Record your screen straight to a GIF
GIF is the format that plays everywhere — Slack, GitHub, Notion, email, documentation. OneTake records the screen and encodes the GIF locally, so a clip can go into a bug report or a pull request without opening a video editor.
Start recording → Free · no account · nothing is uploadedHow to do it
- Pick “Screen only” or “Screen region”For a GIF, a cropped region beats a full desktop — smaller file and a clearer subject.
- Press “Start recording”Choose the screen, window or tab you want, and wait out the 3-second countdown.
- Stop, then choose GIFIn the panel on the right, select GIF and set frame rate, width and a time limit.
- DownloadThe GIF is generated on your machine and saved to the local library.
Why GIF instead of MP4 here
A GIF starts playing by itself in almost every chat and issue tracker, with no play button and no codec questions. That is exactly what you want for a two-second “look, this button moves”.
The trade-off is size and colour: GIF is limited to 256 colours and grows fast with length. That is why OneTake caps GIF length by default and lets you pick 10–20 fps.
How to keep the GIF small
Crop first, then choose a width of 480–640 px and 10–12 fps. A 6-second, 640 px GIF of a UI interaction usually lands under 2 MB, which is fine for GitHub and Slack.
Avoid full-screen captures of video content — GIF will both look bad and be huge. Use MP4 for that.
Frequently asked questions
Is the GIF export free?
Yes. No account, no watermark, no export limit. The encoder runs in your browser.
How long can the GIF be?
The panel limits it to 15 seconds by default and 30 as the maximum. Longer GIFs get unusable fast, so trim the clip first.
Is my recording uploaded to make the GIF?
No. The capture and the GIF encoding both happen on your device; there is no upload endpoint.
Can I also get an MP4 of the same take?
Yes. The original take stays in your local library, and you can convert it to MP4 from the same panel.