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https://github.com/vvo/gifify

😻 Convert any video file to an optimized animated GIF.
https://github.com/vvo/gifify

ffmpeg gif gifify gifsicle imagemagick mp4 nodejs screencast video

Last synced: 21 days ago
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😻 Convert any video file to an optimized animated GIF.

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README 

        
**NOTE FROM AUTHOR**



I am no more using this project or providing any support to it, if you want to maintain it, ping me here: [email protected].



This project was created 4 years ago, there might be better ways to turn a video into a GIF now, use google!



**/NOTE FROM AUTHOR**



# gifify



Convert any video file to an optimized animated GIF. Either in its full length or only a part of it.



## Demo time



![screencast](screencast.gif)



This screencast was recorded with [lolilolicon/FFcast](https://github.com/lolilolicon/FFcast) then converted to a GIF with:



```shell

gifify screencast.mkv -o screencast.gif --resize 800:-1

```



## Features



- command line interface

- programmatic JavaScript ([Node.JS](http://nodejs.org/)) [stream](http://nodejs.org/api/stream.html) interface

- unix friendly, supports `stdin` & `stdout`

- optimized! uses [pornel/giflossy](https://github.com/pornel/giflossy) to generate light GIFS

- lots of options: movie speed, fps, colors, compression, resize, reverse, from & to, subtitles

- no temp files used, everything happens in memory

- fast! Extracting a 5-second GIF from the middle of a 2-hour movie takes less than 20 seconds



## Requirements



Before using gifify, please install:



- [Node.js](https://nodejs.org) (`$ brew install node`)

- [FFmpeg](http://ffmpeg.org/) [🐓🐓🐓🐓](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFmpeg#History) (`$ brew install ffmpeg`)

- [convert](http://www.imagemagick.org/script/convert.php), the famous [ImageMagick](http://www.imagemagick.org/) (`$ brew install imagemagick`)

- [pornel/giflossy](https://github.com/pornel/giflossy/releases), it's a [gifsicle](http://www.lcdf.org/gifsicle/) fork (waiting for [gifsicle#16](https://github.com/kohler/gifsicle/pull/16) to be merged) (`$ brew install giflossy`)



You can also use the [gifify Docker image](https://github.com/maxogden/gifify-docker) which comes with everything installed.



## Installation



```shell

npm install -g gifify

```



## Command line usage



```shell

> gifify -h



  Usage: gifify [options] [file]



  Options:



    -h, --help              output usage information

    -V, --version           output the version number

    --colors             Number of colors, up to 255, defaults to 80

    --compress           Compression (quality) level, from 0 (no compression) to 100, defaults to 40

    --from        Start position, hh:mm:ss or seconds, defaults to 0

    --fps                Frames Per Second, defaults to 10

    -o, --output      Output file, defaults to stdout

    --resize           Resize output, use -1 when specifying only width or height. `350:100`, `400:-1`, `-1:200`

    --reverse               Reverses movie

    --speed              Movie speed, defaults to 1

    --subtitles   Subtitle filepath to burn to the GIF

    --text          Add some text at the bottom of the movie

    --to          End position, hh:mm:ss or seconds, defaults to end of movie

    --no-loop               Will show every frame once without looping

```



## Programmatic usage



See the [example](./example).



```js

var fs = require('fs');

var gifify = require('gifify');

var path = require('path');



var input = path.join(__dirname, 'movie.mp4');

var output = path.join(__dirname, 'movie.gif');



var gif = fs.createWriteStream(output);



var options = {

  resize: '200:-1',

  from: 30,

  to: 35

};



gifify(input, options).pipe(gif);

```



You can also pass a [readable stream](http://nodejs.org/api/stream.html#stream_class_stream_readable) to `gifify(stream, opts)`.



## Readable stream input performance



Gifify supports streams both on command line (`cat movie.mp4 | gifify -o out.gif`) and in the programmatic API (`gifify(readableStream, opts).pipe(writableStream)`).



While it's super useful in some cases, if you have the file on disk already, you better do `gifify movie.mp4 -o out.gif` or `gifify(filePath, opts).pipe(writableStream)`.



Why? Because piping 3.4GB when you want to cut from 40:20 to 40:22 still takes a loooooot of time and does not give you any performance benefit.



FFmpeg has to read from 0GB -> $START_BYTE_40:20 and discards it. But everything flows in your memory.



When using direct file input from command line, we pass the `-i filename` option to FFmpeg and then it's super fast!



Be careful when `|piping`.



## Adding some text



You can burn some simple text into your GIF:



```shell

gifify back.mp4 -o back.gif --from 01:48:23.200 --to 01:48:25.300 --text "What?..What?What?"

```



Result:



![back](back.gif)



## Subtitles



You can burn subtitles into your GIF, it's that easy:



```shell

gifify 22.mkv -o movie.gif --subtitles 22.ass --from 1995 --to 2002 --resize 600:-1

```



You must create new subtitles files, the timecodes for the complete film will not work for a five seconds GIF.



Create subtitles using [aegisub](http://www.aegisub.org/) and augment the font size for a great effect!



Here's the `22.ass` from the previous command, created with aegisub:



```ass

[Script Info]

; Script generated by Aegisub 3.2.1

; http://www.aegisub.org/

Title: Default Aegisub file

ScriptType: v4.00+

WrapStyle: 0

ScaledBorderAndShadow: yes

YCbCr Matrix: None



[Aegisub Project Garbage]



[V4+ Styles]

Format: Name, Fontname, Fontsize, PrimaryColour, SecondaryColour, OutlineColour, BackColour, Bold, Italic, Underline, StrikeOut, ScaleX, ScaleY, Spacing, Angle, BorderStyle, Outline, Shadow, Alignment, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Encoding

Style: Default,Arial,20,&H00FFFFFF,&H000000FF,&H00000000,&H00000000,0,0,0,0,100,100,0,0,1,2,2,2,10,10,10,1



[Events]

Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text

Dialogue: 0,0:00:02.50,0:00:03.97,Default,,0,0,0,,{\fnLiberation Sans\fs40}Okay, okay.

Dialogue: 0,0:00:05.00,0:00:06.90,Default,,0,0,0,,{\fnLiberation Sans\fs40}Okay. Okay.

```



Result extracting a GIF from [22 Jump Street](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294449/):



![22](22.gif)



## GIF Performance



```

On modern hardware GIF is the slowest and most expensive video codec. Can we please allow it to be obsoleted?

```



https://pornel.net/efficient-gifs#sec44



YOLO!



## Giflossy



[Giflossy](https://github.com/pornel/giflossy) is a fork of [gifsicle](http://www.lcdf.org/gifsicle/), gifsicle author is currently [working on](https://github.com/kohler/gifsicle/tree/lossy) integrating the lossy part in gifsicle.



So in little time we will be able to directly use gifsicle and gifiscle packages.



## Thanks



[jclem/gifify](https://github.com/jclem/gifify/) was a great source of inspiration.