Try the animated text generator
Every animation tool here — text, logo, infographic or map — can export the same motion as SVG, PNG, GIF, WebM or MP4. That's flexibility, but it also means picking a format on every export. The short version: it depends entirely on where the animation is going, not on which format "looks best" in the abstract.
An animated SVG stays perfectly sharp at any size, because it's not made of pixels — it's shapes and CSS/SMIL animation the browser draws live. It's also usually the smallest file by far. The catch: it only works where the destination can render inline SVG or embed it — a website, an email client that supports it, or a design tool. It won't play as a "video" on a platform that expects a video file, and it can't be pasted into most social composers.
GIF plays everywhere with zero setup — no player, no controls, works in forums, README files, Slack and most social platforms as a native upload. The trade-off is real: GIF caps out at 256 colours per frame and has no true transparency gradient, so gradients and glows can band or look muddier than the same animation exported as MP4 or WebM. Use it when universal compatibility matters more than image quality, or when the platform specifically expects a GIF (a lot of chat apps and forums still do).
MP4 is the safe default for YouTube, most ad platforms, and anywhere that explicitly wants "a video file." It compresses far better than GIF at the same visual quality, so file sizes stay reasonable even for longer or more colourful animations. It doesn't support transparency, though — an MP4 always has a solid background.
WebM with alpha transparency is the format for laying an animation over existing footage in a video editor — a logo stinger over B-roll, an animated stat over a background clip. It behaves like an MP4 (efficient, good quality) but keeps the background transparent instead of solid. The trade-off is narrower support: it's for editing pipelines and tools that explicitly accept alpha WebM, not for pasting straight into most social composers.
If it is going on a web page you control, use SVG: smallest file, sharp at any size, transparent background available. If it is going anywhere social, use MP4, because feeds re-encode everything anyway and none of them accept SVG. Use GIF only when the destination genuinely will not take video — some email clients, some forums, some chat apps. Every style in the generator exports all four.
GIF is limited to 256 colours per frame. Any gradient, glow or soft shadow has to be dithered down to that palette, which is where the speckled banding comes from — and the style gallery is full of exactly those effects, so it is worth previewing your choice as a GIF before committing to one. GIF is also uncompressed by modern standards, so the file is frequently larger than the MP4 of the same clip while looking considerably worse. The one thing it still does well is play everywhere without a codec.
SVG avoids all of that because it stores no pixels at all — it stores the instructions, and the browser draws them fresh at whatever size the page needs. That is also why an exported SVG needs no library to run, and why one file works in a README, an email signature and a hero banner.