Snipping Tool, the default screenshot-taking tool in Windows 11, has gained several new features over the past few years. The ability to record your screen and save it as a GIF file is probably one of the most helpful feature additions in recent times.
Because GIFs start playing automatically on webpages and chat apps, most users prefer GIFs over videos. If, for whatever reason, you would like to save your Windows 11 PC’s screen recording as a GIF file, you can use the built-in Snipping Tool. The only catch is that the screen recording should be less than 30 seconds.
Use Snipping Tool to record screen and save as GIF in Windows 11
NOTE: Neither the Snipping Tool nor Snip & Sketch in Windows 10 supports screen recording.
Step 1: Launch the Snipping Tool using search or any other method.
Step 2: Select the Record icon in the toolbar and then click the New button.
Step 3: Next, select the area that you want to record using the Snipping Tool before clicking the Start button in the floating toolbar that you see on the screen. Snipping Tool will start recording the screen in three seconds.
Step 4: Before 30 seconds, click the Stop button in the floating toolbar to stop the screen recording. Why 30 seconds? Because the current version of the Snipping Tool supports exporting only 30 seconds of the screen recording as a GIF.
Step 5: Click the GIF button in the Snipping Toolbar, select between low and high quality, and then click the Export button.
Step 6: Finally, select a location to save the GIF file, type a name that you would like to assign, and then click the Save button to save the recorded screen clipping as a GIF file.
As mentioned earlier, if the screen recording is more than 30 seconds, the Snipping Tool will only save the first 30 seconds of the video as a GIF. So, ensure that your screen recording is less than 30 seconds.
If you are new to GIFs, the built-in Photos app supports the GIF file format in addition to other popular picture formats.
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