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I want to resize such an animated GIF file do.gif enter image description here

If I do convert do.gif -resize 24x24\! do-24.gif I get it resized in do-24.gif but not animated enter image description here

How to resize it right way to get the same animation?

4 Answers 4

66

first run:

convert do.gif -coalesce temporary.gif

then

convert -size <original size> temporary.gif -resize 24x24 smaller.gif
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  • 4
    -coalesce "creates a complete view of the animation at each point, a bit like a true film strip, rather than an animation sequence. Such a sequence, known as a Coalesced Animation is much easier to study, edit, modify and re-optimize."
    – sam
    Aug 12, 2013 at 19:26
  • 36
    gifsicle --resize 24x24 > do-24.gif can to this too
    – sam
    Aug 14, 2013 at 2:20
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    Note that the coalesced view is much larger than the optimized one (3.2 times in my test), and the resizing produces a coalesced image, which can also be larger than the original in file size (2.3 times in my test) even if the resolution is smaller. When I try resizing directly it looks fine and has a small file size, though maybe it just works for this image.
    – endolith
    Dec 27, 2014 at 21:49
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    gifsicle produced a much better, optimized output for my use case. Thanks @sam!
    – sj26
    Jul 15, 2016 at 8:43
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    convert temporary.gif -resize 24x24 smaller.gif works for me.,without specifying input size.
    – user350301
    Aug 21, 2016 at 17:24
21

I was looking for imagemagick solution as I am familiar with it, but in the end I went with @sam's suggestion of gifsicle. It did just what I wanted, no hassle.

Can optimize resulting file size in so many ways, but I went with just reducing the size and reducing number of colors. Worked like a charm:

gifsicle --resize 48x48 --colors 16 original.gif > smaller.gif
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-coalesce + -deconstruct

After -coalesce, you likely want to add a -deconstruct:

convert in.gif -coalesce -resize 256x -deconstruct out-deconstruct.gif

The root cause of the problem is that your input GIF was properly minimized: GIF allows the next frame to be just the modified rectangle from the previous one at an offset.

-coalesce then expands all the frames to the original size, which makes the resize work, but it does not re-compress the frames again as your input image: -deconstruct is needed for that!

Using the test data from this answer: How do I create an animated gif from still images (preferably with the command line)? we can see this clearly with identify:

$ identify out-convert.gif | head -n 3
out-convert.gif[0] GIF 1024x1024 1024x1024+0+0 8-bit sRGB 256c 16.7865MiB 0.020u 0:00.019
out-convert.gif[1] GIF 516x516 1024x1024+252+257 8-bit sRGB 256c 16.7865MiB 0.030u 0:00.019
out-convert.gif[2] GIF 515x520 1024x1024+248+257 8-bit sRGB 256c 16.7865MiB 0.030u 0:00.019

$ convert out-convert.gif -resize 256x out.gif
$ identify out.gif | head -n 3
out.gif[0] GIF 256x256 256x256+0+0 8-bit sRGB 256c 5.0479MiB 0.000u 0:00.009
out.gif[1] GIF 256x256 256x256+125+128 8-bit sRGB 256c 5.0479MiB 0.000u 0:00.009
out.gif[2] GIF 256x258 256x256+123+128 8-bit sRGB 256c 5.0479MiB 0.000u 0:00.009

$ convert out-convert.gif -coalesce -resize 256x out-coalesce.gif
$ identify out-coalesce.gif | head -n 3
out-coalesce.gif[0] GIF 256x256 256x256+0+0 8-bit sRGB 256c 1.97683MiB 0.010u 0:00.009
out-coalesce.gif[1] GIF 256x256 256x256+0+0 8-bit sRGB 256c 1.97683MiB 0.010u 0:00.009
out-coalesce.gif[2] GIF 256x256 256x256+0+0 8-bit sRGB 256c 1.97683MiB 0.010u 0:00.009

$ convert out-convert.gif -coalesce -resize 256x -deconstruct out-deconstruct.gif
$ identify out-deconstruct.gif | head -n 3
out-deconstruct.gif[0] GIF 256x256 256x256+0+0 8-bit sRGB 256c 1.87942MiB 0.010u 0:00.010
out-deconstruct.gif[1] GIF 135x135 256x256+60+61 8-bit sRGB 256c 1.87942MiB 0.010u 0:00.010
out-deconstruct.gif[2] GIF 135x136 256x256+59+61 8-bit sRGB 256c 1.87942MiB 0.010u 0:00.010

out.gif

enter image description here

out-coalesce.gif

enter image description here

out-deconstruct.gif

enter image description here

First, we see how to input file, out-convert.gif, was in fact compressed, since frame 2 is only 516x516 at offset 252+257, while the full sized frame 1 is 1024x1024.

Then, if we compare the three conversions:

  • out.gif: All frames are 256x256 or larger, and huge at about 5MiB, TODO why?

    Visually incorrect, since those approximately 256x256 frames have a non-zero offset, e.g. 125+128 for frame 2!

  • out-coalesce.gif: all frames are 256x256 and have the correct offset 0+0.

    Output looks visually correct, but the output file size is 2.0 MiB, which is larger than out-deconstruct.gif

  • out-deconstruct.gif: compressed frames, final output size 1.9 MiB.

    Not considerably smaller than out-coalesce.gif, but I think this is just because the black ground compresses really well, and it could be very significant in general.

ffmpeg and gifsicle

I also tried out the following commands:

ffmpeg -i out-convert.gif -vf scale=256:-1 out-ffmpeg-small.gif
gifsicle --resize 256x256 out-convert.gif > out-gifsicle.gif

and both produced an even smaller correctly looking 1.5 MiB output.

See also: How do I create an animated gif from still images (preferably with the command line)?

TODO: why can they make it smaller than convert? Are they just selecting better more minimal diff rectangles, or something else?

Tested in Ubuntu 18.10, ffpmeg 4.0.2-2, ImageMagick 6.9.10-8.

0
wget https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/STS-132_Liftoff_Space_Shuttle_Atlantis.ogv
ffmpeg -i STS-132_Liftoff_Space_Shuttle_Atlantis.ogv -r 15 -vf scale=512:-1 \
 -ss 00:00:17 -to 00:00:22 STS-132_Liftoff_Space_Shuttle_Atlantis.gif
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    Please edit your answer to explain what those commands do!
    – guntbert
    Nov 26, 2019 at 16:35
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    The question is about ImageMagick, not ffmpeg.
    – karel
    Nov 26, 2019 at 16:44
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    Answers that recommend a solution that uses a different tool from the one asked about are generally considered okay. However, @dieland167 I recommend you edit this to clarify if the method you're recommending works when the input is an animated gif--since that's essential to the problem described in the question--and to show at least one example of such usage (either in addition to, or instead of, the existing example). Nov 26, 2019 at 17:22

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