Animated WebP vs GIF
| GIF | Animated WebP | |
|---|---|---|
| Colours | 256 per frame | Full 24-bit colour |
| Compression | Lossless LZW only | Lossy (VP8) or lossless |
| Transparency | On/off per pixel | Smooth 8-bit alpha |
| Typical size for the same clip | Baseline | Often a third or less (depends on quality) |
| Browsers | All | All current ones: Chrome, Edge, Firefox (since 65), Safari (since 14 / macOS Big Sur) |
| Apps & platforms | Almost everywhere | Patchy: many chat apps, email clients and social sites convert it or show a still |
Use WebP for your own website, docs or blog, where you control the page. Use GIF for chats, email and social posts.
How this WebP export works
Each frame is compressed with your browser's built-in WebP encoder at the quality you choose, then the frames are packed into an animated WebP container (the ANIM and ANMF chunks from Google's WebP specification) by a few lines of code in this page. Chrome, Edge and Firefox can encode WebP; Safari can display animated WebP but can't encode it, so on an iPhone this page offers GIF instead.
Picking a quality
Quality 75 is a good default for video. Go to 85 or 90 for text-heavy screen captures, where artefacts around letters are noticeable, and down to 50 or 60 for small previews. The estimate updates as you move the slider.
Questions
Is animated WebP supported everywhere?
Every current browser displays it, but many apps and platforms do not keep WebP animated. Check where you are posting; GIF is the safer choice for sharing.
Why can't I export WebP on my iPhone?
Safari can show WebP but its canvas cannot encode it. Use Chrome, Edge or Firefox on a computer or Android phone, or export a GIF.
Can I convert MP4 to WebP without losing quality?
This tool uses lossy WebP, which is what makes it small. At quality 90 or above the loss is hard to see; the result is still far better than a 256-colour GIF.