How to convert a terminal recording to a GIF?

nobody

12/11/22, 7:40 PM

I made a terminal record with the script tool.

mediainfo video 
General
Complete name                            : video
File size                                : 1.29 KiB

I can play it with scriptreplay. Is it possible to convert it to a GIF, for example with ffmpeg or another program?

To clarify, I mean script from the bsdutils package, not a program script. I thought that the saved file is a kind of video, so I can grep some frames/pictures and create a GIF of it.

I hope it is more clear now.

222

1 + 1

multimedia

ffmpeg

20.04

Nmath

12/11/22, 9:12 PM

It's not clear what you are asking. `.gif` is an image file format. What does it have to do with your script? Please edit your question and include more context and details.

Score:5

Ubuntu

BeastOfCaerbannog

12/12/22, 9:54 AM

A nice option is to use ttyrec to record your terminal activity and then convert it to a GIF using ttygif.

Install the ttyrec and ttygif packages:
```
sudo apt install ttyrec ttygif
```
Open a terminal and start ttyrec to record your terminal:
```
ttyrec
```
Running ttyrec without an argument will save the recording in a file named ttyrecord in your current folder. You can specify a filename as an argument to save the file with this name.
Use your terminal.
Press Ctrl+D to stop recording.
To convert the recording to a GIF, run:
```
ttygif ttyrecord
```
If you saved the recording with another filename, change ttyrecord to the filename you used.

This command will save the recording as a GIF with the name tty.gif.

Here is a GIF I created with the above procedure that contains the above procedure:

Notes

If you get this error when you run ttygif:
```
Error: WINDOWID environment variable was empty
```
you need to run the following command before running ttygif:
```
export WINDOWID=$(xdotool getwindowfocus)
```
The above command needs xodtool. You can install it using:
```
sudo apt install xdotool
```
Reference: https://github.com/icholy/ttygif#additional-notes
ttygif does nor work with qterminal for some reason. Use another terminal for the conversion instead.

I have confirmed that it works fine with kitty, it's slow with GNOME terminal, and it's extremely fast with XTerm.
The ttygif command can produce big-size directories in /tmp. I recommend removing them manually after the conversion using:
```
rm -r /tmp/ttygif.*
```

0 + 2

Raffa

12/12/22, 10:02 AM

Nice colors :) ... +1

BeastOfCaerbannog

12/12/22, 10:10 AM

@Raffa Thank you! I'm using `zsh` with the [spaceship prompt](https://spaceship-prompt.sh/). My terminal is [kitty](https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/) and the theme I use is [Argonaut](https://github.com/daveyarwood/kitty-themes#argonaut). :)