Turn a video into a real Live Photo

Turn an MP4 or MOV into a real Live Photo, entirely in your browser. We write the pairing metadata iOS checks — nothing is uploaded, and your video is never re-encoded.

  • No upload — files stay on your device
  • No app, no sign-up, no watermark
  • Clips up to 10 seconds tested

Nothing is uploaded. Your files are processed in this browser and never leave your device.

What a Live Photo actually is

A Live Photo is not a file format. It is two ordinary files plus metadata that tells iOS they belong together.

Two files, one identifier

The still — a HEIC or a JPEG — carries a Content Identifier in its Apple MakerNote. The movie carries the same identifier in its own metadata, plus a small timed track that marks which moment of the movie the photo is. iOS pairs them on that shared identifier. Without it you simply have two unrelated files.

Why the conversion is instant

Because nothing is re-encoded. MP4 and MOV are both ISOBMFF containers, so a video to Live Photo conversion rewrites one field in the file-type header, writes the identifier into the still’s EXIF, and appends a nine-byte sample to the movie. A 2 MB clip finishes in about 11 milliseconds.

Why one sometimes fails to pair

The pairing lives in metadata, and some apps rebuild a file as it passes through and drop that metadata on the way. That is why a Live Photo sent through a messaging app often arrives as an ordinary photo. Keep the two files together and hand them over as files rather than as chat attachments.

How it works

Three steps, none of which involve an account.

  1. 1

    Choose a file

    It is read locally — the page never sends it anywhere.

  2. 2

    Pick the cover frame

    The frame Photos will show. We pull one from the video; you can drag to another.

  3. 3

    Download and import

    Save the Live Photo to your iPhone and add it to Photos in two taps.

What people use it for

Bring a clip back as a photo

A short clip from a phone, a drone or a gimbal becomes a Live Photo, so it sits in the photo library as a photo that moves instead of as a video you never open again.

Re-pair a Live Photo that got split

Once the still and the movie are separated, iOS no longer sees a Live Photo. Putting the two files back together restores the badge — and if the original pairing metadata is gone, we write a fresh one into both halves.

Pull a still out of a Live Photo

Upload forms and websites often refuse a HEIC or a Live Photo outright. Getting a plain JPEG out of the pair is usually faster than arguing with the form.

Make a GIF for places that take images only

A Live Photo to GIF conversion gives you something a chat app, a forum or a bug tracker will actually render, with no player and no plugin required.

Why this one is different

It makes a real Live Photo

Not a GIF, not a wallpaper app, not a video with the word “live” in the filename. The still and the movie share a Content Identifier and the movie carries its still-image-time track — the exact things iOS checks before it shows a LIVE badge.

Nothing is uploaded

Every conversion is plain JavaScript in this tab. There is no server in the loop, so there is nothing to leak and nothing to wait for.

Your video is never re-encoded

We copy the movie byte-for-byte and add metadata. It takes about a second even for a big clip, and the picture quality stays bit-identical to what you started with.

What it can’t do

Better to know now than after you have shared the link.

  • It can’t add the Live Photo to Photos for you

    Safari pages are not allowed to write to your photo library — iOS reserves that for installed apps. You finish with two taps: save the file, then Save to Photos.

  • Animated lock screens are not guaranteed

    Some iOS versions require camera motion data before they animate a generated Live Photo on the lock screen. It still plays normally in Photos, but wallpaper setup may show “Motion not available”.

  • It can’t transcode

    MP4 and MOV only. MKV, WebM and AV1 need a real encoder, which is exactly what we avoid shipping, so convert those to MP4 first.

Questions

You get 3 free conversions a day without an account, or 10 when signed in. Each successful conversion uses one credit. The free tier caps outputs we encode at 1080p and shows ads; a membership raises that to 4K and removes them.

Turn your first video into a Live Photo

It takes about a second, and nothing leaves your device.

Choose a video