AI GIF vs video GIF
“Make a GIF” can mean two very different things. Most tools are GIF converters — they turn a video you already filmed into a GIF. GifGen is a generative-AI GIF generator — it creates a new animation from a single image and a prompt, with no footage required. Here's the difference.
When to use a video-to-GIF converter
If you already have the exact footage — a clip from a screen recording, a moment from a video you shot — a converter is the right tool. It just re-encodes those existing frames into the GIF format. You're not creating anything new, you're changing the container.
When to use an AI GIF generator
When you don't have footage — just an image and an idea. You want your pet to wave, a character to dance, a logo to pulse, or a portrait to put on sunglasses. There's no video of that; it has to be generated. That's what GifGen does: you give it the image and describe the motion, and the AI invents the frames that bring it to life.
Generate a GIF from just an image
No footage, no editing timeline. One image, one prompt, one looping GIF.
Try the AI GIF generatorMore on the AI GIF generator · the step-by-step guide.