GIF Recording
Record a short, silent animated GIF of your screen with ScreenSnap Pro, or turn any video recording into a GIF from the video editor.
Record a GIF
A GIF recording is a quick, silent screen capture that plays in a loop, handy for bug reports, pull requests and chat messages.
- 1Choose "Record Screen" from the menu bar icon (Mac) or the tray icon's right-click menu (Windows) to open the capture controls in Screen Recording mode.
- 2Open the format menu on the left and choose "GIF".
- 3Click "Display" to record a whole screen, or "Area" and drag to select a region.
- 4When you are done, click the red square ("Stop and save") or the timer in the recording controls.
GIF recordings are limited to 1 minute. The timer shows the limit, and the recording stops and saves automatically when it is reached.
What a GIF includes
GIFs have no sound, so the camera, microphone and system audio buttons are switched off in GIF mode. The pointer is included. To keep files small, GIF recordings are captured at 12 frames per second and scaled down to at most 1200 pixels wide or tall. Your format choice is remembered, so switch back to "Video" when you next want audio or a webcam.
After recording
The recording controls show "Converting..." while ScreenSnap Pro builds the GIF. It is saved to your save folder, named with your "File Name Pattern", and loops endlessly. A Quick Preview thumbnail then appears:
- 1Drag the thumbnail into a chat, document, email or issue.
- 2Click the thumbnail to open the GIF in your default viewer.
- 3If "Cloud Upload" is on and "Auto Upload" is off, use the upload button ("Upload & copy link") to share a link. With both "Cloud Upload" and "Auto Upload" on, the GIF is uploaded automatically.
- 4Use the delete button to remove the GIF.
GIF recordings are saved as finished files and do not open in the video editor.
GIF recording or GIF export?
Record a GIF directly when you want a short, silent clip with no editing. When you want zoom-ins, a background, a webcam overlay, a clip longer than one minute, or control over resolution and frame rate, record a Video instead and choose "GIF" when you export from the video editor. See Export Video as MP4 or GIF.