Top 10 GIF Screen Capture Software

The objective of this article is to tell the readers about GIF screen capture. GIF is an image file in JPEG or PNG format. It supports both static and animated images that loop continuously without reducing the quality of the image. GIFs are most popular on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp nowadays.

Animated GIF can load multiple images in one file repeatedly which allows images to repeat with time delays, forming a short video clip. GIF screen capture enables you to edit, record, and save your screen captures to animated GIFs. GIF screen capture is very simple to record your computer screen and convert it into an animated GIF.

GIF screen capture can be recorded in distinct ways on different devices. For example, GIF screen capture Mac and Screen capture to GIF chrome has different features to record, edit, and save screens as a GIF. In the App Store and Google Play Store, different applications for GIF screen capture are now available to install so you can make the perfect GIF.

Screen capture to GIF chrome can also help you to create animations and short video clips on your browser page to an animated GIF image.

GIF Screen Capture Program for Windows

GIF Screen capture for Windows is very simple and it can be recorded in the most accessible ways. There are so many recorders for Windows such as LICEcap, VClip, Fraps, ScreenToGif, and Gyazo. Each one of them has different criteria to capture GIF from screen windows. Let's discuss each one of them.

LICEcap

LICEcap is an application that can capture a specific portion of your screen and save it directly to GIF or in LCF format. LICEcap is a very useful application for Windows and now OSX, that is designed to function with high performance while recording. Using LICEcap can save your time from video uploading by just recording that important portion you want to upload.

LICEcap for Mac screen capture to GIF allows you to record screen and save it in GIF format. While using LICEcap you can add text, pause, screen capture with a keyboard shortcut and select a maximum frame rate for instant recordings. While using LICEcap you have to select the area of the desktop inside the LICEcap window’s border and then start recording your screen. LICEcap doesn’t work in full-screen mode.

Following are the steps to install LICEcap GIF creator:

• Download LICEcap and install LICEcap GIF on your Windows or Mac. After installing, run LICEcap on your windows.
• Move the LICEcap screen capture frame while recording. Make sure that the screen is sized according to the area you want to capture.
• Before recording choose whether you want to record this as a GIF or a video from the drop-down menu
• Once you select the criteria, click on the ‘Record’ button. Pause the recording using hotkeys (shift+space) if you want.
• Click stop after 5 seconds.
• Save the recording and your GIF will be created automatically. You can also save in LCF format.

VClip

VClip is a screen recorder for Windows that is used to easily make a recording of any part of your screen. VClip is used to capture short video clips and is a portable program that can directly run from any location on Windows. It’s a free recording app for Windows. You can download VClip and extract all files from the archived folder. You are all set to use this application on your system.

• Select the size of window you want to record. Resize the VClip window.
• Change the frame rate from the default 25 to any frame rate given.
• Select the format of the recording of your own choice.
• Click on ‘Rec’ to start the recording inside the frame.
• Stop the recording and press the save button. Your recording will be saved according to selected format.

Fraps

Fraps is a Window application that can create GIFs from screen capture. Fraps recorder only supports software that uses DirectX and OpenGL such as PC games. It is commonly used to record presentations, videos, and demos and can create high-quality videos with clarity.

• Install Fraps on your PC.
• Set the Benchmarking Hotkey and Overlay Hotkey by clicking ‘99 FPS’ tab.
• Click on ‘Movies’ and set all the recording options such as video capture settings and sound capture settings to your liking.
• Start the recording and press F9 to stop it. The video file will be saved to the default location.

ScreenToGif

Following steps are followed to record through ScreenToGif:

• Open ScreenToGif and click on the ‘Recorder’ button.
• A window will appear on your screen. Start making changings on your window screen to record what you want.
• Click on the ‘Stop’ button.
• Delete the frames you don’t want in your video by clicking Shift and Delete button.
• Add a transition length to the last frame.
• ‘Save As’ the file in .GIF format.

Gyazo

Gyazo is an open-source free application program for Windows, macOS, and Linux. This application enables users to capture screenshots and share them on the web. It instantly creates a unique URL link to the screenshot that can be shared anywhere.

With Gyazo, you can create GIF screen captures instantly without any steps. You can share animation clips, screenshots, and instant replay clips in HD. Open Gyazo app and hit the ‘Capture’ icon to record. Release the mouse and Gyazo immediately uploads your image with a unique link. You are all set to share the link to people you want to show.

GIF Screen Capture for Linux

GIF screen capture for Linux has the best GIF recorder tools that are commonly used to produce GIFs on Linux such as Gifine, Byzanz, Peek, SilentCast, and Gifcurry. Let’s discuss them one by one.

Gifine

Gifine is a free GIF recorder tool that records a selected area on your desktop and exports it as a gif or an mp4 video file. Gifine offers built-in support for editing and trimming GIFs before exporting. This feature helps in removing unwanted frames from the video clip.

• Install Gifine and hit the ‘Record’ button.
• Select the area on the screen to capture.
• When you’re done with recording, hit the ‘Stop recording’ button.
• Trim the video by dragging the edge of the clip to the left or right parts separately.
• Click on the ‘Save GIF’ button. The video will be saved on your desired location.

Byzanz

Byzanz is a GIF recorder that runs on the command-line interface (CLI). Byzanz captures your entire screen, a single window, or selected area to an animated GIF. The only disadvantage of Byzanz is that it does not support the Graphical User Interface.

Start the Byzanz recorder and start capturing the frames you want to record. Set the height and width of the recording and pass the options to Byzanz using a command-line interface. After the screen is captured, save it with GIF filename extension.

Peek

Peek GIF Recorder is the most comprehensive GIF screen capture tool for Linux to make quick and short video clips. Peek offers high-quality GIFs to its users. Once you record the screen, you can set delay count, resolution down-sampling, file format and framerate from the Peek preferences.

For beginners, Peek should be an easy-to-use GIF recorder as it is very simple to understand. You can easily take screenshots of a Linux desktop and organize them into a short, compressed animation using Peek GIF recorder. You just have to place Peek Recorder on the right part of the screen to capture the area you want to record.

SilentCast

SilentCast is a very light-weight and feature-rich GIF recorder that has a minor drawback to it. It is not highly user-friendly, but it certainly does its job quite well. Before installing SilentCast, enter the required commands to fetch the source and compile it. Then install it on Ubuntu. Now you can start and stop capturing your screen with the command ‘silentcast.'

Gifcurry

Gifcurry is a free and open-source software on Linux and has extra features along with it. Before using Gifcurry, make sure that you have installed the right dependencies on your system. To install Gifcurry, enter the following command on the Linux command-line:

sudo snap install gifcurry

You can now explore the vast features of Gifcurry. Load a video, make some edits, add text, change font-size, position, timing and many more.

Conclusion

Animated GIFs are lightweight and very quick to share on social media sites. With the help of GIF Screen Capture tools, you can record countless animated videos using different recorders. There is a lot of support for GIFs on Windows, Mac, and other operating systems like Android, Linux with a lot of versatility and high-quality video resolution.

GIF screen capture has become very popular, especially among the younger generation, as a way to express emotions on social media. Why wouldn't they be? After all, GIFs have a tendency of encapsulating one's feelings quite well with just a few repeating pictures.