Size targets per purpose
- Signature or banner GIF: under 500 KB
- Illustrative animation in a support reply: under 1 MB
- Demo attachment: under 2–3 MB
Encoding overhead
Base64 encoding in some clients inflates attachments ~33%. A 2 MB GIF can arrive as nearly 3 MB of message — compress with headroom.
Alternative: link instead of attach
For anything over 2 MB, host the GIF and paste a link. When you must attach, compression beats conversion — GIF plays inline everywhere, MP4 attachments often do not.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do all email clients autoplay GIFs?
Most modern clients do; a few (notably some Outlook configurations) show only the first frame. Put the key message in the first frame.
Is a compressed GIF lower quality in email?
At 64+ colors and 75% scale, chat and email viewing rarely shows a difference — screens are small and motion hides artifacts.