You’ve noticed content creators who turn their own videos into GIFS. And now, you want to learn how to make a GIF from your own videos too. Today, we’re diving into how to make a GIF from a YouTube video.

By the end of this article you will learn how to:

  • Automatically import any YouTube video into VEED using only a video URL
  • Trim your video to isolate the GIF portion
  • Customize your GIF with text
  • Download your GIF
  • Ways to use your GIF

Before we get started, here’s a quick content etiquette tip. Don't use anyone else’s video to make a GIF unless you’ve asked for their permission. If you don’t have footage of your own, you can check our free and paid stock video sites online.

How to Turn a YouTube Video to GIF


Choose a YouTube Video to Convert

Go to YouTube and copy the URL of the video you want to turn into a GIF

Go to VEED and Upload Video

Go to VEED’s online video editor and click to upload a new video

Paste the YouTube Video URL to Import

After you’ve clicked to upload, you can specify how you’d like to import your video. Select YouTube so you can turn your YouTube video into a GIF. Give it a bit to process.

Trim Your Video

Click the video. You’ll see pink handles appear on the start and end extremities of your video. Drag the handles to trim your video to the desired part you want to convert into a GIF.

Customize Your GIF with Text (Optional)

You can skip this step. But if you want to add some text into your GIF, head over to the text button on the left-hand editor panel. Type in what you want to say, choose the font, colors, and size. You can also click on the text on the video to manually adjust it using the pink handles.

Download Your GIF

You have now learned how to make a YouTube video into a GIF and it’s time to download it! Click on download in the upper right corner. Once done, you can select to download as a GIF on the final download screen

Click download in the upper right-hand corner
Then you'll be shown export options. This is where you download the YouTube video as a GIF

3 Ways to Use Your GIFS

You’ve now made a video into a GIF. So what do you do with the GIF? From customizing your website to personalizing team Slack chats - here are three different ways to use them.

Embed Your GIFS Onto Your Website

Upload your GIFs onto your website. If your GIF isn’t accepted under your site’s uploading tools you can always load your GIF into Giphy to snag the embed code.

Add GIFS to Your Social Media Content

Paste your GIFs onto your social media graphics to breathe life into them. Fun fact, if you have an iPhone you can copy and paste your GIF from your camera roll onto your Instagram stories.

Liven Up Team Communications with GIFS

With teams working remotely – especially now due to COVID-19 – ensuring there’s a human and personalized touch to communications is key. Using GIFs to inject some humor into your Slack chats is a great start.


See for yourself how easy it is to turn a YouTube video into a GIF with VEED’s online video editor. Best of all? Not only can you get started with a free plan but also you have access to more features such as adding subtitles to video or adding video effects. Go ahead and make your first GIF today!