Skill: Video to GIF

Prerequisite: FFmpeg must be installed. gifsicle is optional (enables lossy compression variants).

When to Use

• File size — smaller is better for sharing/embedding
• Color accuracy — fewer colors = smaller but may cause banding
• Smoothness — higher FPS = smoother but larger
• Resolution — wider = sharper detail but larger

Default Workflow

python /path/to/skills/video-to-gif/scripts/video_to_gif.py <input.mp4>

<input>_gifs/

• 3 FPS options: 10, 15, 20
• 3 widths: 480px, 640px, 800px
• 2 color counts: 128, 256

Presets

full

minimal

lossy

quality

# Quick comparison with fewer variants
python .../video_to_gif.py input.mp4 --presets minimal

# Include lossy compression (requires gifsicle)
python .../video_to_gif.py input.mp4 --presets lossy

# Higher quality focus
python .../video_to_gif.py input.mp4 --presets quality

Common Options

-o

--output-dir

<input>_gifs/

--start

--end

--presets

full

--fps

--fps 10 15 20

--width

--width 480 640

--colors

--colors 128 256

--lossy

--lossy 0 30 80

Examples

# Convert first 10 seconds of a video
python .../video_to_gif.py demo.mp4 --end 10

# Extract a specific segment
python .../video_to_gif.py demo.mp4 --start 5 --end 15

# Custom parameter sweep
python .../video_to_gif.py demo.mp4 --fps 12 15 --width 480 800 --colors 256

# Lossy compression comparison (needs gifsicle)
python .../video_to_gif.py demo.mp4 --lossy 0 30 60 100

How to Choose

1. Start with the smallest files — check if quality is acceptable
2. Look for color banding — if visible, try 256 colors or bayer dithering (quality preset)
3. Check smoothness — if too choppy, go up to 15 or 20 FPS
4. Check clarity — if text is unreadable, go up to 640 or 800px width

Important Notes

• Widths larger than the source video resolution are automatically skipped.
• The script uses FFmpeg's two-pass palette generation for optimal GIF quality (much better than single-pass).
• Lossy compression via gifsicle can reduce file size by 30-70% with minimal visual impact at level 30-60.
• For very long clips, consider trimming with

  --start

  /

  --end

  first — GIFs over 10 seconds can get very large.