Split or Break GIF Animation Into Individual Frames

Normally an animated image is in GIF format. It is a standard extension that is being recognized by software and web browsers. If you didn’t know how an animation works, an animated GIF is an animation created by combining multiple images in one file. The result is multiple images, displayed one after another, that give the appearance of movement. When the multiple frame of images are being compiled into one, is it possible to decompile it and get all the individual images? Yes it is possible.

I don’t normally require to rip out individual frames from an animated GIF file but here are a few rare cases. There was a time when I was looking around in forums and I found an animated image which contains a list of RapidShare Premium accounts. It is a scrolling animation which is really fast and there is no way to note down the login and password. Check out the animation below to have an idea of what I am talking about.


There are 2 ways to do it which is using a software or an online website that provides free service to split GIF animations. I am sure there are quite a lot freewares or website that does this but here are two that I found and it works.

Software: GifSplitter

GifSplitter can break GIF animation down into individual image frames. Then, you can select any frames of the gif animation, and modify them as you like. Also, GifSplitter will create a .gsf file which can be used in Magic ASCII Studio. So, with the help of GifSplitter you can make ASCII Art Animation directly from gif animation file in Magic ASCII Studio now. To use it, simply select the GIF image that you want to break, and and choose the directory where you want the individual images to be saved. Then hit the Split Now button. GifSplitter is free, portable and it is only 40KB in size.
[ Download GifSplitter ]

Online: GIFWorks

GIFWorks is an online GIF image editor. This unique tool is completely on-line with nothing to download or install. Better yet, it’s ABSOLUTELY FREE. You can create your own special effects with any GIF even animated ones! Resize it, colorize it, optimize it, jazzercise it and of course, split it into individual frames. All you need to do is select Open Image from File, then upload the image. Then select, Split Into Frames from Optimize. Give it a few seconds and you’ll see all frames being displayed on one single page.
[ Visit GIFWorks ]

At first I found another website called gifninja but there were some problems in extracting the frames from animated GIF. It ended up with black background when it is supposed to be white making the words hard to read. Hope this helps!