

Tips & Warnings

• Click the "Loop" option under "Output Format" for the animated GIF option to make your animation repeat itself. Try "trimming" sections of your larger video clips using a program like VideoThang to get a nice small output file.
• Larger video clips will take longer to convert to GIF. As such, the final GIF will be large if the original video file size is large.

Resources

• River Past Video Cleaner
• GIF Booster Pack for Video Cleaner
• VideoThang