Troubleshooting Animated GIFs in WordPress: Fixes and Optimization Tips

animated gif not working in wordpress

Animated GIFs are popular for adding some life and visual interest to websites, making content more engaging with their dynamic movement. However, when using these animations in WordPress, you might run into issues like GIFs not playing or not displaying correctly. Besides, remember that GIFs are heavy and may significantly slow your site.

In this guide, we’ll learn why these issues happen with GIFs on WordPress sites and offer solutions to fix them. The tips here will help ensure your GIFs display correctly and contribute effectively to your site.

We’ll identify common reasons GIFs fail to work, from exceeding file size limits to clashes with WordPress settings or plugins. Then, we’ll provide practical steps to resolve these issues, helping your GIFs load properly and improve overall site performance. We’ll also cover some common questions about managing GIFs in WordPress for those who frequently face these challenges.

In this article:

Understanding Why GIFs Fail to Play in WordPress
Why Your GIFs Aren’t Animating in WordPress
How to Fix an Animated GIF Not Working in WordPress
How Can Cloudinary Help

Understanding Why GIFs Fail to Play in WordPress

The problem can be rooted primarily in how WordPress processes images during upload. WordPress typically creates several sizes of any uploaded image to ensure that the best size is used depending on where it’s being displayed.

This is great for static images, but it can unintentionally strip away the animation for animated GIFs. If WordPress compresses the GIF to different sizes, only the full-size file retains the animation. As a result, if a theme or post uses a thumbnail or a medium-sized version of the image, the animation will not appear.

Another common issue comes from file alterations during the upload process. If you edit a GIF in WordPress—cropping it, for instance—it might be saved as a single frame rather than a looped animation. This is because most built-in editing tools in WordPress are not designed to handle the properties of animated files.

Why Your GIFs Aren’t Animating in WordPress

The issue often lies in how the GIF is served on your site. First, ensure that the GIF you uploaded is indeed animated. This is a basic step, but it’s crucial. Before uploading, open the file on your computer or an online viewer to verify that it plays as expected.

Next, check the file size and dimensions. WordPress has limitations on the media upload size, which, if exceeded, could lead to the server resizing or rejecting the file. This resizing can strip the animation from a GIF. Always ensure your files comply with the upload limits, and consider compressing large GIFs before uploading them to avoid automatic resizing.

If you’re sure the GIF is fine, the next step is to examine how WordPress handles the file. When you select the GIF in your media library and insert it into a post, choose the ‘Full Size’ option. This selection ensures that WordPress uses the original file, not a resized version. Choosing a resized image, as mentioned, will likely display a static frame instead of the animation.

Image optimization plugins are fantastic for speeding up your site by compressing images, but they can interfere with GIFs. These plugins might optimize the GIF by reducing its size, which can remove the animation. If you suspect this might be the case, try temporarily turning off image optimization plugins and re-upload your GIF to see if it resolves the issue.

How to Fix an Animated GIF Not Working in WordPress

Ensure GIFs are Set to Full Image Size in the Editor

The first and perhaps most crucial step is to ensure that your GIF is set to display at full size within the WordPress editor. To maintain the animation, always choose the full-size option. This prevents WordPress from using a resized—and likely static—version of your GIF, ensuring the animation remains intact. It’s a simple but effective fix that often gets overlooked in the rush to publish content.

Re-upload the GIF via the WordPress Media Library

If your GIF still isn’t animating, consider re-uploading it. Sometimes, initial uploads can encounter glitches or errors that affect the file. Remove the existing file from your WordPress Media Library, ensuring you delete all instances of it from the library and any posts. Then, upload the GIF again, selecting it directly from your computer rather than dragging and dropping, which can sometimes alter file integrity. Once uploaded, insert it into your post as a full-size image and check if the animation works. This process can often reset any issues and get your GIF moving.

Reduce GIF File Size for Improved Performance

Large GIF files can be problematic in WordPress, not only because they can exceed upload limits but also because they can slow down page load times, impacting user experience and SEO. Use an external tool to compress your GIFs before uploading them. Tools like Cloudinary offer sophisticated image and video management solutions, including automated GIF compression that reduces file size without significantly impacting the visual quality or animation. Smaller, optimized files are less likely to be automatically processed by WordPress in a way that could remove animations.

Disable Image Optimization Plugins

While image optimization plugins are great for speeding up your WordPress site, they can strip animations from GIFs. If you’ve tried the above steps and your GIFs still aren’t animating, temporarily turn off any active image optimization plugins. After deactivating them, re-upload your GIF and check if the animation persists. If this resolves the issue, you might need to adjust the settings of your optimization plugins to exclude GIF files from being processed or switch to a plugin that explicitly supports animated GIFs.

