Convert JPEG to GIF
Free online converter for JPEG files. Indexed-colour format with animation support. Nothing to install, no watermark, and every file is deleted automatically.
Drag and drop your files
or
Upload a JPEG file to convert it to GIF. Up to 3 files at once, 100 MB each.
Free · up to 3 files · 100 MB each · files deleted automatically after 1 hour.
About JPG and GIF
JPEG .jpg
The photographic standard since 1992. JPEG throws away detail your eye is least likely to miss, which is why a photograph saved as JPEG is a fraction of the size of the same image saved losslessly.
Good for
- Opens everywhere — no format is more widely supported
- Very small files for photographs and other continuous-tone images
- A quality dial, so you choose the trade against file size
Trade-offs
- Lossy: detail is discarded permanently, and re-saving repeatedly compounds it
- No transparency at all
- Sharp edges, flat colour and text pick up visible halos
image/jpeg
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
JPG and GIF side by side
| JPG | GIF | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy | Lossless, 256-colour palette |
| Transparency | No | Yes — 1-bit, no partial |
| Animation | No | Yes |
| Typically used for | Photographs, camera output, web images | Short loops, reaction clips, simple animations |
What changes when you convert JPG to GIF
Down to 256 colours
GIF stores a palette of at most 256 colours per frame. A photograph converted from JPG has to be reduced to fit, which shows as banding across skies, skin and gradients. For a still image this is almost never the right format — GIF is worth choosing only when something must animate everywhere without a video player.
Camera data is removed by default
A JPG straight from a phone or camera carries EXIF metadata — model, settings, timestamp and, quite often, the GPS coordinates of where the photo was taken. The converted GIF is written without it, so a file you are about to share does not quietly carry your location. The orientation flag is read and applied to the pixels first, so the image will not come out sideways once the tag holding it is gone. If you need the metadata kept, there is a setting for it.
How the GIF is written
Our default is a high effort setting on the palette search, which is where GIF quality is won or lost. 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.
Quality cannot come back
JPG already discarded detail permanently, and GIF stores exactly what it is given. The result will be considerably larger while sounding identical to the JPG you started from — lossless preserves, it does not restore. That is still the right move if you are about to edit, because further saves will not degrade it again.
Other JPEG conversions
Other ways to get GIF
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