Reverse GIF – Play Backward or Make a Boomerang
Chat shortcut: /reversegif
Reverse GIF in one run: upload a GIF, choose “Reverse” or “Boomerang”, download the finished GIF. Reverse keeps the running time; Boomerang roughly doubles it.
No Sign-Up
Free · Input and result are automatically deleted 24 hours after upload.
Reversing, swinging back and forth, and what happens to the file
When reversing, the frames of the GIF are reassembled in reverse order. The total duration is unchanged; only the direction flips: a shattering glass puts itself back together, a dive into the water becomes a jump out of it. The result is re-encoded with a new color palette, so the file size can differ from the original.
The boomerang appends the backward run to the forward run; as an endless loop, the motion swings back and forth. Because both directions are included, the result has twice as many frames and roughly twice the total duration; at the turning point the image stands still for a beat. Short GIFs with one clear movement make the smoothest swings.
How it works
- 1
Upload a GIF
Drag the animated GIF into the box, up to 30 MB, 60 seconds running time, 4,000 pixels per side and 8 megapixels.
- 2
Choose a mode
“Reverse” flips the direction, “Boomerang” plays the GIF forward and then backward.
- 3
Download
After “Let’s go” you download the result; shrink a boomerang GIF that is too large with “GIF Compressor”.
Good to know
- Input: GIF up to 30 MB, 60 seconds, 4,000 pixels per side and 8 megapixels; mode Reverse or Boomerang. Reverse keeps the frame count and total duration, the boomerang doubles the frame sequence and with it roughly the total duration.
- All frames have to fit into memory at the same time: about 100 million pixels in total, so for example 100 frames at 1,000 × 1,000 or 400 frames at 500 × 500. Larger or longer GIFs are scaled down proportionally.
- Newly calculated palette up to 256 colors, endless loop; processed on our server, deleted after 24 hours (hourly cleanup job); free, no sign-up, no watermark; in the chat with the /reversegif shortcut.
Frequently asked questions
What is a boomerang?
The GIF plays forward first and then backward. As an endless loop it looks like a pendulum, familiar from short clips on social networks.
How long can the GIF be?
Up to 60 seconds, 30 MB and 4,000 pixels per side. Because all frames have to be in memory at the same time, large, long GIFs are scaled down: about 100 million pixels fit in total, so at 10 frames per second and 60 seconds that is around 400 × 400 pixels.
Will the boomerang GIF be twice as large?
It contains twice as many frames and runs about twice as long; the file size also depends on scaling and encoding. “GIF Compressor” makes it smaller afterward, or you trim it beforehand with “Cut GIF” to the actual movement.
Does the speed change?
The total duration stays the same; with varying frame times, their distribution can shift slightly. For slow motion in reverse, first run a GIF of up to 30 seconds at 0.5× with “GIF Speed Changer” and then reverse it; that keeps it under the 60-second limit.
Why does the boomerang pause briefly at the turning point?
The same frame sits at the end of the forward run and at the start of the backward run, so the motion pauses there for a beat. With GIFs that have many frames per second this is hardly noticeable.
What happens to my file?
Input and result are deleted 24 hours after upload by an hourly cleanup job; if a more recent job is still using the input, it stays until that job’s deadline. Reversing is free.