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Add Text to GIF

Put a caption on an animated GIF: at the top, the bottom or anywhere you click, in meme style with an outline. Show it on every frame or only on a range of frames. Every frame keeps its original timing.

  1. 1Choose a GIF
  2. 2Add your text
  3. 3Download

1Choose a GIF

or drop a GIF here, or paste one with Ctrl/Cmd+V

Your GIF never leaves your device. It is read and rewritten in your browser. We count visits and finished downloads (tool name only) with analytics that sets no cookies; with your OK, Microsoft Clarity records clicks and scrolls (text and images masked) to help us improve the tools.

2Add your text

Text
Position

Tip: click the After picture to place the text there.

Style
12% of height
Frames with text
3Download

Before and after

The example GIF, and the same GIF with a bottom caption made with this tool, using the default meme style.

Example GIF: a cartoon fox wiggling, no text
Before16 frames, 0.06 s each
The same GIF with the caption HELLO in white with a black outline
After16 frames, 0.06 s each, with a caption

How to add text to a GIF

  1. Choose your GIF. Drop it on the box above, paste it, or press Choose GIF. It stays on your device.
  2. Type your caption. Long lines wrap to fit the width. Press Enter for a new line.
  3. Place it. Pick Top or Bottom, or click anywhere on the After picture to put the text there.
  4. Pick the frames. By default the text shows on every frame. Set From frame and to, and it only shows on those frames.
  5. Download. You get a GIF with the same number of frames, the same delays and the same loop count as your original.

What changes, and what doesn't

  • Timing: a GIF stores a delay for every frame, in hundredths of a second. Each frame of the download keeps the exact delay stored in your original, and the loop count is copied too.
  • Size: the width and height stay the same. The text size is set as a share of the height, so it looks the same on a small or a large GIF.
  • Colours: each frame is rebuilt as a full picture with its own colour table. A GIF colour table holds at most 256 colours. The smooth edges of the text add a few in-between colours, so a frame that was already close to 256 colours may have its colours reduced to fit, and the tool tells you how many frames that happened to.
  • File size: usually bigger than the original, because every frame is stored as a full picture.

Caption a GIF: meme text or a clean caption

The Meme style is the classic GIF caption: white capitals in Impact with a black outline, readable over light and dark frames alike. For a quieter caption, pick Clean sans, Serif or Monospace, untick ALL CAPS, choose your own text and outline colours, or set the outline to None. Whatever the style, the caption is drawn on the frames and wraps to the width of the GIF.

FAQ

How do I add text to a GIF?

Choose your GIF above, type your caption, pick Top, Bottom or Custom, then press Download GIF. The result plays at the same speed as your original.

How do I make meme text with a black outline?

That is the default: white text with a black outline, in capitals, in the Meme font. You can change the text colour, the outline colour and the outline thickness, or turn the outline off.

Which font does the Meme style use?

Impact, if your device has it. If it does not, the tool falls back to Arial Black, and then to your device's default bold sans-serif font, so the text can look slightly different on another device.

Can I put text on only some frames?

Yes. Under Frames with text, set From frame and to. The text appears only on those frames, and the small previews show the first and last frame that get it. All frames resets the range.

Can it add a white caption bar above the GIF?

No. The caption is drawn over the frames, and the GIF keeps its width and height; no bar or border is added. To keep the text off the action, put it at Top or Bottom, or click a quiet part of the After picture.

Does adding text change the speed of my GIF?

No. Every frame keeps the delay stored in your original, and the loop count is kept. The frame count stays the same too.

Does adding text lower the quality?

Frames are rebuilt in full. A frame keeps its exact colours as long as it fits in one GIF colour table of 256 colours (255 plus transparency). If the text pushes a frame over that, its colours are reduced to fit and the tool says how many frames were affected.

Does this tool upload my GIF?

No. Your GIF is read and rewritten by your browser on your own device and is never sent to a server. You can check: open your browser's developer tools, go to the Network tab, and use the tool. No request carries your file. The page counts visits and finished downloads (tool name only) with analytics that sets no cookies, and no file data is ever sent (see privacy). With your OK, Microsoft Clarity also records clicks and scrolls, with text and images masked.

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