How to Make GIF Files on a Mac

Internet icons often use the GIF format.

You can make a GIF file from a JPEG, BMP, OpenEXR, PDF, Photoshop, PICT, PNG, SGI, TGA or TIFF file using Preview, a program included in the Mac OS X operating system. Preview is primarily an image and PDF-viewing program. However, it can also save files between different formats. The GIF format is useful for icons and other Internet graphics, because it offers compression without losing quality. Because GIF images can only contain 256 colors, people do not usually choose this format for photo images.

Instructions

1. Go to the "Applications" folder and double-click on the "Preview" icon.

2. Click on the "File" menu and select "Open" to open the image file you want to turn into a GIF file. You can also drag an image from any other application to the Preview application and it will open as a new file.

3. Go to the "File" menu and select "Save As."

4. Enter a name for the file next to "Save As." Set the location where Preview should save the file next to "Where."

5. Change the "Format" to "GIF." Press "Save."

References

• File Info: GIF File Extension
• Mac Support: Preview