If your MP4 contains transparency (for example, from a screen capture or animation exported with an alpha channel), you can preserve that transparency when converting it to a GIF using FFmpeg.

Step 1 — Generate a Palette

FFmpeg needs a color palette to make a high-quality GIF.
This first command creates that palette:

ffmpeg -y -i video.mp4 \
-vf "fps=10,scale=960:-1:flags=lanczos,palettegen" palette.png

• fps=10 → Sets the frame rate for smoother playback (adjust as needed)
• scale=960:-1 → Larger resolution (height auto-adjusts to maintain aspect)
• flags=lanczos → High-quality resampling filter
• palettegen → Creates the optimal 256-color palette for your GIF

Step 2 — Generate the Transparent GIF

Now combine your video and palette using a complex filter, which supports multiple inputs and preserves transparency.

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -i palette.png \
-filter_complex "fps=10,scale=960:-1:flags=lanczos,paletteuse=dither=bayer" \
output.gif

• output.gif → Your final transparent GIF

Note: GIFs can only have one transparent color, not full alpha gradients like PNGs.
FFmpeg will approximate transparency by mapping it to the nearest palette color.

Optional Improvements

Loop Forever

Add -loop 0 to make your GIF repeat endlessly:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -i palette.png \
-filter_complex "fps=10,scale=960:-1:flags=lanczos,split[s0][s1];[s0][1:v]paletteuse=dither=bayer" \
-loop 0 output.gif

Higher Frame Rate

For smoother animation:

ffmpeg -i assets/proxy_make_to_shut_cli_ui.mp4 -i palette.png \
-filter_complex "fps=15,scale=960:-1:flags=lanczos[x];[x][1:v]paletteuse=dither=floyd_steinberg" \
-loop 0 output.gif

Troubleshooting

• If you get “Simple filtergraph was expected to have exactly 1 input and 1 output”,
  you forgot to use -filter_complex instead of -vf.
• If you see “Unable to choose an output format”,
  make sure your output filename has a proper extension (e.g. output.gif).

Example Result

You’ll get a large, smooth, and (if your source had alpha) transparent GIF:

video.mp4 → output.gif

Perfect for blog posts, UI demos, and animated screenshots.