Make a GIF from a video with ffmpeg

In this article, I explain how to create a gif simply by using the terminal.

To install ffmpeg on the Mac:

brew install ffmpeg

If you don’t have Homebrew, look here to install it:

Homebrew

If you are using Linux:

sudo apt install ffmpeg

This is the command that takes the video and turns it into 3 seconds of gif at 5fps:

ffmpeg -i IMG_0118.MOV -t 3 -vf "fps=5" out.gif

This is the result from a 9 seconds video:

Image by author

This is the basic command, for other settings you can see in the help command

ffmpeg -h

If you have any problems or if you have solved them in any other way do not hesitate to write them in the comments!

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