Make your own GIFs

GIF, WebP or MP4

The editor saves three kinds of moving picture. Pick the one that suits where it is going:

• GIF plays almost everywhere: every browser and nearly every app and chat. It is also the biggest of the three.
• WebP looks almost the same and is usually several times smaller. Every current browser plays it, and so do most apps.
• MP4 is a short video: usually smaller still, but it can't have see-through parts.

Open your clip

1. Open the Editor page and tap Choose a file. Pick a short video, a GIF or an animated WebP from your phone or computer.
2. Or open one that is already in your library: tap the round Edit button on the picture in its details, or Edit in the full-screen viewer's menu.
3. At the top of the editor, tap GIF or WebP. A video starts on MP4; a GIF or WebP starts on its own kind.

Pick the moment

1. In Trim, drag the handle at the left end of the strip to where the moment starts.
2. Drag the right handle to where it ends. Tap Play to watch it.

Frame it

1. Tap Crop, then Crop shape, and pick Profile picture 1:1 for a square. Squares fit chats and GIF pickers best.
2. Drag the picture until the face, or whatever matters, is in the middle.

Add a caption

1. Tap Annotate, then Meme text: white letters with a black outline, easy to read on anything.
2. Drag a box across the bottom of the picture and type.
3. Tap outside the box when you are done. Tap the words again to change or move them.

The letters fit the box you draw: draw it taller for bigger letters. Afterwards, drag its side handles to make them bigger or smaller.

Stickers that move

In Sticker, add an emoji or one of the Markers. Then tap Animation and pick one, such as Bounce. It moves in your GIF too.

Keep it small

A video becomes a GIF or WebP at the size GIF sites use: the shorter side at most 480 pixels, at most 15 pictures a second. A GIF or WebP you open keeps its own size and speed.

Above about 8 MB, a note at the top says it may load slowly. You can still save it. To make it smaller:

• Trim it shorter.
• Crop it to the part that matters.
• Shrink it in Resize: type a Width such as 320.
• Save it as WebP instead.

See-through parts stay see-through. A WebP keeps soft edges smooth; in a GIF, each spot is either see-through or not. MP4 fills them with black.

Save it

1. Tap Done .
2. The editor makes the GIF on your device, then uploads it to your library as a new file. Keep the screen open until it is done.

Keep it or share it

Your GIF is a file in your library like any other. Copy its link to send it, or post it on Nostr: Share on Nostr.

Or give a copy to everyone: the public nostr.build GIF library at gifs.nostr.build, where anyone can find and use it.

1. Open the GIF's details: tap the three dots under it.
2. In the row of buttons at the bottom, tap the gift box (Contribute to the GIF library).
3. The first time, read what it means and tap Agree and contribute. After that, one tap on Contribute does it.

• Contributed copies are public, and anyone can find and use them.
• Every copy goes through our moderation, the same as a free upload.
• You can withdraw a copy until it's published in the GIF library. After that, it stays there.
• Only contribute GIFs you have the right to share.

The gift box shows once your Nostr key is verified: Your relay shows how to verify it. Your original stays in your library.

Changed your mind? Once the copy is done, the gift box turns into Withdraw from the GIF library. Tap it and confirm to take the copy back, as long as it isn't published in the GIF library yet.