Screen to GIF: record your screen as a GIF

How to record your screen as a GIF

It works in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari on a computer, with nothing to install. To record your screen as a GIF:

1. Click Record your screenYour browser asks what to share. On the home page, it's under Record, then Screen, window or tab.
2. Pick a tab, a window or the entire screenA single window or tab keeps notifications and your other apps out of the GIF.
3. Wait for 3, 2, 1, then show the thingA small panel counts down and shows the time recorded. A recording can run up to 60 seconds, then it stops by itself.
4. StopClick Stop in the panel, press Esc, or click Stop sharing in your browser's bar.
5. Crop to the part that matters, then exportThe recording opens in the editor with everything after the countdown selected (up to 20 s on the free plan), at 12 frames per second and with dithering off, so text stays crisp. Tap Crop, drag the box around the part you're showing, and tap Export GIF.

Started too early? Recording starts the moment you share, so nothing you do during the countdown is lost. Drag the left trim handle back to include it.

Tab, window or entire screen?

• A tab (Chrome and Edge): the cleanest choice for a web app or a website. Only that page is recorded, at the size of the page.
• A window: one app, such as your code editor, a terminal or a design tool. Make the window about the size you want the GIF to be before you start.
• The entire screen: everything, including notifications and the menu bar or taskbar. Turn on Do Not Disturb and close anything private first.

Whichever you pick, your browser shows that it's sharing until you stop. The page you're on isn't offered in the picker, because recording the recorder isn't useful.

Recording a window on a Chromebook, Mac or Windows PC

• Chromebook. In Chrome, click Record your screen and choose a window or a tab. ChromeOS's own recorder works too: press Shift + Ctrl + Show windows, choose screen record, then Record window and click the window. It saves a WebM to your Downloads folder; drop that file on this page.
• Mac. The first time you share a window or the entire screen, macOS has to allow it: open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording (Screen Recording on older versions), turn on your browser, then quit and reopen it. Sharing a browser tab doesn't need this. macOS's own recorder works too: press Shift-Command-5, choose Record a window, click the window, then drop the .mov it saves here.
• Windows. In Chrome or Edge, click Record your screen and choose Window. On Windows 11, the Snipping Tool records as well: press Windows + Shift + R, drag over the window, click Start, then save the MP4 and drop it here.

Already recorded something with another app? MP4, MOV and WebM recordings open here directly.

Make text readable, and the file small enough

A whole screen squeezed into a small GIF makes text tiny. On a 1366 px laptop screen, a 480 px GIF shrinks 14 px text to about 5 px. Crop to a 600 to 800 px wide area, like one window or one panel, and the same text stays around 8 to 11 px. The editor suggests cropping after every screen recording, and the crop tool explains the crop box in detail.

Three settings do most of the work. 12 frames per second is smooth enough for clicks, typing and scrolling, at about half the size of 24. Dithering None, under Advanced, keeps flat interface colors flat. Colors 64 or 128, also under Advanced, shrinks the file further with little change on screen content. Still too big? Tap a button under Fit to an upload limit and DropGIF trades width, frame rate and colors to get under it. The GIF size limits page lists more platforms, and the GIF compressor has more ways to shrink a file.

Pro exports up to 1080 px wide, so small text stays sharp without cropping as tightly, and allows GIFs up to 60 seconds long.

Nothing leaves your device

The recording is made by your browser's own screen-capture and video-recording features and kept in this tab's memory. It's never uploaded: the GIF is made on your device, like every file on DropGIF. No sound is recorded, because GIFs are silent, so DropGIF never asks for the microphone. Close the tab and the recording is gone.

Recording comes out black? Streaming services and some apps protect their video, so it records as black frames. That's the protection working. Record your own screens and clips you have the rights to.

On a phone or tablet

Phone and tablet browsers can't record the screen from a web page. Use the built-in recorder instead (Screen Recording in Control Center on iPhone and iPad, Screen record in Quick Settings on Android), then choose the video here and trim it to the part you need. On any device you can also make a GIF with your camera.

Frequently asked questions