VP8 / VP9 / AV1 · screen-recording tuned
WebM to GIF
OBS captures, browser recordings, VP9 and AV1 exports — drop the WebM below and it converts locally. Defaults here are tuned for text-heavy screen motion.
WebM support: which codec is inside
“WebM” is a family. Which one your file carries decides whether it decodes — and how fast:
| Codec | Chrome / Edge | Firefox | Safari | Typical source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VP8 | Yes | Yes | 14.1+ | Older web exports, VLC rips |
| VP9 | Yes (HW accel) | Yes | 14.1+ | OBS, YouTube downloads, Android recorders |
| AV1 | RT hardware / 107+ SW | Yes (SW decode) | 17+ | Fresh encoders, screen tools with AV1 mode |
The converter probes your browser on page load — if a codec column above says yes for your browser, the file converts. If a WebM fails to load, the codec is the usual suspect: try Chrome or Edge first.
Screen recordings need fps, not pixels
Video clips of people and places survive 12 fps fine. Text in motion does not: scrolling code, cursor moves and menu navigation blur into soup below 15 fps. This page presets the converter to 480 px / 15 fps for exactly that reason. Two more recording-specific notes:
- Static UI compresses beautifully. A talking-head-plus-slides recording at 320 px and 10 fps can run 15+ seconds and still land under Discord’s 10 MB free cap — spend your size budget on duration, not fps.
- Transparency is flattened to black. GIF supports binary transparency, but this encoder keeps all 256 palette slots for image quality, so alpha WebM exports come out with a black background. Composite over a real background first if you need one.
FAQ
Why is my screen-recording GIF blurry?
Two usual causes: the width is set below the text size you are recording (bump 320px up to 480px), or the fps is too low for scrolling content — text in motion needs 15–20 fps to stay legible. Static UI can live at 10 fps; moving text cannot.
Does WebM alpha transparency survive the conversion?
No. The GIF encoder flattens transparency onto black, and transparent-background WebM exports (from tools like Remotion or screen recorders with alpha) will show black where transparency was. Composite the video over a background color or image before converting.
Which browsers convert WebM fastest?
Chrome and Edge lead on VP9 hardware decoding; Firefox is close on VP8/VP9; Safari picked up full WebM support at 14.1 and handles common cases fine. AV1 WebM needs recent versions everywhere — if a 2023-or-earlier browser refuses the file, this is why.
Convert another format
- MP4 to GIF — the everyday case: phone clips, downloads, screen recordings.
- MOV to GIF — iPhone footage, the HEVC catch and HDR color fixes.
- Twitter video to GIF — land under X’s 15 MB GIF cap.
- How to convert a video to a GIF — the full walkthrough with per-platform settings.
Or head back to the video to GIF converter.