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[Solved] How to Create a GIF from a Video File with VLC?
If you need to make GIFs from videos easily, click here: The most recommended solution by us [85%]
GIFs have been quite popular in recent years. They are extensively employed on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to express emotions or action demonstration, because they are more lightweight than videos and more vivid than texts. However, we usually use ready-made GIFs. Can we customize our own GIFs? The answer is yes with the use of some tools.
In general, GIFs are created from videos, images, and WebCam. VLC is a widely-used media player. But many people are confused about its operations, here we've made a step-by-step instruction. If you are still think it too complicated to have a try, we also provide you a simple solution. Let's see how to create a GIF from a video file in VLC.
How to Use VLC to Create a GIF from a Video on Windows and Mac?
There are lots of great video clips to make animated GIFs. A good video processor helps a lot in GIF making. VLC, an open-source multimedia player, offers users rich existing resources. Below are the specific steps to create a GIF from a video in VLC.
Step 1. Extract Scenes Using VLC
The first thing to create a GIF from a video is to capture what you need from the video to generate a video clip.
- Launch VLC first. Then click Media and then Open Files to select the video you want to process.
- Click on Advanced Controls under View tab. Then you will find more functions under the timeline.
- Locate to where you want to begin and click the red button to record and hit the button again to stop. The video clip will be auto saved in C:\Users\asus\Videos.
Step 2. Split the Video Clip into Frames
- Go to Preferences in the drop-down button of Tools and select All under Show Settings at the bottom.
- Click Video > Scene filter and advanced preferences will be shown on the right side where you can set the image format, directory path, recording ratio, video stream. And hit Save to apply your settings.
- Go back to Media to open and play the video. The video will be converted into images and saved automatically in C:\Users\asus\Pictures.
But this is not the end, you need another software to convert these frames to GIF, here we use GIMP to continue.
Step 3. Make GIFs from Frames with GIMP
- Launch GIMP and go to File. Then select Open as Layers.
- Select all the extracted frames and click Open. Now all the images are brought in as layers.
Step 4. Export Images as GIF
- Navigate to Image > Mode > Indexed, and set the Maximum variety of colors to 127 or lower to reduce the image size. Then click Convert.
- Choose Filters > Animation > Optimize (for GIF) to remove extra area.
- Go to File and then Export As. Set the output format as GIF image, and click Export to complete pictures to GIF conversion.
This is the entire process to make a GIF from a video with VLC. You can tell that it is pretty complex bacause you need two editors, VCL to extract the desired scenes as frames, and then GIMP to make these frames into a GIF image.
Since VLC cannot convert videos to GIF images directly on your PC/Mac
More people prefer software that creates GIF images without any other assistant:
As mentioned above, creating GIFs from videos in VLC is rather complicated. Besides, there are many professional parameters that are pretty difficult for beginners. While we have an easy and efficient method - using VideoProc. It integrates the process to create GIFs from videos in one click.
Before we get started, download and install VideoProc on your PC or Mac first.
VideoProc - The One-click Way to Make a GIF from a Video without Other Assistant.
- Edit a video and convert it to a GIF image in one stop.
- Make a GIF with favoured clips by cutting before converting.
- Customize GIF parameters like loop time, image size, duration, etc.
- Full GPU accelerated - process and convert a video to a GIF in seconds.
Download VideoProc on Windows 
to create GIFs from videos
Download VideoProc on Mac to create GIFs from videos
Step 1. Load Your Video
Launch VideoProc and import a video by clicking +Video on the main interface of video. Videos of any formats, resolutions, and recource are practicable.
Step 2. Convert the Video to a GIF
Click Toolbox on the bottom bar, and choose GIF. Double click GIF icon to set loop time, image size, duration and frame delay. You can extract desired frames by dragging the green knob as well.
Step 3. Export a GIF File
Click Done after all the settings. Then choose a folder to save your GIF and click RUN. You will get your own GIF in seconds.
Final Words:
VLC excels in media playing, and some users also take it as a video editor. But as a GIF maker, it does not perform as excellently as a media player. You have to convert a video to a GIF image by means of another tool. However, VideoProc, a multifunctional video editor, supports hundreds of media formats so that it edits and converts video clips into GIF images in one stop.
