GIFs, short bite-sized animated image files, are everywhere these days, dominating social media and the internet, in general. These fun, short files are animated by combining a series of images into an encoded graphics interchange format (GIF).
GIFs are used widely online as a means of conveying a reaction, illustrating a point or explaining a concept. Reaction GIFs on social chats are one area where these files are proving to be particularly popular.
GIFs are being used by businesses to help them stay up-to-date, fun and relevant online. These entertaining animated pictures can be an effective way of getting attention on social media, engaging with followers and increasing brand appeal. They are also used by many businesses to create eye-catching and memorable how-tos.
Animated GIF Maker List
If you’re determined to get creative with GIFs for your small business, here are 10 online tools not requiring too much of your time or technical know-how.
BlogGIF
With a suite of effects and editing tools, BlogGIF is a great tool for producing stand-out GIFs with ease. You can add animated effects, text, glitter, splash color and much more with the BlogGIF creator. It is also possible to add music to a GIF, decompose an animated GIF and create a GIF slideshow with this free GIF creating tool.
Giphy
If you want to create basic GIFs for your business, simply and quickly, Giphy might be the right GIF creating tool for you. You can add multiple images to create a GIF slideshow or trim your video into a GIF and then add captions or stickers to create a fun animated GIF for your business. Giphy also supports YouTube, Vimeo and Giphy links.
GIMP
GIMP is a free to use, open-source image editor that allows you to make GIFs. On GIMP you can extract video clips and when the images are imported, you can have fun using the tools available on the GIMP editing suite. To make animated GIFs, you will need the GIMP Animation Package.
Imgflip
With the Imgflip GIF maker you can make high-quality animated GIFs for your business from video files, YouTube, images or other video websites. This free GIF making tool is simple to use and has powerful customizable options. Though you should be aware that Imgflip does watermark its GIFs, so others can see where they were created. Watermarks can be disabled completely by upgrading to a Pro account, however.
Ezgif
Ezgif is a simple online GIF maker for basic animated GIF editing. With Ezgif you can create, resize, crop, reserve and optimize GIFs –as well as add effects. If you want to crop or slice animated GIF, WebP and PNG images, Ezgif’s GIF cropping feature is a handy tool. Simply upload the GIF and use your mouse to select which part of the image you would like to trim.
Picasion
You can upload between two and ten images and create animated GIFs with the free Picasion tool. You can then share the GIFs with your target audience via social media platforms or on a website. This feature-rich GIF tool allows you to create an avatar, resize an image and have fun with glitter effects.
Gickr.com
With Gickr.com you can instantly create animated GIFs online for free. Use online images or uploaded photos to create entertaining and eye-catching slideshows, cartoons, banners, previews and much more, to use as effective marketing material online.
GIFMaker.me
GIFMaker.me is a simple-to-use tool for creating animated GIFs, slideshows and video animations for free without any registrations requirements. GIFMaker.com allows you to create animated avatars and icons to share on social media, blogs or anywhere you want to show off your business’s fun and creative GIF.
GIFPal
GIFPal is a free online GIF animator, which enables businesses to create GIF animations from either images on their PCs or from a webcam. This easy-to-use GIF tool allows you to set contrast, brightness, saturation and hue. You can also apply 30 visual effects, add text and manage and edit frames on a timeline.
GifApp
If you are looking for a GIF creator tool to use on Windows or Linux systems, GifApp might be just the job. This lightweight open-source GIF app has an easy-to-use interface where you can extract images from video, import media, delay and remove frames, apply 17 different effects and adjust dimensions.
Photo via Shutterstock