GiffyPy: Record. Edit. Share.

Record your screen, edit it, and drop it into your README or DEV.to posts as animated WebP, GIF, MP4, etc.

Every animated image in this README was recorded, edited, and exported entirely with GiffyPy. The demo below was made using 2 GiffyPy instances!

How it works

It's three steps:

1. Record — click once to start recording your screen, click again to stop.
2. Edit — trim it down to the good part, crop out anything you don't want to show, reorder or combine clips, and adjust the speed if needed.
3. Export — save it as an animated image (or optionally video), ready to paste into your README or docs.

No separate recording app, no converting files, no fiddling with export settings. You stay focused on your product, not on video editing.

Fast, from the moment you click it

GiffyPy opens in under a second, and opening a video file is even quicker. There's no splash screen, no waiting for things to load — you click the icon and you're already recording or editing. For a tool meant to be used in the middle of writing docs, that speed is the point: it should never be the reason you put off making a quick demo clip.

That speed carries into editing, too. Drag the playhead anywhere on the timeline and the preview updates instantly — no buffering, no loading screens, no waiting for a seek. Even on long recordings, scrubbing back and forth to find the exact moment you want feels completely immediate.

Recording your screen

Click Record screen, do the thing you want to show off, then click again to stop. You'll be asked whether to keep the recording or throw it away — if you keep it, it drops straight onto the timeline, ready to edit immediately. No saving a file and reopening it.

There's also an optional toggle to show your mouse cursor in the recording (off by default, so your demos stay clean).

Editing

Trimming and reordering

Drag the handles on either end of a clip to trim it down to just the part you want. If you recorded more than you need, split it into pieces and drag them around to reorder — handy for cutting out a mistake in the middle of a recording.

Adjusting speed

Select a clip and use the speed slider to slow it down or speed it up — useful for skipping over a slow loading screen, or slowing down a step people might miss.

Cropping

Draw a crop box over the part of the screen you actually want to show, with guides to help you frame it nicely. Great for cutting out your desktop clutter and keeping the focus on your app window.

Undo

Made a mistake? Every edit can be undone from the toolbar.

Exporting

When you're happy with it, export. GiffyPy defaults to WebP — a lightweight animated image format that looks great and loads fast, which is exactly what you want for a README. GIF, MP4, and a few other formats are also available if you need them.

You can save over the original, save it as a new numbered copy, or choose a new name and location — whichever fits your workflow.

Starting Over

Want to clear everything and begin a new clip? Use Discard and Start Over — it resets the app without closing it.

Getting GiffyPy

Option 1 — Just want to use the app:

1. Download the zip and extract it.
2. Open GiffyPy.
3. Optionally, run the included create_shortcut.bat script to add it to your Start Menu.

Option 2 — Want to build it yourself:

1. Download the source code zip and extract it.
2. Double-click the included build.bat script — it takes care of everything and builds the app for you.

Works entirely with a mouse or touchpad — no special hardware needed.

Want to know how it's built?

See ARCHITECTURE.md for a technical look under the hood.