Convert a macOS QuickTime Player .mp4 screen recording to GIF

steps.md

brew install ffmpeg
brew install gifsicle

ffmpeg -i myVideo.mp4 -vf "scale='min(1280,iw)':-1" -r 5 -f gif - | gifsicle --optimize=3 > myGif.gif

Credits

• https://gist.github.com/dergachev/4627207
• https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Scaling

Notes

-r 5 - reduce frame rate to 5 per second

scale='min(1280,iw)':-1 - width of the GIF is the smaller of 1280px or the input video; height should be whatever value is needed to maintain the aspect ratio

--optimize=3 tells gifsicle to use the most aggressive compression

Input

Output

3.2MB, 1280x1343

If 5 fps is too jerky, try a conversion with -r 24 (although the output balloons to 9.5MB):

ffmpeg -i myVideo.mp4 -vf "scale='min(1280,iw)':-1" -r 24 -f gif - | gifsicle --optimize=3 > myGif.gif