WhatsApp "GIFs" are actually MP4 files. This converter produces one with the exact pixel format WhatsApp requires and tells you if it fits the 3.5 MB GIF limit. Your file never leaves your device.
Spur lets you build WhatsApp marketing templates — GIF headers included — and broadcast them to your customers, with an AI agent handling the replies.
Drop in a .gif file — anything up to 25 MB.
Click Convert. Encoding happens in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Check the 3.5 MB WhatsApp badge, then download your MP4.
The GIF format is over 35 years old and stores every frame as a full image, which makes animated GIFs enormous for what they show. Like most modern platforms, WhatsApp doesn't send real GIFs at all — anything that plays as a looping "GIF" in a chat is a short, silent MP4 video behind the scenes. MP4 compression is dramatically better, so the same animation is often 5–10× smaller.
That's fine when you pick a GIF from WhatsApp's built-in search, but if you have your own .gif file — a product demo, a promo animation, a meme — WhatsApp and the WhatsApp Business API expect an MP4. This converter does that translation with the exact settings WhatsApp needs.
Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform treats GIF media specially: MP4 files up to 3.5 MB play as auto-looping GIFs, while anything larger is delivered as a regular video message with a play button. If you're sending marketing templates with a GIF header, staying under 3.5 MB is the difference between an animation that plays instantly in the chat and one the recipient has to tap.
That's why this tool checks the output size and shows you a clear pass/fail badge after every conversion. If you're over the limit, the fastest fixes are trimming the GIF's duration, reducing its dimensions, or lowering its frame rate — then converting again.
Most online converters upload your file to their servers, convert it there, and keep it for some retention period you never read about. This tool works differently: it runs ffmpeg — the same industry-standard video tool used by professionals — compiled to WebAssembly, directly in your browser tab. The file is read from your disk into your browser's memory, converted there, and handed back to you. Close the tab and nothing remains anywhere.
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WhatsApp doesn't play .gif files. What looks like a "GIF" on WhatsApp is actually a short, looping, silent MP4 video. To use an animated GIF in a WhatsApp message or a marketing template with a GIF header, you first have to convert it to MP4 — that's exactly what this tool does.
Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform caps GIF media at 3.5 MB. If your MP4 is larger, WhatsApp still delivers it — but it displays as a regular video message (with a play button) instead of an auto-looping GIF. After converting, this tool tells you whether your file fits under the limit.
No. The conversion runs entirely in your browser using ffmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. Your file never leaves your device — nothing is uploaded, stored, or logged.
The first time you convert, your browser downloads the converter itself (about 31 MB, cached after that). The conversion then runs on your own CPU, so a large GIF can take a little while — the progress bar shows where it is.
Two small adjustments are required for WhatsApp compatibility: the pixel format is converted to yuv420p (the only format WhatsApp plays reliably), and odd width/height values are rounded down by one pixel because yuv420p requires even dimensions. Neither is normally visible.
25 MB. The conversion runs in your browser's memory, so very large files can crash the tab — and a GIF that big would produce an MP4 far over WhatsApp's 3.5 MB GIF cap anyway. If your GIF is over the limit, trim its length or scale it down first.
Yes — that's the main use case. When creating a marketing template with a GIF-format media header, upload the converted MP4 as the header sample. Note that GIF headers are only delivered through Meta's Marketing Messages API, and files over 3.5 MB display as video messages instead of looping GIFs.
No watermark, no signup, no usage cap. It's free.
Spur is the WhatsApp marketing platform behind this tool — build templates with GIF headers, broadcast them to segments, and let an AI agent trained on your brand handle every reply.
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