# Free program that converts .jpg into .gif **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 10, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368 "2002-05-10T21:01:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/1 "2002-05-10T21:01:47Z")
i need one so i can submit a smilie for the new smilie submission thing. my free image software doesn’t have that capability. Thanx ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/2 "2002-05-10T22:15:53Z")
There’s an excellent image view/file conversion program called IrFanView (it’s freeware) You ought to be aware though that jpeg images often convert poorly to other formats; jpegs are a ‘lossy’ compressed format; certain details of the original image will not have been preserved. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/3 "2002-05-10T22:24:28Z")
Arnold Winkelried suggested Paint Shop Pro which seems to have worked fine. I’ll check out the IrFanView program as well, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/4 "2002-05-10T23:12:10Z")
Try [download.com](http://download.com) they have a free program to do almost anything, well, kinda shareware-freeware. Hope this is a PC. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/5 "2002-05-10T23:29:01Z")
MS Paint has this capability and is probably already on your machine. (If you’re a Windows user.) ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/6 "2002-05-10T23:52:37Z")
If you have access to a Linux/Unix machine, xv is an excellent program for viewing and converting images. It handles gif, jpeg, postscript, tiff, targa, ppm, png, and a bunch others I don’t remember right now. Very nice. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/7 "2002-05-11T00:00:59Z")
i recommend ACDSee. It’s a _really_ good graphics app, and has an option of running in Sponsored mode whereby you can use it free. The size of graphics files converted to .gif format using ACDSee are amazingly small while retaining clarity and quality. > **[ACDSee Photo Studio Software | Photo Editing, Photo Management, Photo Editor,...](https://www.acdsee.com/en/index/)** > > ACDSee leads the industry in photo editing software, video editing software, and digital asset management. Try amazing ACDSee products today. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/8 "2002-05-11T00:01:47Z")
I know you’ve found an answer, but I always like to throw in a plug for [VuePrint](http://www.hamrick.com), a great shareware file viewer that also will do the conversion you want. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/9 "2002-05-11T00:05:59Z")
\>\> The size of graphics files converted to .gif format using ACDSee are amazingly small while retaining clarity and quality. AFAIK the size of a GIF file will always be the same as it is a non-lossy format and does not admit levels of compression like JPG. The only slight difference would be whether it is using the standard palette or not. Irfanview is a really good viewer and manager but if all you want is to transform a single file you can do that with MS PAINT which, as has been said, is already on your disk. And I hope you start out with a BMP because if you start out with a JPG and convert it to GIF you will end up with CRAP. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/10 "2002-05-11T00:30:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > **\>\> The size of graphics files converted to .gif format using ACDSee are amazingly small while retaining clarity and quality. > AFAIK the size of a GIF file will always be the same as it is a non-lossy format and does not admit levels of compression like JPG. The only slight difference would be whether it is using the standard palette or not.** I’ll stand by what **sailor** said. But just to clarify, i’ll quote from [http://www.ets.uidaho.edu/design/type.htm](http://www.ets.uidaho.edu/design/type.htm) "A 256 color [GIF] image is an 8 bit image meaning it is made up of 2^8 colors (2^8=256 ). Many imaging programs allow for the creation of index color images with fewer than 256, allowing them to load more rapidly. To decrease the number of colors in an image you will need to convert the image to another bit depth using software. Always try to reduce the number of colors in your images. Converting an image to a five bit GIF (2^5=32) will reduce the total number of colors. The software program will attempt to pick the “best” 32 colors to represent your image. The “effective design” GIF image at the top of this page is a 5 bit image—and is only 3k. " I don’t know if ACDSee does this, so i’ll stand corrected by **sailor** on that point (since he also mentions the standard palette bit) but at the same time i’ll inform others that it is possible to reduce a .gif filesize ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/11 "2002-05-11T00:41:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\* > AFAIK the size of a GIF file will always be the same as it is a non-lossy format and does not admit levels of compression like JPG. \*\* addendum: it IS a lossy format; it changes original image by removing color information during conversion process. Does not let you control amount of compression used. ---
