The GIF animation graphic format is very common today on social networks and regular information sites. Due to the light weight of such files, they do not take up much space on servers, so their use is completely justified. Most often, “gifs” are short animated videos that demonstrate funny incidents from life, jokes and short cooking recipes.
You can create such a file yourself in almost any graphics editor. But what to do if you want to keep the video you like as a souvenir? How to save a GIF?
Download to computer
Not everyone knows that GIF videos can be played not only in their “native” format, but also in MP4. Thanks to this, you can quite easily download the animation to your PC and watch your favorite clip at any convenient time. To do this, just follow very simple instructions that tell you how to save a “GIF” to your computer:
- Activate file playback in the browser you are using.
- Place the cursor over the moving image and press RMB.
- Select “Save image as” in the window that appears.
- Copy the file to your computer. The GIF will be saved in GIF format.
If the Save image as option does not work, then you must select “Save video” and specify the path to the folder on your PC. In this case, the video will be downloaded in MP4 format. After this, you need to use one of the Internet resources to reformat the saved file back to GIF. Any online converter that converts videos from MP4 format to GIF is suitable for this. On the site, you only need to indicate the path to the folder in which the video is located, and wait until a new document is created, which will also need to be downloaded to your computer.
We learned how to save a GIF to your computer, but you can also download it to your smartphone. This is very important, since most modern phones have the ability to view files in this format.
How to Use GIFs in Marketing
In social networks
Pinterest was the first to allow the use of animated GIFs, followed by Twitter. And by the summer of 2015, Facebook joined them. Then Instagram changed the way it works with Boomerang, which now allows users to capture and share their GIFs. On any of these social media platforms, animated GIFs can be a great way to stand out from the crowd.
In emails
Animated GIFs appear in emails just like regular images. Not only does this help grab the attention of recipients, but it can also directly impact sales.
Use GIFs when showcasing products and announcing events. Below is a GIF from an advertising campaign for women's clothing store Ann Taylor LOFT. They created a beautiful shake-like effect to intrigue email recipients and get them to "unwrap" their gift.
Saving on iPhone
In this case, you will have to do a little more manipulation. Before you save a GIF to your iPhone, you need to download the special Camera Roll iOS application. Without it, the video will not play correctly (only the first frame of the file will be displayed), and it will be impossible to view it. It is also recommended to download the GIF Viewer application or any equivalent. In addition, the easiest way to download “gifs” is through the Safari browser.
In order for the video to display correctly, you must complete the following steps:
- Launch your browser and activate GIF animation in it.
- Click on the image and select “Save Image” in the window that appears. After this, the picture will be uploaded to the standard iPhone gallery.
- Enable the application to display all animation frames correctly.
- Enjoy watching.
Lastly. A little about copyright
GIFs have one more advantage over regular pictures - they are free. On the other hand, the law clearly prohibits public reproduction of a video in whole or in part without the consent of the author.
And although you can quote any work for scientific purposes, you are unlikely to be able to prove that you posted a GIF of John Travolta on VKontakte solely for the benefit of science.
On the third hand, I could not find cases where anyone was seriously sued over the copyright of a gif.
Moral: the decision whether to use other people's GIFs or not, as usual, remains on your conscience.
How to download a file from VK to a smartphone
Many social network users are interested in how to save a “GIF” from VK, since it is on this platform that such videos are most often found. However, if a person does not have an iPhone in his hands, but any other smartphone, then in this case standard applications will not help. Therefore, you don’t even have to waste time on them.
However, there is one method that will help you save the GIF. How it works:
- You need to go to the Safari browser and find any “GIF” in VK.
- Click on the image and select “Open in new tab.”
- Wait for the video to load completely.
- Click on the image again and select “Save Image”.
In the same way, you can save any videos from other popular social networks to your smartphone. If you use the Google Chrome browser, the “gif” will be saved, but will not be played.
How to upload a GIF to VK in documents
First we need to load the GIF animation into our documents.
To do this, go to the Documents section in the menu of your page.
If this section is not there, you need to enable it.
To enable the Documents menu item, hover the mouse cursor over any menu item, for example, on My Page; after about a second, a gear-shaped icon will appear on the left. This is the menu setting.
