7 Best GIF Maker Apps and Software
GIFs have been popular on the internet almost since day one. They quickly gathered popularity on message boards and, later, social media, quickly becoming an icon of internet culture. More recently, however, GIFs have caught the eye of marketers, who have since been using them to add humor and individuality to marketing campaigns.
Despite GIFs being a monumental part of the internet, one sure to draw attention, they have been challenging to bring into the marketing sphere. Animation can be expensive, a word no budgeter likes before a new and untested tactic. But, there is a way to create your own GIFs without investing much time or money at all – GIF makers. Plenty exist on the internet, allowing any business to create their own GIFs and add a bit of spice to their marketing.
In this article, we will provide an overview of what a GIF is, why your marketing campaigns will benefit from them, and the best GIF makers you can use. With them, you’ll be making attention-grabbing GIFs in no time.
What is a GIF?
A GIF, short for Graphics Interchange Format, is essentially a repeating video clip. GIFs take a set of frames, play them successively, then rinse and repeat without end. They are short, colorful, and easy to both make and digest. For these reasons, they rapidly gained popularity as a means to share memes and tiny clips online.
Why can GIFs benefit a brand?
For traditional businesses, it might be tempting to write GIFs off as nothing more than crude internet humor. How could they possibly benefit a brand?
Honestly, that assessment is pretty much accurate, which is exactly why they can be so effective. Strangely enough, people like a laugh, and aren’t thrilled at reading an endless article or being lectured at for several minutes. Contrary to such monotonous attempts at marketing, GIFs seize attention, create a brand identity, and inject humor and lightheartedness. Needless to say, some brands stand to gain more than others, but with proper implementation, the benefits are universal.
Getting started with a GIF maker
GIF makers provide a means of making your own GIFs without spending a fortune. They work by taking image or video uploads, which can then be edited as you like. You have a good number of options available to create your perfect GIF, including text, backgrounds, filters, and more. Once the edits are made, you have your GIF. It’s as simple as that. With that overview made, let’s get into some of the best GIF makers out there.
1. Ezgif
Ezgif is exactly that, an accessible GIF maker that makes the job easy. It’s free and web-based, meaning everyone with an internet connection can make use of it.
Though this might make it seem like cheap, throwaway software, it is surprisingly adept at handling GIF-making. With Ezgif, you can upload both image and video files, then customize your GIF using various options. For an all-rounder available to anyone wanting to create a GIF, there isn’t a better GIF maker available.
2. Giphy
Giphy is another easy-to-access GIF maker, one quite well-known in GIF-making circles. Giphy has a vast catalog of GIFs to browse, something handy for sparking creativity if you find yourself in a dry patch. More importantly, the GIF-making aspect is straightforward and brilliant. You can upload images and videos, like other GIF makers, but also URLs from other sites too. This allows you to create your GIFs from specific video links, from Youtube, as one example.
3. GIMP
Another household name for certain circles is GIMP. Any graphic designer will almost certainly recognize this tried and tested tool, though its GIF-making capabilities might not be as widely known. It allows you to directly create your images using GIMP’s in-built image creation tools, then export it to the GIF maker and continue there. GIMP boasts over 100 plugins, allowing you to fine-tune your GIF into something representative of your brand.
4. Make a GIF
Make a GIF is another online tool, one with some handy features and incredibly accessible. It allows for a variety of inputs, from Facebook to Youtube, and it even allows GIFs to be made from webcam footage. If you’d prefer to upload image or video files, it has that functionality, so there’s something here for everyone.
5. GIF Maker
A break from the PC-oriented tools, GIF Maker provides iPhone users with their own tool to create GIFs, tailored for a mobile platform. With GIF Maker, you can upload your video and image content, then use the plethora of tools to customize it to your liking.
You can also record content using the app, which can then immediately be customized, with even the GIF loop speed being tweakable. Once you have your perfect GIF, you can share it directly to your social media platforms.
However, the features of GIF Maker come at a cost. After an initial 30 free period, you’ll have to pay $9.99 to continue using the app. Whether that’s worth it is up to you.
6. GIF Studio
GIF Studio provides Android users with their own GIF maker. It has all the basics, allowing for the upload of video and image files, editing, and access to its wealth of customization options. GIF Studio also offers a degree of video compression, one that allows for smaller files without the loss of quality.
Additionally, it’s simple to use, which is always a plus. Unlike GIF Maker, GIF Studio has a completely free version, albeit one with ads. If you’d like to lose them, you’ll have to pay $0.99. Again, whether it’s worth it is for you to decide, but it’s a much cheaper decision this time around.
7. Pixel Animator: GIF Maker
Our final GIF maker is a unique one. It allows for the creation of GIFs in a similar fashion to other makers, though this one solely focuses on pixel art. With Pixel Animator, you can customize your GIFs pixel by pixel, building your art from the ground up. It also has a library, allowing you to access pre-existing assets to include in your GIFs. For brands wanting a particularly retro aesthetic, Pixel Animator is a brilliant choice.
Wrapping up
That concludes our list of some of the best GIF makers available. Making GIFs can be as simple or as complicated as you’d like; there’s something for everyone. Whether you’d like to include some humor in your marketing efforts, or create something unique that gives you brand identity, your task will be straightforward using one of these GIF makers. For a more captivating marketing approach, get started on your GIFs today.
