Fix: Discord GIFs Not Working

GIFs can stop working from time to time. Luckily, there are many ways to fix this. Check out these fixes if Discord GIFs aren't working.

You’re probably very familiar with Discord’s text channels and their features. Here you can send messages, images, gifs, and even videos. Although, there is a file size limit that prevents users from sending specific files.

But either way, an 8MB limit is usually more than enough to send images and GIFS. Discord even has a built-in option to send GIFs from Tenor.

Unfortunately, it seems that GIFs can stop working from time to time.

So let’s look at some of the ways you can fix that.

Table of ContentsShow

Fix 1: Use Tenor

Even though Discord’s built-in feature for Tenor GIFs is so apparent, some users don’t know it exists, so they send GIFs by downloading and then uploading them to a text channel. There are many reasons why this does not always work, so just tell all users in your server to rely on Tenor.

Discord Tenor GIFs

Once everyone gets in the habit of using this feature, nobody should have issues with GIFs.

However, if you believe there’s a deeper issue looming, let’s look at some other fixes.

Fix 2: GIF Is Over 8MB

Even though we recommend Tenor over manual uploads, there will always be certain GIFs that are not available on Discord, so we understand why you would want people to upload a GIF.

However, the user sending it must ensure that the GIF is not over 8MB; otherwise, it will not upload. You can compress the file size if you crop out certain parts of the image or try exporting the file at a much lower resolution.

Discord GIF Over 8MB

Alternatively, you can subscribe to Discord Nitro which ups the file size limit to 50MB while boosting a server 14 times and provides a 100 MB upload limit for all members.

Fix 3: Slow/Bad Internet Connection

This could be one of the most widespread reasons Discord GIFs do not work. You can observe that someone sent it in the text channel, but it does not load and appears as a static image.

Discord Slow Internet Connection

This could be the cause of slow or a bad internet connection. To ensure the issue is not with your internet, try connecting with your phone’s mobile data.

You can do that via Bluetooth or USB tethering or through a WiFi hotspot.

How To USB Tether

If you don’t have WiFi on your PC, plug your phone into the PC with a USB cable, head over to Settings – Connections – Mobile Hotspot and Tethering, and enable “USB tethering.” Make sure you have Mobile Data enabled!

Now return to the computer, disconnect from your regular network, and verify if the Discord GIFs are functioning. If they’re not, it is advisable to contact your ISP for internet problem solving.

If the GIFs on Discord are still not moving, it’s a different problem.

Fix 4: Test Discord On A Different Device

We tested a different network, and that wasn’t the solution. So what if the issue is with the computer itself? Well, you can try that by logging into Discord with any other device.

You can use another computer, laptop, tablet, or even your phone. Just log in, open the text channel and see if the GIFs are working.

Are you getting the same problem? If that is the case, this might be a widespread problem with the platform leaving you to wait and hope that Discord will fix it.

Alternatively, it could be an issue with your account, so let’s check out the User Settings to see if everything’s correctly set up.

Fix 5: Enable/Disable Hardware Acceleration And OpenH264 Video Codec

We are going to be looking out for the Hardware Acceleration option. Here’s how you can get to it:

  1. Open Discord.
  2. Click the cogwheel icon (bottom-left) to open User Settings.
    Discord User Settings
  3. Click on Voice & Video on the list of settings on the left.
  4. In this tab, scroll a bit, and you should see H.264 Hardware Acceleration and OpenH264 Video Codec.

You found the settings; now, there are a couple of things you can test.

  • If both settings are enabled, disable Hardware Acceleration and test a GIF. Also, test with both options disabled.
  • If both settings are disabled, enable both of them and test whether GIFs are working for you.
Discord Voice & Video

If this does not work, let’s rummage around User Settings a bit more.

Fix 6: Other User Settings

While still in User Settings, head to the Text & Images tab. Here are a couple of settings you should enable:

  • When posted as links to chat.
  • When uploaded directly to Discord
  • Show embeds and preview website links pasted into chat
Discord Text & Images

One more thing!

Go to the Accessibility tab and enable “Automatically play GIFs when Discord is focused.”

After playing around with the settings, restart Discord and head into any text channel to test the GIFs.

Supposing this didn’t resolve your issue, let’s try reinstalling Discord.

Fix 7: Reinstall Discord

It might seem like a long shot to reinstall Discord, but it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, and it may just work. It’s worth the try.

To reinstall, open Start Menu, search for Add or remove programs and select it. Search for Discord and hit Uninstall.

uninstalling Discord

With that done, you can go to Discord’s official website and download the application. Run the setup, and it should install after just a minute or two. Login, enter a text chat, and test the GIFs.

Fix 8: Use GIF Links

If none of the solutions we mentioned above are working for you, your next best option could be to inform all users on your server to utilize websites similar to Tenor.

Thanks to that “Show embeds and preview website links pasted into chat” we enabled in one of the previous fixes, Discord will show a preview of almost any GIF link sent, making it much more convenient for viewing.

Here is a comparison of the option on and off:

As you can see, the left image (enabled) provides a preview of the GIF link, while the right image (disabled) does not.

Here are some GIF websites:

  • Giphy
  • EZGif
  • Imgur
  • Tumblr
  • Gfycat

There are tons of others online, but these are some of the most popular options.

Contact Discord Support

Contact Support

If third-party GIF links are not working for you, this might be a problem that you won’t be able to fix on your own or with any kind of guide.

That’s why it might be best to contact Discord’s support.

Just head over to their support website to submit a request, fill in all the necessary information, send the ticket and wait for a response.

The team should get back to you in a day or two.

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Branko Gapo

Keeping up with the incredibly fast evolution of computer technology is impossible. Branko aims to use his knowledge on this matter to share news and information on all the latest essential technological innovations and advancements.