**Author:** ![Prez2032](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58f4c7/32.png) [@Prez2032](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prez2032)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/12 "2002-05-11T02:12:04Z")
How about a .ART to .JPG file converter? .ART is an AOL file format, and I haven’t been able to find a piece of software yet (pay or free) that can handle a direct conversion. I can save the .ART as a .BMP and then to a .JPG, but I have around 3000 pictures to convert and doing that two step process on a one by one basis would be really time-consuming. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/13 "2002-05-11T02:41:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Prez2032 \* > \*\*How about a .ART to .JPG file converter? .ART is an AOL file format, and I haven’t been able to find a piece of software yet (pay or free) that can handle a direct conversion. I can save the .ART as a .BMP and then to a .JPG, but I have around 3000 pictures to convert and doing that two step process on a one by one basis would be really time-consuming. \*\* **Prez** , batch convert all the .art to .bmp, then batch convert the .bmp to .jpg. that way it’s a simple, fast, two step (almost two click) process. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/14 "2002-05-11T10:15:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by xash \*\*\*addendum: it IS a lossy format; it changes original image by removing color information during conversion process. Does not let you control amount of compression used. \*\* That’s a pretty bad definition of lossy. That’s like saying that 24-bit BMP is lossy because it can’t handle 32 Million colors. As long as the image is less than or equal to 256 colors, GIF is non-lossy. And claiming that it doesn’t let you control the amount of compression is a rather bad objection. Since it’s non-lossy, it’s only logical to use the highest compression. It’s possible to encode a GIF file with no compression. It’s not GIF that disallows this; it’s your image program. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/15 "2002-05-11T15:14:00Z")
if you have a mac then Graphic Converter is top notch for graphic conversion. But then if you had a mac then you would probably know that anyway. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2002, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/16 "2002-05-11T21:11:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*That’s a pretty bad definition of lossy. That’s like saying that 24-bit BMP is lossy because it can’t handle 32 Million colors. As long as the image is less than or equal to 256 colors, GIF is non-lossy. And claiming that it doesn’t let you control the amount of compression is a rather bad objection. Since it’s non-lossy, it’s only logical to use the highest compression. It’s possible to encode a GIF file with no compression. It’s not GIF that disallows this; it’s your image program. \*\* **Achernar** , that makes sense… but there are so many sites that say it’s lossy and as many that say it’s non-lossy… could someone clearly explain the meaning of a lossy format; and is there an write-up on the GIF format by Compuserve that i can read up ? i did a test today on the differences between .gif and .jpg and as indicated in this thread, a .bmp converted to .jpg is not only smaller, but also retains better quality… could someone list the advantages of using .gif over .jpg (other than the ability of .gifs to be animated; and the transparency thing) thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/17 "2002-05-12T02:39:51Z")
Very simply speaking, JPGs are better for photographs, and GIFs are better for drawings. For instance, look at the Straight Dope logo at the top of this page. JPGs tend to smooth out sharp edges, so the sharp delineations between blue and yellow would look very ugly in a JPG file with medium compression. GIFs, on the other hand, tend to rely on repeated colors and color combinations. If you were to write out the Straight Dope logo pixel by pixel, it would have huge sequences of blue-blue-blue-blue-blue, etc. GIF eats this up. In a photograph, however, you wouldn’t expect things like that, so GIF will have a hard time with them. Another thing of note is that in GIFs, one shade of green and a slghtly different shade of green are as far apart as black and white, but in JPG, colors that are close to each other can be smoothed together. You are definitely right, that in order to save something as a GIF, it requires that it be lessened to 256 colors. Photographs typically will lose a lot in this process, but drawings typically will already be in less 256 colors. The [GIF specification](http://www.w3.org/Graphics/GIF/spec-gif89a.txt) (not exactly light reading) states that GIFs can be encoded using 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, or 256 colors. In order to optimize your GIF, you should use the minimum number of colors that you need. For instance, I believe that the 🙂 image uses only 32 colors (and most of them are shades of yellow). However, it seems to me that for small files this will be helpful—it may cut the size of the 🙂 image (375 bytes) in half—but for large files, like the Straight Dope logo (6951 bytes), it probably doesn’t help a whole lot. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2002, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-program-that-converts-jpg-into-gif/108368/18 "2002-05-12T05:53:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scm1001 \* > if you have a mac then Graphic Converter is top notch for graphic conversion. Seconded. GC’s list of supported image formats is downright scary. If you have an image that GraphicConverter _can’t_ read, it’s not worth viewing anyway. 😉