The Question Mark - blog by Mark Volkmann

Animated GIFs

Overview

Video files in many formats including .mov can be converted to animated GIFs.

Using cloudconvert

One way to create an animated GIF from a .mov file is to use the website MOV to GIF Converter.

  1. Click the “Select File” button.
  2. Select a .mov file.
  3. Click the wrench button.
  4. In the “Fps” text field enter “24”.
  5. Scroll to the bottom.
  6. Click the “Okay” button.
  7. Click the “Convert” button.
  8. Click the “Download” button.

Using FFmpeg

Another way to create an animated GIF from a .mov file is to use FFmpeg.

To install this in macOS using Homebrew, enter brew install ffmpeg. This takes around 10 minutes to complete.

To convert a .mov file to a GIF, enter the following command:

ffmpeg -i sample.mov -r 24 sample.gif

Screen Recording

To create a .mov file from a screen recording in macOS:

  • Press cmd-shift-5.
  • Move and size the rectangle the defines the portion of the screen that will be recorded.
  • Click the “Record” button.
  • Wait a few seconds before beginning the actions to be recorded.
  • When finished, click the stop button in the menu bar which looks like a circle with a square inside.
  • Open the Finder and navigation to the Desktop directory.
  • Look for files whose names begin with “Screen Recording” and end with “.mov”.