How to crop a GIF

The vast majority of designers who work with GIF formats, They use it as a resource for online advertising media. In this case, we are talking about what a web page or a banner could be.

What few are unaware of is that clipping is also part of the editing of these formats. In this post, we are not only going to inform you about the extension and the GIF format, but also, We show you with a few simple steps, how to crop a GIF. 

However, we invite you to stay with us until the end and discover interesting aspects of this format.

We start

The GIF extension

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the GIF format, it is defined as a format style that can also be linked to others such as PDF, JPG or simply TIFF.

Its nomenclature is derived from «Graphics Interchange Format ». What is characteristic of this format is that it comes from a bitmap that is compatible with images up to 8 bits per pixel. The .gif file extension is most commonly used as a file format resource on the web and as sprites in software applications.

The most unique quality owned by GIF file format is that it uses lossless compression mechanism. As a result, no effect on image quality. While encoding game applications, the GIF format comes in great use as easily storing low-color sprite data.

Features

We can find GIFs in most social networks and they have the fundamental characteristic of transmitting information quickly, as well as emotions. Among other features that GIFs provide are:

• It has a lightweight format, which allows it to be played on any device.
• They have a high capacity to attract attention and allow quick and effortless understanding of what they are trying to convey.
• They generate notoriety and engagement. It is a way to quickly relate to a concept and reach a target audience.
• They are a format that has a great capacity for viralization.

Different ways to crop a GIF

There are different ways or methods to be able to crop a GIF. We explain how to do it:

On Mac and Windows

The famous Vidmore Video Converter is an excellent desktop program that comes with powerful functions for editing GIFs, converting multimedia content, and enhancing videos. It is capable of GIF cropping where you can divide the GIF into multiple segments. In this way, you will be able to identify which part you want to omit from the GIF.

If what you prefer or are interested in is decorating or editing the GIF, you can do it using the function Edit of the tool. Here's how to do it.

Step 1: Install the program and import the GIF

Before starting. it will be necessary to install the program, with which we are going to work. You must first download and install it on your PC. Once you have them installed and prepared, run the program and go to the tab of the Toolbox and select GIF creator.

After starting the software, import the GIF you want to cut or divide. And once you have it, click on it video to GIF y decide which GIF you need to process.

Step 2: Crop the GIF and save it

To crop a GIF, click the button Cut to crop the GIF. From this window, you have the option to add segments and specify a different time duration. Next, decide which frame you need to cut and click on the Trash in the preview pane.

Once we are done, press the button Save to apply the changes we have made. After this, you can customize the output format or enable loop animation. Now set the destination of the file and then press Generate GIF and save the final result.

In Gifs

GIFS.com is an online application that allows you to create GIFs directly from the web page. You can take advantage of its drag and drop interface by uploading your file to the tool. There you will also find various GIF settings that you can access such as adding subtitles, images, trimming the video, and many more. However, you may not be able to trim the GIF size when using this program. The above tool is a suitable application for this specific need. To find out how it works, we show you a short reference guide.

• Step 1. Go to the official website of the tool, then drag and drop the GIF from a local folder to the interface of this online application.
• Step 2. In the section on the left, you can access various customization tools and furthermore, you can add captions, stickers, adjust the spacing, etc.
• Step 3. To start the process, you can drag the start and end points of the clipping control. Then click Create GIF on the top right of the interface. This method is also applicable if you want to trim a video to GIF.
• Step 4. Next, add the necessary GIF information. You can simply save the output by clicking the Download or share it with your social media accounts.

In Ezgif

With EZGIF, you can not only cut GIFs, but also resize GIFs to your liking. So, if your main goal is to reduce the size of your GIF, look no further. Also, the tool works in any web browser. Even for mobile device users, this tool can be of great help. You can use it and learn how to crop GIF on iPhone and Android as you normally would on a PC. We leave you some steps to follow:

• Step 1. Open the browser you usually use and visit the official page of the tool.
• Step 2. Next, click on the option Cut from the menu and it will jump to another panel where you can load the GIF. Click on Choose the file and upload a GIF file
• Step 3. After loading, the tool will provide information about the GIF, in particular the frames and the total duration of the GIF. Choose if you want to cut by frame number or by time. From  Options panel cutter, click the drop down menu and choose accordingly.
• Step 4. Now specify the start and end points according to your chosen method. For example, imagine that we chose to crop by frame and decided to crop frame 10-16. On the other hand, you can use this same tool to show off your GIF bush trimming skills and cut out unnecessary parts.
• Step 5. Click on the button Duration of the cut and then scroll down the page and you will see the preview of the GIF. To download the output, simply click Save button.

In Adobe Photoshop

If you are looking for a more advanced tool to crop a GIF instead of the usual methods, Adobe Photoshop could fulfill your best wishes. It is a tool known for its photo editing capabilities. Apart from that, you can also use Photoshop to crop or cut GIFs without any difficulty. If you also want to draw GIFs, this is a perfect tool for that need. To use it, we leave you a step-by-step procedure to guide you.

• Step 1. If you already have Photoshop installed on your PC, run it and load the GIF.
• Step 2. To load the GIF into the tool, navigate to File> Open Later and select a GIF from your hard drive.
• Step 3. After loading, you should see all the frames in the Timeline window. From here, select the frames you want to remove and click Trash in the menu below the frames.
• Step 4. Before saving your work, you can preview the entire GIF by clicking the Tap icon. Now go to File> Export> Save for Web (Legacy) and Select GIF and finally, click the Save button to finish the procedure.

The best programs

In case you have not yet been very clear about the options that you have, we leave you a last section where you can satisfy those needs and doubts you may have in this regard.

Here we show you the best programs to cut GIFs.

capwing

Kapwing is one of the easiest to use GIF editors online, which offers a free editing service of videos, image editing, generation of memes, etc. You can crop the gif with Kapwing without any problem.

gifgifs

Gifgifs offers you free gif animations with many templates, and it is also famous for its ability to edit GIFs and images. If you want to crop GIF online, don't miss it.

iloveimg

Iloveimg is well known for its multifaceted image editing capabilities, and the image quality will not change after editing. So there is no need to worry about the quality of your GIF after cropping.

Conclusion

As you may have seen, cropping a GIF is quite simple, just follow the steps that we have indicated and try the different options. In addition, if you continue browsing and researching, you will realize the thousands of tools that exist for this resource.