Convert PNG to GIF

Convert PNG to GIF when the place you are uploading to accepts GIF only: an older forum, a mailing engine, an internal panel. The picture stays the same; the way its colour is stored changes.

What happens when you convert PNG to GIF

PNG holds smooth gradients and semi-transparent edges, while GIF works with a short palette and knows only two states for a pixel: transparent or not. A screenshot, a diagram, or a logo with flat fills comes across with hardly any difference; a photo or a gradient picks up visible steps.

Transparency is simplified too. On a flat picture the transparent background stays transparent, while a soft shadow or a feathered edge turns hard. Where transparent areas sit next to a gradient, transparency can disappear altogether: a GIF palette reserves a single colour for it, and on a busy picture that colour is spent on shades instead.

• Flat colours and crisp lines carry over with no visible loss.
• Gradients and photos gain steps on the transitions.
• A still PNG gives a single frame: no animation appears on its own.

How to convert PNG to GIF

1. Upload your image in PNG.
2. Select GIF as the result format.
3. Start the conversion.
4. Download the GIF and look at it before publishing.

When GIF is the format asked for

• Upload an illustration to a service that takes GIF and nothing else.
• Prepare a frame for an animation you will assemble in an editor.
• Put a diagram into an old wiki or forum where PNG displays badly.
• Send a logo to a contractor working in software from years ago.
• Swap a heavy screenshot for a light one when only the look matters.

Other options for PNG files

• For a website the picture gets lighter with the PNG to WebP converter.
• A photo travels better through the PNG to JPG converter.
• When the animation already exists in GIF and has to go on a site, use the GIF to WebP converter.

FAQ

Will the picture become animated?

No. PNG holds one frame, and one frame is what the GIF gets. Animation is built from several frames in an editor.

Does the transparent background survive?

On a logo or a diagram with flat colours it does, though without half-tones: soft edges turn hard. On a picture with a gradient the transparency can be lost entirely and end up as a solid fill. Check the result before placing it on a coloured background.

Will the GIF be lighter than the source PNG?

For a screenshot or a diagram with flat colours it usually is. A photo may come out both heavier and worse looking because of the short palette.