How to Remove the Background from GIFs and Videos to Add to Canva
GIFs and Memes on Instagram have long been very engaging and popular type of content to so many audiences.
Especially now since Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram recently announced loud and clear:
"Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app, or a square photo-sharing app"
Even though we shouldn’t be surprised by this announcement, since Instagram has been pushing towards video content for a while with stories, IGTV, Lives, Shortly after, the rumors started appearing quickly:
“Only video will do well on Instagram”
“We will now need to create a video for every post if we want to get engagement”
“The algorithm will hide everything that is not video”
While these statements are all exaggerations, it is a fact that mixing video to your Instagram content strategy is key for anyone who wants to stay on top of the trends and continue growing engagement and even followers.
But if you really need to stand out, just the old meme won’t cut it. I mean, there are whole accounts that are solely dedicated to memes with AMAZING content, so us mortals have to use all the tools we can.
In July 2020, we released our first set of templates that featured cut out GIFs in pretty colorful backgrounds. It was a huge hit!
We hadn’t seen any other account use GIFs that way before. Now they are all over the place and they are not about to go anywhere, as they still perform really well on your Instagram feed and stories and do they job to stop the scroll - which now is filled with fun and entertaining Reels, so posts really need to step up to remain relevant.
That’s why today I want to answer one of your most asked questions:
How to Remove the Background from GIFs and Videos to Add to Canva
I created this Reel at our Your Template Club account (which you need to follow if you like Canva tips!) to show you how do it, but will also add the step-by-step here.
How to remove backgrounds from your own videos or GIFs you find on Giphy.
Go to unscreen.com a free website where you can upload your short videos of GIFs and it will automatically remove the background and let you download the new GIF with the transparency.
Go to Canva and upload the GIF.
Add to any of your designs
Pro tip: create a folder in Canva to put all your GIFs so they are easy to find.
Note that this website will work much better for GIFs or videos with cleaner backgrounds, so you may not get the best results from every GIF.
If you want to get a set of Canva designs with the cut out GIFs already curated for you, check out our set of signature GIF templates, GIFs Speak Louder Than Words
Another option to add GIFs to your designs faster, is to go to the Giphy integration in Canva (which you can find in the “More” option on the left side menu in Canva).
The trick is, instead of doing your search normally you have to add the word sticker to the search bar.
“Ex: Schitts Creek sticker”
That way you will only see the options of GIFs with transparent backgrounds and will not have to remove them manually yourself.
There are less options, but you can still find some good ones and more are added every day.
Now that you’re armed with all these resources, you gave zero excuses not to add video content to Instagram!
Feeling the pressure to add more video content to your Instagram but don’t have hours to produce them?
These animated Canva templates for Instagram may be JUST what you need!
Manu Muraro is the founder of Your Social Team, an Instagram training membership and content shop to help social media managers and Instagram savvy women entrepreneurs to beat the algorithm and grow their organic engagement (yes, even in 2021). This year she also launched Your Template Club, a Canva Template subscription to provide social media managers and Instagram savvy business owners with content template designed for engagement in their inbox.
Born and raised in Brazil, Manu moved to the U.S. in 2000 right out of college to work for Cartoon Network, where she made an award winning career in creative and strategy. In 2017, Manu started Your Social Team with the mission of helping women entrepreneur and social media managers grow engagement and sales through Instagram without the overwhelm.