The job is a file you can paste into a chat, a ticket, or a doc. A button that only makes sense if someone sees it move. A short loop of a bug. A cursor path across a settings panel. Make a gif is how you capture that motion on the machine in front of you, then write a gif. If you already have a video and you only need to translate it, that work sits on Gif converter. If you already have a gif and it is too wide, that work sits on Gif resizer.

This is ScreenToGif. Windows. Ms-PL. NickeManarin publishes it. We did not make it. Official files live on GitHub Releases. The repo is NickeManarin/ScreenToGif. This site does not host the installer. Skip Softonic, CNET, and unofficial sites that wrap the name.

The button on this page goes to Install on the home page. Home is titled Open Source GIF Maker. Releases on home is the live file list and the winget box. This page is the record-or-assemble path after that install.

Install so you can actually make a gif

Paste this into Windows Terminal or Command Prompt:

winget install -e --id NickeManarin.ScreenToGif
Copy

If winget is missing, install App Installer from Microsoft, then paste the command again. Official Microsoft links only. The package id is NickeManarin.ScreenToGif. Do not paste a lookalike id from a comment thread.

The zip and msi path is GitHub Releases. Open the latest release. For most PCs, take ScreenToGif Setup x64 (.msi). There is also a portable .zip if you do not want an installer. Unpack or run that file, then open the app. Trust notes sit on GIF Maker Download Safe. The Windows walk sits on Open Source GIF Maker Windows. Winget itself sits on How to Install Winget.

How to make a gif on this PC

  1. Install ScreenToGif with the command on this page, or unzip or run the Windows file from GitHub Releases.
  2. Open the app on this Windows machine. You should see a recorder you can size, and a way into the editor.
  3. Size the recorder over the area you want. Drag the frame so it covers the button, the window, or the region that moves. Smaller is kinder to the gif. If you are assembling frames you already have instead of recording, skip the recorder and load those frames with Media.
  4. Record. The default shortcut is F7 to start and pause, F8 to finish. You can change those keys in settings if they collide with the app you are showing. Click through the motion you came to capture. Finish when the loop is complete. The editor opens with the frames.
  5. Edit. Delete the dead start, the dead end, and any frame where you missed the click. Crop if the recorder caught a strip you do not need. Add text only if the gif is unclear without it.
  6. Save As a gif into a folder you control. Play it once from that folder before you send it.

That list is the capture path most people mean when they type make a gif. The assemble path is the same editor without the recorder: load frames, edit, save.

Size the region before you hit record

The recorder is a rectangle. Everything inside it becomes frames. A full-screen capture of a 4K desktop makes a gif nobody wants to wait for. Size the rectangle to the control you are demonstrating. Leave a little padding so the cursor is not clipped. If two windows matter, overlap them first, then draw the rectangle around that overlap. Do not record the whole desktop “just in case.” You can crop later. Cropping later still spent RAM on the extra pixels during the take.

Default capture speed in ScreenToGif is on the order of 15 frames per second. That is enough for a UI click. It is a lot for a gif that will loop in a ticket. If the motion is a single menu opening, you do not need a high fps. If the motion is a drag, you want enough frames that the path reads. Set fps before you record. Changing it after means deleting frames by hand.

F7 and F8 keep your mouse free for the demo. If you click Record in the recorder UI, that click can land in the gif. Use the keys when the rectangle is already placed. Pause if you need to breathe, then continue. Finish once. A second record on top of a project you meant to keep is how people lose a take. New discards the previous animation. Insert adds. Know which one you are pressing.

Screen, webcam, or board

Screen recording is the usual make a gif path. It captures a region of this desktop. Webcam recording is the same editor after a camera take. Board recording is a sketch surface if you want to draw the motion instead of capturing a window. All three land in the editor. This page stays honest about that. Most people who typed make a gif want the screen region.

Webcam and board are not a second product. They are start buttons on the same Windows program. If you opened webcam by mistake, cancel and go back to screen. Do not keep a camera take you did not mean to store. The frames sit on disk while the project is open.

Edit before you save

The editor is the reason this install exists. A raw take includes the second you spent finding the mouse, the click on an extra tab, the pause while you remembered the next step. Delete those frames. The frame list at the bottom is the whole gif. Select a range and remove it. Play. If the jump is ugly, you cut too much. Undo, cut less.

Text, shapes, and a watermark live on the ribbon if the gif needs a label. A label is useful when the control you clicked is small. A label is noise when the motion is already obvious. Prefer crop and delete over decoration. Delay on a frame is how you hold a finished state so the loop can be read. Raise the delay on the last useful frame if the gif snaps back too fast.

Save As writes the gif. Keep the project if you might trim again. Do not overwrite the only copy. Make a gif is done when the file in the folder loops the motion you meant, and nothing else.

Assemble instead of record

Sometimes the frames already exist. Screenshots you took in order. Exports from a tool that dumped pngs. Make a gif still applies: load them, set a delay, save. Media (Ctrl+Shift+O) is the picker. That assemble path overlaps the converter page when the source is a video. Use Gif converter if the source is one video file. Use this page if you are starting from a live region, or from stills you lined up on purpose.

Order matters. The frame list is the order. Drag if one still landed in the wrong place. A gif that plays the last step first is worse than no gif. Check once with playback before you export.

Where the bytes stay

Recording this screen on this PC means the frames never have to go through a website. That is the split on GIF maker vs Ezgif. Official Ezgif can sit first for people who want a tab. We still record here when the window is private, or when you want the editor after the take. We do not clone their site. We point at ScreenToGif.

One fetch. One install. One recorder. If you also unpacked a portable zip into Downloads and ran that copy, you now have two programs. Close the extra. Trust the copy you installed with winget, or the folder you unzipped on purpose.

How do I make a gif?

Install with the command on this page, or pick the Windows file from GitHub Releases. Open ScreenToGif. Size the recorder over the area you want. Record with F7, finish with F8. Delete the frames you do not need. Save As a gif. This site does not host the installer. Files stay on GitHub.

What is the winget command to make a gif?

Paste winget install -e --id NickeManarin.ScreenToGif from the box on this page. That is the live command. GitHub Releases is the other path if you want the Setup x64 msi or the portable zip.

How do I record the screen to make a gif?

Size the recorder rectangle over the region that moves. Press F7 to start, click through the motion, press F8 to finish. The editor opens. Trim, then save as a gif. Smaller regions make smaller files.

Can I make a gif from frames I already have?

Yes. Load the stills with Media, set a delay, check the order, and save as a gif. If the source is a single video file, use Gif converter instead.

Did you make this make a gif tool?

No. This site only points at GitHub. NickeManarin publishes ScreenToGif under Ms-PL. Official files live on GitHub Releases. Skip Softonic, CNET, and unofficial wrappers.

Related jobs: Gif converter, Gif resizer, GIF maker vs Ezgif, GIF Maker Download Safe. File host: GitHub Releases. Install button on the home page.