gifclip

Create GIFs (or video clips) with burned-in subtitles from YouTube, local files, or direct URLs.

Installation

From crates.io

cargo install gifclip

From source

git clone https://github.com/coryzibell/gifclip
cd gifclip
cargo install --path .

Dependencies

gifclip requires yt-dlp and ffmpeg. On first run, gifclip will prompt you to either:

1. Use system tools - Use yt-dlp and ffmpeg from your PATH
2. Managed tools - Download and manage tools in ~/.gifclip/tools/

You can reconfigure this at any time with gifclip --setup.

Installing dependencies manually

macOS:

brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg

Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install yt-dlp ffmpeg

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S yt-dlp ffmpeg

NixOS:

environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ yt-dlp ffmpeg ];

Usage

Basic Usage

gifclip <INPUT> <START> <END>

Where <INPUT> can be:

• YouTube URL - Downloads via yt-dlp, auto-fetches subtitles
• Local file - Uses embedded subs or looks for matching .srt file
• Direct URL - Downloads video, extracts embedded subs if available

Timestamp Mode

Clip a video using specific start and end timestamps:

# YouTube
gifclip "https://youtube.com/watch?v=..." 1:30 1:45

# Local file
gifclip movie.mp4 0:45 0:59

# Direct URL
gifclip "https://example.com/video.mp4" 0:10 0:20

Timestamps support multiple formats:

• MM:SS - minutes and seconds (e.g., 1:30)
• HH:MM:SS - hours, minutes, seconds (e.g., 00:01:30)
• Seconds as a number (e.g., 90)

Dialogue Mode

Search subtitles for dialogue and clip around it automatically:

# Single quote - clips the subtitle entry with 2s padding
gifclip "URL" --from "I'll be back"

# Dialogue range - clips from first quote to second with 0.5s padding
gifclip "URL" --from "Here's looking" --to "kid"

The dialogue search is fuzzy and case-insensitive, so partial matches work.

Custom Padding

Control how much video appears before/after the dialogue:

# Symmetric padding (before and after)
gifclip "URL" --from "quote" --pad 3

# Asymmetric padding
gifclip "URL" --from "quote" --pad-before 1 --pad-after 5

Subtitle Handling

gifclip automatically finds subtitles based on input type:

Override with --subs or disable with --no-subs:

# Use specific subtitle file
gifclip movie.mp4 1:30 1:45 --subs custom.srt

# Use subtitle URL
gifclip movie.mp4 1:30 1:45 --subs "https://example.com/subs.srt"

# Skip subtitles entirely
gifclip movie.mp4 1:30 1:45 --no-subs

Custom Text Overlay

Add your own caption instead of using subtitles:

gifclip movie.mp4 1:30 1:45 --text "Your caption here"

The text is displayed centered at the bottom with a black outline for visibility.

Output Formats

# GIF (default)
gifclip "URL" 1:30 1:45

# WebM (smaller file, good quality)
gifclip "URL" 1:30 1:45 -f webm

# MP4 (most compatible)
gifclip "URL" 1:30 1:45 -f mp4

Options

Examples

# Basic GIF with subtitles from YouTube
gifclip "https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc123" 0:45 0:59

# Higher quality MP4, 720px wide
gifclip "URL" 1:30 2:00 -f mp4 -w 720 -q 95

# GIF of a famous quote with extra time after
gifclip "URL" --from "Frankly my dear" --pad-after 3

# Clip a conversation between two lines
gifclip "URL" --from "What is the Matrix?" --to "No one can be told"

# Local file with auto-detected subtitles
gifclip movie.mkv 0:30 0:45

# Local file with custom subs
gifclip movie.mp4 --subs movie.srt 1:00 1:30

# French subtitles from YouTube
gifclip "URL" 1:00 1:15 --lang fr

Configuration

Configuration is stored in ~/.gifclip/settings.toml:

tool_source = "system"  # or "managed"

Run gifclip --setup to reconfigure.

License

MIT