Reverse GIF
Make an animated GIF play backwards, or turn it into a boomerang that goes forward and back in a seamless loop. Frame timing is kept. To also change the speed, follow up with the GIF Speed Changer.
- Backwards
- Boomerang
- Timing kept
Drop a GIF here
or click to choose a file from your device
Files are processed securely and deleted automatically.
How to reverse a GIF
Upload an animated GIF
Drop a GIF with two or more frames. Still GIFs have nothing to reverse.
Choose the playback
Backwards plays the frames in reverse order. Boomerang plays forward and then back for a smooth ping-pong loop.
Reverse it
Frames are rebuilt in full, reordered and re-optimized, so even heavily optimized GIFs reverse cleanly.
Download or keep editing
Save the result, or send it straight to the speed changer to make the loop faster or slower.
Backwards, boomerang and why reversing is harder than it looks
Reversing a GIF sounds like reordering a list. The catch is that most GIFs don't store full frames.
To save space, an optimized GIF stores only the part of each frame that changed since the previous one. Play those partial frames in reverse and you get ghosting, smears and objects that never disappear.
How we reverse cleanly
Before reordering, every frame is rebuilt to a complete picture with ImageMagick's coalesce step. The full frames are reversed, then the GIF is optimized again with gifsicle so the file doesn't balloon.
The original per-frame delays travel with their frames, so a slow-motion section stays slow.
Choosing a mode
- Backwards works best for clips with an obvious direction: pouring, falling, explosions, people walking. Rewinding them is where the fun is.
- Boomerang fixes GIFs that jump when they loop. If the last frame looks nothing like the first, a boomerang hides the seam entirely.
- Backwards first is the same loop starting at the other end. It matters when the GIF is shown once, such as in an email.
Tuning the loop afterwards
Boomerangs often feel slow because they're twice as long. Send the result to the GIF Speed Changer and try 1.5x.
If the clip has a long hold on one frame, look it up in the GIF Metadata Viewer, which lists each frame's delay. For a frame-by-frame look at the motion, use Split GIF.
Reverse GIF questions
What is a boomerang GIF?
A boomerang plays the animation forward and then backward, so the end flows into the start without a jump. We skip the first and last frame on the way back, which avoids the brief pause you get from showing them twice.
Does reversing keep the frame timing?
Yes. Each frame keeps its own delay; only the order changes. If the original had a long pause on the last frame, that pause now happens first. Adjust it afterwards with the GIF Speed Changer.
Why did my reversed GIF get bigger?
A boomerang has almost twice as many frames, so it is usually around 1.7-1.9 times larger. A plain reverse can also grow slightly because the original encoder optimized the frame differences in the forward direction. Run it through Compress GIF to win that back.
Can I reverse a GIF with a transparent background?
Yes. Transparency is preserved. Every frame is rebuilt at full size before reordering, which prevents the smearing you sometimes see when transparent GIFs are reversed by simpler tools.
Is there a frame limit?
Reversing works on GIFs up to 30 MB. Boomerang mode is limited to 600 source frames because it doubles the count. For longer clips, trim them first or lower the frame count with Compress GIF.
The reversed GIF looks glitchy. What should I do?
Download the original again and make sure it plays correctly in your browser first, since damaged GIFs can't be fixed by reversing. Still having trouble? Please contact us and we'll be happy to help!