Copying Tumblr GIFs

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Before computers developed the ability to play video, people used animated GIFs to make motion appear on websites. Animated GIF files are making a comeback in the 21st century thanks to sites such Tumblr. In fact, you’ll often see Tumblr posts that consist of nothing but animated GIFs. If you like a particular GIF animation, you can copy it from a Tumblr page and save it on your computer.

Copying Web Images

All modern browsers display a menu that opens when you right-click a Web page. To save an image, right-click it and select one of the menu's save options. Browsers may give that option a name, such as "Save Image," "Save Image As" or "Save Picture" After you click that option, your browser prompts you to choose a location to save the image. Double-click one of your hard drive's folders and click a save button to save the file. If you right-click a Tumblr GIF and you don't see an option to save an image, double-click the GIF to display it on a new Web page. You can then right-click the GIF and save it the way you'd save any other image.

Find Images to Copy

When you visit your Tumblr dashboard, you may see posts from people you follow; some posts may have animated GIFs. While you could scroll through those posts and look for animations, you may enjoy viewing a massive page filled nothing but animated GIFs. Find that page by typing #gif in your search box and pressing “Enter.” Tumblr returns a page full of GIFs that people have tagged. If you reach the bottom of the page while scrolling down, wait a few moments and more GIFs appear.

View Your GIFs

After you copy a Tumblr GIF to your hard drive, you can view it by launching a browser, pressing "Ctrl-O" and navigating to the folder that contains the GIF. Double-click the GIF and your browser displays it on a new Web page. This works because browsers have the ability to display GIF animations. After you copy a GIF from Tumblr, you can upload it back to Tumblr if you like and use it in your own post. However, an easier way to share someone else’s image is to reblog the post that contains the GIF.

Watch Your Resource Usage

If you're running low on disk space, you could run out if you copy a lot of large animated GIFs. Because each GIF contains multiple image frames, animated GIFs are larger than regular files. Your computer must also use resources to make each GIF that you see move. If you display a Web page that has dozens of moving GIFs, you may notice a slight slowdown as you work in your browser. Close the page that contains the GIFs when you don't need to see them anymore.