Frequently Asked Questions
Is StillMotion really free?
Yes. StillMotion is completely free to use, supported by lightweight advertising rather than subscriptions or paywalls.
Are my photos uploaded to a server?
No. Every conversion happens locally in your browser using WebAssembly (ffmpeg.wasm). Your photo is never sent anywhere.
What image formats can I use?
JPG, PNG, WebP, and other formats your browser can natively decode, plus iPhone HEIC/HEIF photos, which are decoded locally via libheif-js.
What video formats can I export to?
MP4 (H.264) and WebM (VP8), both widely supported across social platforms, editors, and devices. We use the VP8 codec for WebM because the in-browser VP9 encoder is unstable.
What is the Ken Burns motion option?
It gives your clip a subtle cinematic drift instead of a frozen frame. You can choose a slow zoom in, a slow zoom out, or a gentle pan left or right. Each frame is rendered on your device, so a motion clip takes a little longer to encode than a static one.
How long can the video be?
Anywhere from 1 to 30 seconds. Your still photo is looped, or animated with Ken Burns motion, for the entire duration.
Why did the conversion fail or seem stuck?
The first click loads the ffmpeg.wasm engine, which is a few megabytes and can take a moment on a slow connection. Very large source photos can also take longer to encode. If it truly fails, try a smaller image, switch the output format, or refresh and try again.
Does this work on mobile?
Yes, StillMotion works in modern mobile browsers, though video encoding is more memory- and CPU-intensive on phones, so very long durations or very large photos may be slower.