Create GIFs Directly On Chrome with Chrome Capture

Today, GIFs are commonly used for entertainment, business, and even for explaining things to people as it has a smaller file size compared to a video. GIF is also supported by all web browsers as well as instant messaging apps, so using it is really convenient.

Well, good thing is that there’s a Chrome plugin to create simple GIFs called Chrome Capture. Fast, easy, and does the job right. Let’s take a look at how to use it.

How to use Chrome Capture to create GIFs

Chrome Capture is a versatile tool that you can use as a GIF-maker as well as a tool to take screenshots. You can also choose whether to select a certain area or even a full page to screenshot or record what you want on a webpage. It also has an editor that lets you edit your recordings and screenshots easily.

Before anything else, this is how it looks like once you’ve installed it. On your Chrome browser, look to the upper right where all plugins are and it’s this icon.

Now to start using the Chrome Capture tool:

1. Go to the webpage you wish to capture and left click the extension icon as seen above.
2. Once you click it, a message will show up on the page asking you to take the required actions (see image below).



3. Hold the left click and drag on the area you wish to snap. Once your area is selected, you capture that image simply by clicking on the camera icon for a screenshot, or video icon to create a GIF.



4. The number of frames will be shown on the bottom left side while the record time will be shown on the bottom right side. To stop the recording, click on the video icon again.



5. Once the capture is complete, the recording will automatically play on another tab.

How to do full-screen recording?

If you want to capture a recording of the full screen:

1. Right click the extension icon and select Start/stop full-screen recording or use Alt + Shift + S as a shortcut. The extension icon will change with a red dot to show that you are currently recording.
2. While recording, you can move around in the current tab and do anything you want to start the demonstration. The recording will automatically stop once the maximum time is reached or once you stop the screen recording by clicking on the plugin’s icon again.

Do remember that you should not navigate away from the current website, otherwise the recording will stop.

3. Now to create a GIF, simply do any of the steps mentioned above and click on the settings icon on the upper right side. You can save the recording as GIF or WebM file, set the quality as 10 for the best quality while 2 for the lowest or change the recorder logic depending on what you want. These are all the settings you may find on the Free Settings.

How to edit your recordings?

Once you’re done with your recording, you will be redirected to a new tab. Here, you may edit your GIF by selecting the various tools that can be found on the left side of the tab including Select, Move, Resize, Free draw, Draw line, Draw arrow, Add Text, Add icon, Undo all, and Save.

On the lower right corner, you will either see an upward or downward pointing icon. This displays the tab for the frame selector. Click on the frame to select the specific image and edit it (add text, delete, etc.). You can select multiple frames by holding the CTRL or Cmd keys and left clicking.

To delete the selected frame, click on the hamburger menu on the bottom right side (next to the upward/downward icon) and select Delete Selected.

You may also restore the deleted frames by selecting the “Restore Selected”. If you are done with the editing, click on the Apply Edits to Selected but be careful on this one as this can not be undone.

Saving the File

After all the editing, you can now save it as a GIF or Webm file and change the filename to whatever you want. The recorded frame length and estimated size are also shown. You can also adjust the size of the width and the length.

Take note that the bigger the resolution, the larger the file size would be. You can also click Optimize width and height to give you a low file size and its recommended width and length size. If you would like to have a lower file size while maintaining the quality, you might want to opt for the premium option.

To sum up

The Premium option allows you to adjust the size of your recording and its color. You can also choose various font styles, choose a playback speed, and apply a boomerang effect to your recording. And of course, remove the 10-second limit to your GIFs :)

In any case, enjoy creating GIFs with Chrome Capture! It is very easy to use, not complicated, and does the job right. Cheers!