Go to setting up VK menu items
Click on the gear and you will be taken to the menu settings.
To do this, let’s go to the menu item settings, scroll down to the end and check the Documents item and click Save.
Setting up menu items
Now that the Documents menu item has appeared, go into it and click Add Document if you want to upload a GIF from your computer. If you want to search for uploaded gifs of other users, then write any name in the search bar. For example, “funny.”
VKontakte will offer you to choose your favorite GIF from a large list.
Once you find what you need, click the plus in the line with the GIF animation and it will be added to your documents. Where you can paste it into a message or wall post.
Adding documents from other users to your documents
How to download GIF from mobile applications
Many users of Viber and WatsApp messengers are concerned about the question of how to save a “gif” to their phone if it was sent in correspondence. In this case, everything is much simpler. The fact is that all free messaging applications have a function that allows you to perform various manipulations with received files.
If you want to save a GIF animation from a conversation, just click “Save” and the file will automatically be sent to your phone’s standard album. You can then view it and send it to other users. If for some reason the video does not work, you need to download GifPlayer from the App Store. Knowing how to save a “gif” to your computer or phone, you can download the videos you like and send them to friends using any messenger or application.
How to add a GIF to VK in private messages
In private messages, to attach a gif, click on the paperclip icon and select the Document type.
Attach a gif to the message
The GIF you need is already saved in the documents, select it and it appears as an attachment to the message. Now all that remains is to add the text of the message or immediately send it with one GIF without text.
If you were in a hurry and sent the wrong GIF or to the wrong person, don’t worry. You can delete a message from a conversation so that it disappears from your messages and from your interlocutor too.
Save GIF animation to your phone or iPhone
To save a GIF from the browser to your phone's memory, tap on it and hold it with your finger longer
.
A menu of what you can do with it will appear. This list will include “ Save image as...
”. Click on this item and the GIF will appear on your device.
1. Please note that on social networks, such as VKontakte, GIFs are actually videos in .mp4 format. You will still be able to save these files, but all rules for submitting videos, including moderation, apply when submitting this video.
2. Some Internet sites have their own rules for saving GIFs to your phone or computer. For example, to download a GIF from our website, you must first launch it by pressing it once, and only then hold it with your finger until the save menu appears.
If you need to send a GIF from your phone, then it is not at all necessary to save it to your device. Just copy the link to it, and the messenger dialog box will replace the link with the GIF. This works in almost all built-in social network chats.
Features of GIF files
By default, CMS WordPress sees GIF files perfectly and no additional settings are needed to load them.
However, serious GIFs weigh a lot and constantly loading 1-2 megabyte files will not benefit the site’s speed. Moreover, a GIF file cannot be compressed .
The solution to this problem is simple. We use a third-party service to store GIF files, and embed the GIF into our WordPress site using a third-party URL.
All that remains is to choose a service for storing GIF files. I recommend the service giphy.com. The service has very easy registration and very good conditions for free storage.
How to send GIFs using your computer
You can download gifs for WhatsApp for your computer through a browser, just like on your phone. To send a file, open the chat, then drag the picture to the message writing area. This method also works with documents, videos, and music.
Let's figure out how to send GIFs on WhatsApp on your computer using the built-in gallery:
- Open the desired conversation.
- Click on the smiley face in the bottom left.
- In the window that opens, switch to animations.
- To search for a picture by title, use a special line. To switch between popular posts, click on the captions at the top.
- To send, click on the animation, then confirm the action using the green button.
The collection on your phone and on your computer is no different. You can send animated images to a friend in a chat for free.
Service giphy.com
I'll show you how to start working with the service.
- Go to the registration page https://giphy.com/join;
- Registration is simple, by email indicating your name and password;
- Confirmation of registration by letter is not required;
- After registration, log into your personal account using the name and password specified during registration;
- The rest is quite simple. On the Upload button, add your GIF by selecting the source of addition. Give the file tags, possibly a URL link.
That’s it, after adding the file, you can pick up the GIF URL, short GIF URL, and a link for embedding the GIF, like Video HTML5.
