ADD TEXT
TO GIF

GIF lacks alpha channel support, so anti-aliasing must use palette tricks: (1) ordered dithering (geometric patterns at edges), (2) error diffusion dithering (distributes color error to neighbors), or (3) "halo" effect (render text on black, then on white, use difference as mask). Our tool auto-selects based on text size—larger text uses error diffusion for smoother edges.

We support TTF, OTF, WOFF, and WOFF2 via Canvas API rendering. System fonts are enumerated from your OS. Font weights are preserved—Inter Bold renders differently than Inter Regular. If a font fails to load (CORS issues), we fall back to Arial.

We support per-frame text positioning via keyframes. Each text layer has: (1) initial position, (2) keyframe positions at specific frame numbers, (3) interpolation mode (linear, ease-in, ease-out). Complex motion paths should be exported as JSON and re-imported. For simple parallax effects, adjust Y position by ±5px over 10 frames.

GIF uses one transparent color index, not per-pixel alpha. If your text has anti-aliasing pixels between text color and transparent, those intermediate pixels must map to either text color or transparent—creating jagged edges. Use the "Snap to opaque" option to render text with background color first, then set that as transparent index.

GIF-optimized effects: stroke (outline with configurable width in pixels, not anti-aliased), drop shadow (offset with gaussian blur), inner shadow (stroke inside text boundary), and glow (duplicate layer with blur behind). Effects requiring per-pixel alpha (soft shadows, gradients) will dither poorly in GIF—use sparingly and at small radii.

GIF palettes are limited to 256 colors. We offer two approaches: (1) Palette sampling—extract dominant GIF colors and suggest complementary text colors with sufficient contrast (WCAG 4.5:1 ratio). (2) Direct RGB—if your chosen color isn't in the palette, we dither it using Floyd-Steinberg, which creates a textured appearance on large text areas.