How do you convert PNG to GIF?
Upload your PNGs
Drag in the files you want converted.
Quantised to 256 colours
The palette is reduced to the GIF maximum, with dithering to approximate the discarded tones.
Download the GIFs
Valid GIF files, not a PNG with the extension changed.
Why Pictulab for PNG to GIF?
Completely free
Convert as many PNG files to GIF as you like — no sign-up, no watermarks, no daily cap.
Instant
Conversion runs on your own machine, so there is no upload, no queue and no server wait.
Private by design
Files never leave your browser. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored, nothing is shared.
Batch processing
Drag in dozens of files at once and download them all together when they finish.
Why this conversion is harder than it looks
Browsers cannot generate GIF. Ask the canvas export function for one and it hands back a PNG without warning, with the mime type changed. Many online converters stop there and deliver a file that is not a GIF at all.
Producing a real GIF means reducing the image to a 256-colour palette and compressing it with LZW, which is what this tool does.
What dropping to 256 colours means
A typical photograph contains tens of thousands of distinct colours. Converting it to GIF means picking the 256 most representative and approximating the rest by mixing dots of the available colours — dithering.
On photographs the result shows. On logos, icons and graphics with flat colour areas, it does not.
Processed locally
Quantisation and compression run in your browser. Nothing is uploaded to any server.
Related tools
Frequently asked questions
Is it a real GIF?
Yes. It is generated with genuine colour quantisation and LZW compression. Worth stating because many browser-based converters return a PNG with a .gif extension, which validators reject.
Do I lose quality?
If the PNG has more than 256 colours, necessarily yes — that is the GIF format’s limit. On flat-colour images (logos, icons, charts) the loss is nil or imperceptible.
Is transparency preserved?
Transparent areas are flattened onto white. GIF only supports binary transparency, and keeping it partially would produce dark halos around the PNG’s soft edges.
Can I create an animated GIF?
Not with this tool — it converts still images. For animation from a video, use the video to GIF tool.
When does GIF still make sense?
Almost never for quality or size, where it loses to everything. It does when a specific system demands it: older email signatures, legacy platforms or software that accepts nothing else.
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