How Can Cloudinary Help

Cloudinary can significantly streamline how you manage and serve animated GIFs on your WordPress site. As a comprehensive cloud-based image and video management solution, Cloudinary can automatically optimize GIFs for faster loading without sacrificing quality. Here’s how Cloudinary can help:

Automatic Compression – Cloudinary can reduce the file size of GIFs while maintaining visual quality, ensuring quicker page loads and less bandwidth consumption.
Easy Integration – By integrating with WordPress, Cloudinary can handle the upload, storage, and delivery of GIFs directly, bypassing common issues related to WordPress’s default media handling.
Advanced Optimization – Cloudinary provides advanced optimization options like converting GIFs to more efficient formats like WebP or MP4 where supported, further enhancing performance and compatibility across different browsers and devices.
Developer-Friendly Tools – With APIs and SDKs available, developers can automate image management processes, implement custom behaviors, and fine-tune how media is handled based on the site’s specific needs.

By leveraging Cloudinary’s capabilities, you can ensure that GIFs on your WordPress site load efficiently and animate as intended, enhancing user experience and engagement.

Wrapping Up

By following the steps outlined—such as ensuring GIFs are set to full image size, re-uploading them properly, reducing file sizes, and disabling conflicting plugins—you can significantly improve how animated GIFs perform on your WordPress site. This will help speed up your site’s load times, improving SEO and providing a smoother user experience.

Integrating a solution like Cloudinary’s WordPress Plugin can relieve the stress of managing animated GIFs by automating optimization processes and ensuring compatibility across all devices and browsers. Cloudinary’s advanced features help maintain the animation and quality of your GIFs and ensure they are delivered efficiently to your audience.

QUICK TIPS

Nadin Indre

In my experience, here are tips that can help you better troubleshoot and optimize animated GIFs in WordPress:

Use MP4 video format as an alternative for large GIFs
Animated GIFs are resource-heavy and can slow down your site significantly. Instead of using large GIFs, convert them into MP4 video format. MP4 files are more efficient in terms of file size and bandwidth. Cloudinary offers automatic conversion tools that can transform a GIF into a lightweight MP4, providing smoother animations while drastically reducing file size.
Implement lazy loading for animated GIFs
Animated GIFs can impact page load times, especially if there are multiple on a single page. Use a lazy loading plugin like WP Rocket or Lazy Load by WP Rocket to load GIFs only when they enter the viewport. This will improve initial page load times and prevent users from experiencing lag or sluggishness as they scroll through your content.
Set clear width and height attributes for GIFs
Ensure your animated GIFs have defined width and height attributes in the HTML or CSS. Undefined dimensions can cause layout shifts, impacting your site’s visual stability and negatively affecting the Core Web Vitals score for Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Explicitly defining these attributes will help maintain a stable layout as the page loads.
Use GIFs sparingly to avoid overwhelming users
Overusing animated GIFs can distract users and slow down your page, especially on mobile devices. Keep their usage to a minimum and prioritize meaningful or visually impactful animations. Consider using them in specific areas like tutorials, instructional posts, or to highlight essential content, rather than as background elements.
Leverage the Cloudinary auto-upload feature for media management
Use the Cloudinary WordPress plugin to automate your GIF uploads directly to Cloudinary. Cloudinary’s auto-upload feature handles compression, format conversion, and delivery via a Content Delivery Network (CDN). This ensures your GIFs load quickly and are served from the nearest location to the user, reducing latency and improving performance.
Pre-optimize GIFs before uploading to WordPress
Before uploading any GIF to WordPress, run it through an external optimization tool like Ezgif, GIF Optimizer, or Cloudinary’s online transformation tool. This pre-optimization step ensures the GIF is already lean, reducing the likelihood of WordPress making further, unintended modifications that might remove the animation.
Enable Cloudinary’s responsive image delivery for varying screen sizes
GIFs often need to be resized for different devices and screen resolutions. Cloudinary’s responsive image delivery automatically adjusts the GIF size, format, and quality based on the user’s device. This ensures that smaller versions of the GIF are served on mobile devices, reducing data usage and improving load times.
Exclude GIFs from auto-compression in image optimization plugins
Image optimization plugins like Smush, ShortPixel, or Imagify can inadvertently compress and strip animations from your GIFs. Configure these plugins to exclude GIFs from compression, or set up a rule to skip any files with the .gif extension. Alternatively, switch to a plugin that explicitly supports GIF compression while preserving animations, like Optimole.
Use a GIF-to-SVG converter for simple animated graphics
If your animated GIFs are relatively simple (e.g., vector-based logos or icons), consider converting them to SVG animations. SVG files are much smaller, support interactivity, and can be scaled without loss of quality. Using SVGs instead of GIFs can provide a smoother, faster experience, especially for high-DPI displays.
Monitor GIF performance and engagement using analytics
Use tools like Cloudinary’s analytics or Google Tag Manager to track how users interact with your animated GIFs. Knowing which GIFs perform well and which slow down the page can guide future content decisions. Consider removing or replacing underperforming GIFs with optimized alternatives to enhance user experience and site performance.

Implementing these expert tips will ensure that your animated GIFs are not only visually appealing but also optimized for performance, delivering a smoother and more engaging experience to your WordPress site visitors.

Last updated: Oct 3, 2024