How to fix a broken animated gif in WordPress Gutenberg

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Animated gifs are image files that loop, almost like a video. You place animated gifs, which have a file extension of .gif, as images in WordPress’s block editor. Sometimes your animated gif displays only as a single image. In this case, the animation and looping in the file are not working. This animated gif error can be frustrating, but the WordPress fix for this error is straightforward.

Add or embed an animated gif in WordPress

First, upload an animated gif to the Media Library using Image in the block editor.

Screenshot of Image Upload in WordPress’s Block Editor

Adjust Animated Gif Image Size Settings

After your animated gif image is uploaded, inspect the Block settings. Find the Block settings in the right panel on the page. Select an Image Size of Full Size.

Fix a Broken Animated Gif in WordPress

Check if your animated gif Image Size selection is Full Size. The gif’s animation will not work if the animated gif size selection is anything other than Full Size.

Animated gifs only work in WordPress if the selected Image Size is Full Size.
Animated gifs only work in WordPress if the selected Image Size is Full Size.

Once you’ve changed the Image Size to Full Size, you should start to see the looping of your animated gif. This is an easy peasy solution to fix a broken animated gif.

If, for some reason, this still doesn’t fix your problem, double-check that your gif is, in fact, animated. You can do this by opening your gif file in your browser. In Chrome, go to File > Open File. If the gif is not animating in the browser window, the animation issue is with your file, not the gif file’s display in WordPress.

Happy Blogging!

About the author

Kelly Barkhurst

Designer to Fullstack is my place to geek out and share tech solutions from my day-to-day as a graphic designer, programmer, and business owner (portfolio). I also write on Arts and Bricks, a parenting blog and decal shop that embraces my family’s love of Art and LEGO bricks!

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By Kelly Barkhurst

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