@zorner/gifencoder

Streaming server-side animated (and non-animated) gif generation for node.js

This project is a modern republished and updated version of the original gifencoder package. It has been updated to use @napi-rs/canvas instead of the traditional canvas dependency , providing better compatibility with modern Node.js environments.

This update was created to ensure that existing applications and bot systems can continue running reliably , while benefiting from a more modern rendering backend.

Installation

This module is installed via npm:

$ npm install @zorner/gifencoder

Streaming API - Duplex Piping with Writes

You can also stream writes of pixel data (or canvas contexts) to the encoder:

const GIFEncoder = require('@zorner/gifencoder');
const encoder = new GIFEncoder(854, 480);
const pngFileStream = require('png-file-stream');
const fs = require('fs');

const stream = pngFileStream('test/**/frame?.png')
  .pipe(encoder.createWriteStream({ repeat: -1, delay: 500, quality: 10 }))
  .pipe(fs.createWriteStream('myanimated.gif'));

stream.on('finish', function () {
  // Process generated GIF
});

// Alternately, you can wrap the "finish" event in a Promise
await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
  stream.on('finish', resolve);
  stream.on('error', reject);
});

NB: The chunks that get emitted by your read stream must either by a 1-dimensional bitmap of RGBA data (either an array or Buffer), or a canvas 2D context.

Example: Streaming API - Reads

You can also use a streaming API to receive data:

const GIFEncoder = require('@zorner/gifencoder');
const { createCanvas } = require('canvas');
const fs = require('fs');

const encoder = new GIFEncoder(320, 240);
// stream the results as they are available into myanimated.gif
encoder.createReadStream().pipe(fs.createWriteStream('myanimated.gif'));

encoder.start();
encoder.setRepeat(0);   // 0 for repeat, -1 for no-repeat
encoder.setDelay(500);  // frame delay in ms
encoder.setQuality(10); // image quality. 10 is default.

// use node-canvas
const canvas = createCanvas(320, 240);
const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');

// red rectangle
ctx.fillStyle = '#ff0000';
ctx.fillRect(0, 0, 320, 240);
encoder.addFrame(ctx);

// green rectangle
ctx.fillStyle = '#00ff00';
ctx.fillRect(0, 0, 320, 240);
encoder.addFrame(ctx);

// blue rectangle
ctx.fillStyle = '#0000ff';
ctx.fillRect(0, 0, 320, 240);
encoder.addFrame(ctx);

encoder.finish();

The above code will generate the following animated GIF:

Contributing

gifencoder is an OPEN Open Source Project. This means that:

Individuals making significant and valuable contributions are given commit-access to the project to contribute as they see fit. This project is more like an open wiki than a standard guarded open source project.

See the CONTRIBUTING.md file for more details.

Notes

This repository republishes and modernizes the original gifencoder package in order to support modern Node.js environments by replacing the canvas dependency with @napi-rs/canvas.

The goal of this update is to maintain compatibility with existing projects while improving installation reliability and runtime performance .