Why GIFs still matter for game marketing
Video is better quality, but GIFs play everywhere without a click: inside Steam store page descriptions, in README files, in Discord, in emails to press and in forum posts. A two to five second loop that shows the core of your game is often what makes someone open the store page. The trick is keeping the file small, because a 30 MB GIF loads slowly and some sites refuse it.
Keeping the file small
File size grows with width × height × frames. A 480 pixel wide GIF at 15 frames per second is a good default. Short, tight clips with a calm background compress best. The tool builds one palette from the whole clip, so colours do not flicker between frames, and only stores the pixels that change from frame to frame. Less dithering and fewer colours make smaller files with flatter colour. Boomerang plays the clip forward and then backward, which makes any moment loop smoothly.
Is my video uploaded?
No. The video is decoded and encoded in your browser and never leaves your computer.