the_game_database - #2089: gif2webp - PC - Utility

smbhax [sys=PC; cat=Utility; reg=UC]

Google tool for converting gifs to webp format. Handles animated gif to animated webp conversion--I needed a good way to do this after tumblr stopped auto-converting animated gifs to webp 'p', and the free online converters and even downloadable ones like XnView produce LARGER files rather than smaller ones.

gif2webp produces webp files smaller than the animated gifs you give them. Not sure how the free converters messed this up so bad.

Download (in a bundle with other webp utilities): https://developers.google.com/speed/webp/download

Usage: https://developers.google.com/speed/webp/docs/gif2webp

I made a bat file to convert any gifs in the folder (and subfolders, that's the /r switch I think) with it when it's double-clicked:

for /r %%i in (*.gif) do gif2webp -min_size "%%i" -o "%%~ni.webp"

(Supposedly the default compression level is 4 out of 6 but when I added -m 6 to switch to the highest compression level, the test file came out 1 KB larger. 'p')

smbhax 19:51:21 06/10/26

Hah you can't even upload animated webps to tumblr anymore. 'p'

smbhax 21:37:59 06/11/26

Okay with -m 6 a STATIC gif comes out as a VERY slightly smaller webp file than what I was getting with IrfanView (see entry 1991), so I'll use that setting for static conversions.

smbhax 21:59:17 06/11/26

Oops nope I misread it, IrfanView's conversion is very VERY slightly more efficient in terms of file size.

smbhax 12:09:07 06/21/26

^ To clarify, IrfanView has tended to give verrrry slightly (like, 0.01K or so) more compact file sizes (although not always; sometimes gif2webp wins--they also tie a lot) for STATIC webps; Irfanview still can't make/convert ANIMATED webps.

~ ~ ~

tumblr is allowing animated webps again. ; )

smbhax 13:59:58 06/28/26

Only converts gif files.

smbhax 19:57:41 07/02/26

For clicking on files I'm mostly using a bat with

"C:\downloaded\stuff\gif2webp\gif2webp.exe" -min_size -m 6 %1 -o "%~dpn1.webp"
del %1

but once in a while clean run without the -min_size and -m 6 parameters actually comes out smaller.

smbhax 00:29:04 07/08/26

-m 3 seems to beat any other settings I can come up with, and consistently beats IrfanView.

But it's still consistently beaten by tumblr's algorithm! ; D = P

smbhax 13:43:52 07/08/26

Wait no gif2webp just beat it, barely. Whew. ^ _^

All are beaten soundly by convert-or-die.com but that's shutting down at the end of the month.

smbhax 13:49:49 07/08/26

Converting a gif2webp webp to webp with cwebp actually gets a tiny bit more compression:

"C:\downloaded\stuff\gif2webp\gif2webp.exe" -m 3 %1 -o "%~dpn1x.webp"
del %1
"C:\downloaded\stuff\gif2webp\cwebp.exe" -lossless -q 100 "%~dpn1x.webp" -o "%~dpn1.webp"
del "%~dpn1x.webp"

smbhax 16:00:02 07/08/26

Messy but this handles both my tif and my gif conversions with one .bat file shortcut in the run: shell:sendto folder:

"C:\downloaded\stuff\gif2webp\gif2webp.exe" -m 3 %1 -o "%~dpn1x.webp"
"C:\downloaded\stuff\gif2webp\cwebp.exe" -lossless -q 100 %1 -o "%~dpn1.webp"
del %1
"C:\downloaded\stuff\gif2webp\cwebp.exe" -lossless -q 100 "%~dpn1x.webp" -o "%~dpn1.webp"
del "%~dpn1x.webp"

smbhax 16:24:43 07/08/26

^ That's static. cwebp doesn't do animated.

-m 4 is doing best with animated so for animated, the sendto script is

"C:\downloaded\stuff\gif2webp\gif2webp.exe" -min_size %1 -o "%~dpn1.webp"
del %1

smbhax 16:32:33 07/08/26

tumblr is doing static but no longer ANIMATED gif to webp; if you upload an animated gif, it stays an animated gif.

references:
· c2webp (PC)
· IrfanView (PC)