About this conversion
Convert GIF to PNG to get crisper graphics with full colour fidelity. GIFs are limited to 256 colours per frame and use older compression — fine for animation, but for static images PNG produces sharper results with no banding.
When this conversion is useful
- Improving the quality of a static GIF graphic before using it in print or design
- Extracting the first frame of an animated GIF as a still image
- Replacing low-colour GIF assets with higher-fidelity PNGs on a modern site
- Preparing an icon or sticker for a service that prefers PNG
Quality and tradeoffs
Animated GIFs only convert their first frame to PNG — there's no animation in PNG (use APNG or WebP for animation). The PNG preserves transparency from the GIF, but you'll likely see colour become richer because PNG isn't capped at 256 colours.
Frequently asked questions
Will my animated GIF stay animated as a PNG?
No. Standard PNG is a single-frame format. Only the first frame is exported. For animation, convert to WebP or keep the GIF.
Does the PNG preserve GIF transparency?
Yes. Transparent pixels in the GIF stay transparent in the PNG, with cleaner edges thanks to PNG's full alpha channel (vs GIF's 1-bit transparency).
Why might colours look different after conversion?
GIF is limited to 256 colours. The original might have been dithered. PNG can store millions of colours, so any palette quantisation in the source GIF becomes visible — but the output isn't worse, just a faithful rendering of the GIF.