Skip to content
All image conversions

PSD to GIF converter

Convert PSD to GIF in your browser. No upload and no account: the file never leaves your device, so the only size limit is your device’s memory.

I want GIF
90%
Icon sizes
How to make the SVG

Tracing suits logos, icons and flat artwork and scales cleanly. Photos are better kept as pixels inside the SVG.

16
50%
Dither Scatters black dots to suggest gray, instead of a hard cut-off.
Advanced 5
Keep the animation For animated GIF, WebP and APNG sources. Turn off to save just the first frame.
Rotate
Mirror horizontally
Mirror vertically

For an exact width and height, use the Resize Image tool instead.

Bytes of your files sent anywhere: 0 B

Related conversions

Other ways to convert PSD

Convert other formats to GIF

Read more about the PSD format and the GIF format, or see every image tool and all image conversions.

Should you convert PSD to GIF?

A safe conversion when GIF is what you need: both PSD and GIF keep every pixel, so the picture itself doesn’t change.

GIF is also the more widely supported of the two: it opens everywhere, while PSD is has patchy support.

PSD is Photoshop’s layered working file; GIF is a 256-color image format best known for short looping animations. Use GIF for a few seconds of silent animation that has to play inline everywhere, including in email clients that block video.

PSD and GIF compared
Property PSD GIF
Compression Lossless Lossless
Transparency Yes On/off only
Animation No Yes
Support Has patchy support Opens everywhere
Best for Keeping an image editable, layer by layer Short, silent loops and reaction images
Introduced 1990 1987

How to convert PSD to GIF

  1. 01

    Add your PSD

    Drop your PSD image onto the box, or click to choose it. It is read from your disk and stays there.

  2. 02

    Check the settings

    The output is already set to GIF. Change the quality if you want to; the defaults suit most files.

  3. 03

    Save the GIF

    Press convert and save the GIF. Several files come back together as a ZIP.

What changes when PSD becomes GIF

Nothing is discarded

PSD and GIF both keep every pixel, so the picture survives the move intact. You can convert back and forth as often as you like without it degrading.

Transparency becomes on or off

GIF pixels are either fully transparent or fully solid. Soft edges and shadows from the PSD are rounded one way or the other, which can leave a thin fringe around cut-out shapes.

You get the flattened image

Layers aren’t kept: the GIF is the merged picture Photoshop saved inside the PSD. Files saved with “Maximize compatibility” turned off have no merged picture, and only Photoshop can rebuild them.

A one-time engine download

PSD is read by FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly, a 31 MB download the first time you convert one. It is cached afterwards, and the conversion still happens entirely on your device.

Expect a much smaller file

PSD: A layered design often runs to 50–500 MB. GIF: A five-second animation can easily pass 10 MB. Shrinking the file is often the main reason to make this conversion.

This page is put together from our notes on each format, choosing only what is true of PSD and GIF, so every pairing states the same facts the same way. How these pages are made.

Why it doesn’t upload

Changing a picture’s format is work your browser already knows how to do. Sending your photos to a server first only adds waiting and risk, so nothing is sent.

How to check for yourself

Worth knowing

  • About the PSD. Converting a PSD uses the flattened preview saved inside it. If the file was saved with “Maximize compatibility” turned off, that preview is blank and only Photoshop can rebuild it.
  • About the GIF. A few seconds of video as GIF is often ten times the size of the same clip as MP4, because GIF compresses each frame as a separate picture.
  • DDS, PSD, EXR, XWD and JPEG 2000 are read by the FFmpeg engine, a one-time 31 MB download.

Questions

Will converting PSD to GIF lose quality?

No. PSD and GIF are both lossless, so every pixel is kept.

Will the GIF be smaller than the PSD?

Expect a much smaller file. PSD: A layered design often runs to 50–500 MB. GIF: A five-second animation can easily pass 10 MB. Shrinking the file is often the main reason to make this conversion.

Read more about this

Other tools