Pinterest GIF downloader

Start with the thing most pages in this category will not tell you: most Pinterest GIFs are no longer GIF files.

When someone uploads an animated GIF, Pinterest converts it to video and serves it as MP4. It still behaves like a GIF on the page — it loops, it has no sound, it plays on its own — but the file underneath is video. Scanning a batch of pins looking for a real .gif file turned up none at all.

Pin no. —

Holding empty

So what do you actually get

Paste an animated pin and one of two things happens.

Usually: an MP4. The card will say the pin is holding video, because it is. This is the honest outcome, and it is usually the better one — the MP4 is far smaller than the GIF it was made from, and it plays anywhere.

Occasionally: a real .gif. Some pins do still hold a genuine GIF file, and when they do you get it as a GIF.

The card tells you which one you are getting before you take it, rather than promising a format and delivering another.

If you genuinely need a .gif file

Sometimes only a GIF will do — a forum that will not accept video, a messaging app that treats GIFs differently, a slide deck. In that case, download the MP4 here and convert it afterwards. Any MP4-to-GIF converter will do it, and doing it in that order gives a better result than hunting for a GIF that no longer exists.

Be ready for the size to jump. Converting a 2 MB MP4 back to GIF can easily produce a 20 MB file, because GIF is a far less efficient way to store moving pictures. That inefficiency is exactly why Pinterest stopped storing them.

Frequently asked

Why does the card say "Video" when I pasted a GIF? Because Pinterest converted it. The card reports what the pin is actually holding rather than what it looks like.

Will the loop still work? An MP4 does not carry GIF's built-in loop instruction. Most players and social platforms loop short clips anyway, and a converted GIF loops normally.

Is there sound? No. Converted GIFs have no audio track, so the MP4 you get is silent.