Can I convert an animated GIF to SVG?

VecSnap draws the first frame of an animated GIF as a still SVG. It does not turn the frames into an animation.

Is a GIF a vector file?

No. A GIF is a grid of pixels in up to 256 colors, so it turns blocky when you enlarge it. An SVG made of shapes stays sharp.

Why are the edges of my transparent GIF jagged?

Because a GIF has no half-transparent pixels to soften a curve: each pixel along the edge is either kept or dropped. Redrawn as an SVG, that edge becomes a smooth curve.

Can I add a white sticker border to a GIF?

Yes. Redrawn as shapes and unlocked, its drawing takes Sticker border: a white edge of the width you choose behind it, its outline a smooth cut line instead of the GIF's stepped edge.

Can I convert a GIF to SVG with color?

Yes. The colors of the GIF come back as flat fills, one group for each, so a color changes in one step.

Does it work on a tiny GIF?

Best from a few hundred pixels across. A small GIF, like an old web button, has so few pixels that a curve is only a few steps, and VecSnap follows those steps more closely, with more points.

Does it work on a photo saved as GIF?

Poorly. A photo squeezed into 256 colors is speckled with dots, and VecSnap would draw every dot. It is made for logos, icons and drawings.

Is it free to convert a GIF to SVG?

Converting and previewing are free. A credit is spent only when you keep the file, and it gives you every format.

GIF to SVG converter

GIF to SVG, smooth edges.

Drop in a GIF: a sticker, a logo, an icon. VecSnap keeps its see-through background empty, smooths the stepped edges a GIF is made of, and redraws it as shapes in its own flat colors.

Drop an image here

PNG, JPG, WebP, AVIF, GIF, BMP, TIFF or SVG · Up to 10 MB

or paste it with ⌘CommandV

It is free, and your first 3 downloads are on us.

Converting and previewing are free
One credit keeps the file, every format included

GIFpixelsSVGshapes

The GIF as uploaded87 KBVecSnap's SVG1.1 KB41 anchor points

To convert a GIF to SVG, drop it on VecSnap. A GIF holds 256 colors at most and can set one of them aside as see-through, so every pixel is either drawn or empty and a curved edge turns into steps. VecSnap keeps the empty background empty, redraws those steps as smooth curves, and gives each color one flat fill. A GIF a few hundred pixels across gives the smoothest curves. An animated GIF is converted at its first frame. Converting and previewing are free.

Updated Nov 6, 20262 sources ↓

The file, opened

A transparent GIF, redrawn.

A real GIF with a see-through background. Move from its pixels to VecSnap's shapes, or open potrace's trace beside it.

OriginalVecSnap

An example we picked, made with Gemini.

Read asLossless GIF · transparent

Anchor points

89% fewer

File size

88% lighter

In the file

6 paths

Convert your file

A GIF's background

Can a GIF be transparent?

Yes, in one way only: a GIF can name one of its colors see-through. A pixel is then drawn or empty, nothing in between, which is why a transparent GIF looks jagged on a dark page.

This page's file
Transparent
One color of its palette set aside as see-through: each pixel is drawn or empty.
The empty pixels stay empty in the SVG, and the steps along its edge come back as smooth curves.
Solid
Every pixel drawn in one of its colors, the background included.
Drawn whole, its background color with it.

How to tell: the GIF's own transparency flag.

256Colors at mostA GIF keeps one palette of up to 256 colors. The colors you see come back as flat fills.
NETSCAPE2.0LoopingThe block a GIF that plays on a loop carries, with its many frames. VecSnap draws the first one, as a still SVG.

What you get

What a good GIF to SVG file keeps

An empty background
The see-through part of the GIF stays see-through, with no white box around the drawing.
Smooth edges
The steps along a curve turn into one clean curve, sharp at any size.
Its palette, flat
The few colors a GIF is made of become a few fills, one group for each.
Few points
A smooth edge needs a handful of points where the steps would need hundreds.