GIF Compression Tool

A web-based tool to compress GIF files to a specified target size while maintaining quality. It can also convert MP4 videos to optimized GIFs.

Features

• Upload any GIF file or MP4 video
• Convert videos to GIF format with customizable settings
• Set custom target size for compression
• Visual comparison between original and compressed files
• Adaptive compression algorithm that tries different settings
• Frame sampling and duration adjustment
• Crop unnecessary borders to reduce file size
• Download compressed GIF with a single click

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd gif_automation

2. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. (Optional but recommended) Install FFmpeg for better video-to-GIF conversion:

On macOS:

brew install ffmpeg

On Ubuntu/Debian:

apt-get install ffmpeg

On Windows:

# Download from https://ffmpeg.org/download.html and add to your PATH

4. (Optional) Install gifsicle for improved GIF compression:

On macOS:

brew install gifsicle

On Ubuntu/Debian:

apt-get install gifsicle

On Windows:

# Download from http://www.lcdf.org/gifsicle/ and add to your PATH

Usage

Web Interface (Streamlit App)

1. Run the Streamlit app:

streamlit run app.py

2. Open your web browser to the URL shown in the terminal (typically http://localhost:8501)

3. Upload a GIF or MP4, adjust settings in the sidebar if needed, and click "Compress GIF" or "Convert to GIF & Compress"

4. Download the processed GIF using the download button

Command Line Interface

You can also use the command-line interface directly:

python main.py input.gif -o output.gif -s 1.0

Options:

• -o, --output: Output file path
• -s, --size: Target size in MB (default: 1.0)
• -m, --max-attempts: Maximum compression attempts (default: 10)
• -b, --batch: Process all GIFs in a directory

Advanced options:

• --min-colors: Minimum number of colors (2-256, default: 32)
• --min-scale: Minimum scale factor (0.1-1.0, default: 0.4)
• --force-scaling: Enable scaling early in compression process
• --frame-sample: Frame sample rate (0.1-1.0, default: 1.0)
• --duration-factor: Frame duration multiplier (0.5-2.0, default: 1.0)
• --crop: Crop pixels from each edge (e.g. --crop 10 10 10 10)

Example batch processing:

python main.py /path/to/gifs/ -b -o /path/to/output/ -s 0.5

How It Works

The application uses a multi-step approach:

1. For MP4 files, first converts them to GIFs using FFmpeg (if available) or OpenCV+PIL
2. Applies any preprocessing steps (cropping, frame sampling, duration adjustment)
3. Tries multiple compression strategies to reach target size:
   • Color reduction
   • Lossy compression
   • Scale reduction
   • Frame sampling
4. Uses gifsicle for better compression when available, falls back to PIL otherwise

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• Pillow
• Streamlit
• OpenCV (for MP4 conversion)
• (Optional) FFmpeg (for better MP4 conversion)
• (Optional) gifsicle (for better GIF compression)