GIF vs WebP
GIF has been the default for looping animations since the late 1980s. Animated WebP does the same job with full color, smooth transparency and much smaller files, but GIF still plays in more places, especially email.
Short answer
For animations on websites and apps you control, animated WebP is the better format: full color, soft transparency and files often several times smaller than GIF. Use GIF when the animation must play everywhere, such as in email newsletters, older chat tools and platforms that only accept GIF.
| GIF | WebP | |
|---|---|---|
| Colors | Up to 256 per frame | Full 24-bit color |
| Compression | Lossless LZW on palette indexes | Lossy or lossless per frame |
| Transparency | On/off per pixel; edges can halo | Full 8-bit alpha |
| Animation | Yes, universal | Yes, all current browsers |
| File size for photo-like clips | Very large | Often several times smaller |
| File size for simple graphics | Reasonable | Usually smaller |
| Browser support | Universal | All current browsers |
| Email clients | Widely supported | Unreliable |
| Still images | Poor fit for photos | Good replacement for JPG and PNG |
| Best for | Email, maximum compatibility | Web pages and apps |
Why WebP animations are so much smaller
A GIF frame has to squeeze its colors into a palette of 256 or fewer, and encoders add dithering to hide the banding. That noisy pattern is exactly what GIF’s LZW compression handles worst. Animated WebP skips the palette entirely and can compress each frame with lossy techniques similar to its still photos, so a clip with real-world footage often shrinks dramatically.
Both formats can store only the region that changed from one frame to the next, which helps with screen recordings and simple motion. Neither uses the motion prediction of real video, so for long clips a short muted video file is smaller than either.
Which should I use?
Decide by where the animation will play:
- Animated banner or product demo on your website: animated WebP, or a short video for longer clips
- Animation inside an email newsletter: GIF
- Sticker or reaction image for a chat or forum: whatever that platform accepts, which is often GIF
- Animated logo with soft edges over varying backgrounds: WebP, since GIF edges can show halos
- Pixel art or tiny icons with a few flat colors: either works; GIF has the widest support
Working with these files in Pixellin
If you need to keep a GIF, Compress GIF can reduce its palette and drop every other frame while keeping the animation. Pixellin doesn’t create animated WebP: converting an animated GIF or WebP to another format uses only the first frame, which is handy when you need a still thumbnail.
More detail on each format’s history and internals is on the GIF and WebP format pages.
Switch between GIF and WebP
Questions
Is animated WebP supported everywhere?
All current major browsers play animated WebP. Support is weaker outside the browser: many email clients don’t show it, and some messaging apps and older image viewers display only the first frame or nothing. GIF remains the safer choice when you can’t control where it plays.
How much smaller is WebP than GIF?
It depends on the content. For clips with photographic footage or gradients, animated WebP is often several times smaller. For simple animations with a few flat colors, the gap is smaller, though WebP usually still wins.
Why do GIF edges look jagged on dark backgrounds?
GIF transparency is all or nothing, so soft edges are blended against a fixed color when the file is made, usually white. On a different background, that blended fringe shows as a halo. WebP’s full alpha channel avoids the problem.
Can I convert an animated GIF to WebP with Pixellin?
Pixellin converts only the first frame of an animated GIF, so the result is a still WebP. To shrink an animated GIF while keeping the animation, use the GIF compressor, which reduces colors and can drop frames.