Why convert GIF to APNG?
GIF's 256-color ceiling causes visible banding and dithering on gradients and anti-aliased edges. APNG removes those limits - each frame stores full RGB color and smooth alpha transparency - while keeping the looping animation format supported by all modern browsers with a standard <img> tag.
How to convert GIF to APNG
gif2apng FREE
Run gif2apng input.gif output.apng in the terminal. gif2apng converts GIF frames directly to APNG, preserving frame timing and loop count.
GIMP OPEN-SOURCE
Open the .gif in GIMP (each frame becomes a layer), then go to File > Export As, enter a filename ending in .apng, and set the loop count in the export dialog.
Programs that convert GIF
About these formats
.GIF
Graphics Interchange Format
A GIF file is a raster image in Graphics Interchange Format, best known for short looping animations. Every web browser and operating system opens GIFs natively - just double-click the…
Open .GIF details →
.APNG
Animated portable network graphics file
A .APNG file is associated with Animated portable network graphics, a raster image file.
Open .APNG details →Quality & what to watch
- Color depth improves automatically: GIF frames are indexed to 256 colors; APNG stores each frame as full 24-bit RGB or 32-bit RGBA. Banding visible in the original GIF may disappear in the APNG.
- Frame timing and loop count from the source GIF are preserved by gif2apng. Verify timing in an APNG viewer after conversion if the animation speed looks different.
- APNG plays natively in all modern browsers via a standard
<img>tag but is not supported in Internet Explorer.
