Converting videos to gif with a dockerised helper

Some time ago I created a helper to convert videos to gif using ffmpeg and gifsicle. This script provides a set of options through a simple interface and, in case you don't have those libraries installed, it does everything inside a docker container.

If you are not interested in hearing about this tool, here is a simple command that does the job:

 ffmpeg -i [input video] -f gif  - | gifsicle --optimize=3  > [output gif]

However, if like me, you don't like to install random libraries and their dependencies in your main system, or maybe you just find this command too hard to remember, keep reading and I will tell you a bit more about it.

Options

Those are all the options available in video2gif:

video2gif [OPTIONS] [input file]

-s, --size         size. e.g 600x400. Default: same as video size
-o, --output       output file name. Default: [input].gif.
-i, --input        input file.
-ts, --start-time  time position from video to start gif. Seconds or HH:mm:ss. Default: start of the video
-te, --end-time    time position from video to stop gif. Seconds or HH:mm:ss. Default: end of the video
-d, --gif-frame-duration   delay/duration of each Gif frame in hundredths of a second. Default: 3.
-fr, --video-frame-rate    video frame rate. Less frames generate smaller gifs. Used by ffmpeg. Default: 10.
-h, --help         print help message.
-v, --version      print version.

Everything you do with video2gif you can do with ffmpeg and gifsicle. Because of that, I will show you how to use both commands, so you don't need to download my tool if you don't want to.

Defining an output size:

video2gif

video2gif -s 600x400 input.mpeg

ffmpeg + gifsicle

 ffmpeg -i input.mpeg -s 600x400 -f gif  - | gifsicle --optimize=3  > output.gif

Starting at video position:

video2gif

video2gif -ts 1:05 input.mpeg

ffmpeg + gifsicle

 ffmpeg -ss 1:05 -i input.mpeg -f gif  - | gifsicle --optimize=3  > output.gif

Note: -ss needs to come before -i, otherwise it won't work.

Stopping at video position:

video2gif

video2gif -te 3:00 input.mpeg

ffmpeg + gifsicle

 ffmpeg -to 3:00 -i input.mpeg -f gif  - | gifsicle --optimize=3  > output.gif

Note: as in the previous example, argument position matters.

Set duration for each gif frame

Duration is defined by hundredths of a second, so 3 is equivalent to 0.03 second.

video2gif

video2gif -d 3 input.mpeg

ffmpeg + gifsicle

 ffmpeg -i input.mpeg -f gif  - | gifsicle --optimize=3 --delay 3  > output.gif

Define the number of frames per second

Fewer frames generate smaller gifs, with the expense of making it choppier.

video2gif

video2gif -fr 10 input.mpeg

ffmpeg + gifsicle

 ffmpeg -i input.mpeg -r 10 -f gif  - | gifsicle --optimize=3 > output.gif

All options example

video2gif

video2gif -ts 10 -te 1:10 -s 400x200 -d 3 -fr 10 input.mpeg

ffmpeg + gifsicle

 ffmpeg -ss 10 -to 1:10 -i input.mpeg -s 400x200 -r 10 -f gif  - | gifsicle --optimize=3 -d 3 > output.gif

Conclusion

As you can see, it is not that hard to use ffmpeg+gifsicle, however, if you do this conversion frequently you may consider using my script.

I hope it was useful. To know more about how it works, you can check the repository.