{
  "id": 17200761,
  "title": "The palettegen GIF Trick Made My Files Bigger, Not Smaller — I Benchmarked What Actually Shrinks GIFs",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/30/the-palettegen-gif-trick-made-my-files-bigger-not-smaller-i",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-30T08:44:13.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/dennyguide/the-palettegen-gif-trick-made-my-files-bigger-not-smaller-i-benchmarked-what-actually-shrinks-4ali"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The widely used method of creating GIFs with FFmpeg, which involves the palettegen and paletteuse filters, often results in larger file sizes rather than smaller ones. A reporter tested this method with synthetic 10-second clips at 1280×720 resolution and 30 frames per second, using three different video clips: one with screen-recording-like motion, another with smooth color gradients and zooming, and the third with hard edges and few colors. The reporter tried five conversion recipes per clip, with varying results.\n\nThe main takeaway is that the palette trick in FFmpeg is a quality feature, not a compression feature. The dithering noise generated by the sierra2_4a algorithm increases the file size, while the naive path quietly discards colors, leading to better compression. Therefore, using the palette trick to make GIF files smaller is flawed. Instead, the reporter found that adjusting the frame rate (fps) and the width (scale) parameters have a more significant impact on file size. Lowering the fps or the width can reduce file size considerably, especially for gradient-heavy content. The reporter recommends using MP4 or WebM formats for GIF alternatives and reserving GIF for specific purposes where it is a necessary format.",
  "summary": "Every \"how to make a GIF with FFmpeg\" answer on the internet contains the same two-pass incantation: run your video through palettegen , then pipe it back in with paletteuse . The comments under those answers say things like \"smaller file, better colors.\" So when I needed to shrink some demo GIFs this week, I ran the trick — and my files got bigger . Not slightly bigger. Up to 117% bigger, at…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}