Reverse a GIF: play the animation backwards

How it works

Tap or click the box and choose your GIF; several GIFs all get the same treatment. "Backwards" plays the GIF from the end to the start: spilled water flows back into the glass, a falling ball jumps back up. "Forward + backward (boomerang)" plays the clip normally and then undoes the same movement, which gives the seamless loop known from boomerang videos. Example: a 12-frame GIF that lasts 1.2 s still has 12 frames and 1.2 s when reversed; as a boomerang it has 22 frames and about 2.2 s, because the first and last frame are not shown twice. When it finishes, the result line tells you how many frames went in and came out, how the length changed and the new file size. Save it with "Download"; it goes to your Downloads folder. This page reverses the animation. It does not search for where a GIF came from.

This tool is also known as reverse gif, play gif backwards, gif reverser, rewind gif, boomerang gif, reverse animated gif, gif forward and backward.

What is Reversing a GIF?

Reversing a GIF means putting its frames in the opposite order so the animation plays backwards. The picture does not turn upside down; only time runs the other way. Each frame keeps its own display time: if the original GIF pauses for 2 seconds on its last frame, the reversed GIF pauses for 2 seconds on its first. If you want the picture upside down instead, what you need is a 180-degree rotation.

What is Boomerang loop?

A boomerang is a loop in which a movement plays forward and then backward, so it ends where it started and repeats without a jump. A door opening and closing or a person bending down and standing up look like this. This tool builds the boomerang with the frame order 1, 2, 3, 2: the end frames are not shown twice, otherwise the loop would seem to pause for a moment at every turn.

What is the difference between reversing and a boomerang GIF?

Reversing only plays the GIF backwards: the frame count and length stay the same, and each loop jumps from the end back to the start. A boomerang puts forward and backward playback one after the other: the GIF gets about twice as long, but the loop never jumps, because the movement returns to where it began. Pick reversing to make a one-way event look surprising, and the boomerang for a soft, endless back-and-forth. The boomerang has more frames, so the file also gets bigger.

Why simply reordering GIF frames is not enough

To stay small, most GIFs store in each frame only the area that differs from the previous one; what you see is these pieces stacked on top of each other. Putting those pieces in reverse order gives a broken animation: the last piece lands alone in the first frame, with the picture behind it missing. This tool first opens every frame as a full picture and then reverses the order, so each frame of the reversed GIF is complete.

Because of that, every frame ends up stored complete: a long GIF in which very little changes can grow several times larger when reversed. The result line shows the old and new file size. If the file gets too big, run the result through the GIF compressor. Reversing never touches pixel colors; the note at the end of the result line confirms whether they were kept exactly.

Which GIFs work well reversed

Clips built on gravity or any one-way event get the most attention when reversed: water pouring back into a glass, scattered cards gathering, a popped balloon filling up again. For tutorial GIFs made from screen recordings, playing backwards usually just confuses people, and a boomerang does not help there either.

A boomerang works well for short movements whose start and end differ: waving, turning a head, opening a door. If the motion already loops back on itself, like a spinning wheel, a boomerang only doubles the length for nothing. The loop count stays as in the original GIF; a GIF that loops forever keeps looping forever. Looking for where a GIF comes from is a different task, done with a reverse image search engine, not with this page.

Frequently asked questions

How do I play a GIF backwards?

Choose the GIF in the box, keep "Backwards" selected and press "Reverse". The frames are put in reverse order and each one keeps its own time. Save the result with "Download".

How do I make a boomerang GIF?

Pick "Forward + backward (boomerang)". The GIF plays forward, then backward, and the loop returns to where it started. The frame count and length roughly double, because the same frames are shown again on the way back.

Is this a reverse GIF search?

No. This page reverses the playback of a GIF you already have. To find where a GIF or picture came from, use a reverse image search engine such as Google Lens or TinEye.

Why did the reversed GIF get bigger?

A reversed GIF cannot reuse the original's trick of saving only what changed, because the pieces would pile up in the wrong order, so each frame is saved whole. That can make the file larger, and a boomerang also adds frames. To shrink it, use the GIF compressor.