How to Compress a GIF
Steps
Open FastEdit
Go to fastedit.net. No install, no account. Runs entirely in your browser.
Drop your GIF
Drag and drop your oversized GIF onto the editor. FastEdit loads it locally without uploading to any server.
Enable frame deduplication
Turn on frame deduplication to automatically detect and remove duplicate or near-identical consecutive frames. This is especially effective for screen recordings and simple animations with many static segments.
Reduce colors and frame rate
Lower the color palette from 256 to 128 or 64 colors. Reduce the frame rate from the original (often 30 fps) to 10-15 fps. These two changes have the biggest impact on file size.
Use fit-to-size for exact targets
If you need to hit a specific file size (e.g., 8MB for Discord, 15MB for Twitter), enable fit-to-size and enter your target. FastEdit automatically adjusts quality to meet it.
Preview and export
Use side-by-side compare to check the compressed version against the original. When satisfied, click Export.
Tips
- Reducing frame rate and color count gives the biggest file size reduction for most GIFs.
- Frame deduplication is extremely effective for screen recordings where the screen is static for portions of the clip.
- Consider converting to WebP instead of keeping GIF: you get the same animation with 30-50% smaller files and better color support.
- Resizing dimensions has a huge impact. Halving width and height reduces pixel count by 75%, which dramatically cuts file size.
- Use the fit-to-size feature when you have a specific size limit. It is faster than manually tweaking settings to hit a target.