GIF Inspector

What GIF Inspector does

GIF Inspector shows what is inside an animated GIF: its size, frame count, length, loop setting, transparency, how each frame is stored, its timing, and its color palettes. It changes nothing and saves nothing.

Use it to see why a GIF is large or plays oddly before you open GIF Optimizer or GIF Speed Changer, and it suggests which settings to try.

How to use it

1. Select Choose GIF and pick a .gif, or drop one on the file row.
2. Read the Summary next to the preview.
3. Check Frame Delays. Hover over a column for its delay, or open Show every frame as a table for the details of each frame.
4. Look at the Palettes, and move the Frame slider to see frames that have their own palette.
5. Follow a link under What to Try Next to change the GIF.

Formats and limits

• Input: one GIF file. Nothing is written or downloaded.
• Length and the chart use the delays browsers show: a delay stored as 10 ms or less plays as 100 ms. The table lists both.
• Palette sizes are the number of entries stored in the file, which a GIF rounds up to a power of two, so a frame may use fewer colors.
• GIFs over 60 million pixels in total, frames times width times height, are too large to open in the browser.

Settings explained

Summary

Dimensions, frames, length and frame rate, loop, file size, transparency, disposal methods, how much of the canvas each frame stores, palettes, and the range of stored delays.

Disposal methods

What happens to a frame before the next one is drawn: kept, cleared to the background, or restored to the frame before it. Not specified acts like kept.

Frame areas

Optimized GIFs often store only the part of each frame that changed. The table shows the size and position of every stored area.

Frame palettes

Frames can carry their own palette instead of the global one. The Frame slider shows the palette of each frame, with its transparent color drawn as a checkerboard.

What to Try Next

Links to GIF Optimizer and GIF Speed Changer, with notes based on the frame rate, the palette sizes, and short delays.

Privacy

The GIF is read in this tab and is not uploaded. The tool keeps no copy and saves nothing.

FAQ

Why does my GIF play slower than its delays say?

Frames stored with 10 ms or less are shown for 100 ms by browsers. The chart marks them at 100 ms. GIF Speed Changer can give every frame a delay browsers play as written.

Why is my GIF so large?

Large GIFs usually have many frames, a high frame rate, or full palettes on every frame. GIF Optimizer lowers the frame rate and the number of colors.

What does "store only part of the canvas" mean?

Those frames save just the area that changed and rely on the frame before them for the rest, which keeps the file small.

Related tools

• GIF Optimizer - lower the frame rate and colors to shrink the file.
• GIF Speed Changer - fix the timing or change the speed.
• GIF Frame Editor - delete frames or set single delays.
• Animated Image Converter - save the GIF as an animated WebP or APNG.
• Media Info - inspect video and audio files instead.