Convert GIF to PNG
Free online converter for GIF files. Lossless raster format with alpha transparency. Nothing to install, no watermark, and every file is deleted automatically.
Drag and drop your files
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Upload a GIF file to convert it to PNG. Up to 3 files at once, 100 MB each.
Free · up to 3 files · 100 MB each · files deleted automatically after 1 hour.
About GIF and PNG
GIF .gif
A 1987 format that survives for one reason: it animates, and it plays everywhere without a video player. Its palette is capped at 256 colours per frame.
Good for
- Animation that works in any browser and any chat app
- Lossless within its 256-colour palette
- Universally supported after nearly four decades
Trade-offs
- 256 colours means visible banding on photographs
- Transparency is on-or-off per pixel, so edges look jagged
- Far larger than a real video file for the same clip
image/gif
PNG .png
A lossless image format built for graphics rather than photographs. Every pixel it stores comes back exactly as it went in, and it carries a full alpha channel for transparency.
Good for
- Lossless — no generation loss no matter how often you re-save
- Full 8-bit alpha, so edges blend cleanly over any background
- Sharp on text, screenshots, logos and line art
Trade-offs
- Much larger than JPEG for photographs
- No animation in the baseline format
- Large photographic PNGs are slow to transfer
image/png
GIF and PNG side by side
| GIF | PNG | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless, 256-colour palette | Lossless |
| Transparency | Yes — 1-bit, no partial | Yes — 8-bit alpha |
| Animation | Yes | No |
| Typically used for | Short loops, reaction clips, simple animations | Screenshots, logos, UI assets, anything with transparency |
What changes when you convert GIF to PNG
Only the first frame survives
A GIF is usually an animation, and PNG holds a single still image — so the result is the first frame and the rest is discarded. To keep the motion, convert to a video format instead, or to a still format that animates.
The palette does not grow
A GIF holds at most 256 colours per frame, and PNG can hold millions — but the colours your GIF discarded when it was made do not come back. Any banding you can see in the GIF will still be there afterwards, stored in a format capable of much more.
How the PNG is written
Our default is maximum compression with adaptive filtering, and fully lossless — lowering the quality dial is what switches PNG to a 256-colour palette, and it is at 100 unless you move it. The quality control on the converter moves this if you need to — the default aims to be indistinguishable from the source at a sensible file size, rather than to win a compression benchmark.
Nothing is lost in this step
Both GIF and PNG store every pixel exactly, so this conversion changes the container rather than the content. What changes is file size and what will open it — convert freely, and as often as you like, without degrading anything.
Other GIF conversions
Other ways to get PNG
Worth reading next
Where your transparent background went
Transparency is the property most often lost silently in a conversion — the file looks perfect until it lands on a coloured background and grows a white rectangle.
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Why your PNG is so much bigger than your JPEG
The same photograph can be 300 KB as a JPEG and 4 MB as a PNG. Here is what each format is actually doing, and how to tell which one your file wants to be.
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