What is Data Gif Maker by Google News Labs?

Updated

Data Gif Maker is a free web tool from Google News Labs that turns data into animated GIFs. It lives at datagifmaker.withgoogle.com and is aimed at people who want a short, shareable visual instead of a static chart. The one hard requirement is JavaScript: the site itself tells visitors to enable JavaScript in their browser settings and refresh the page before it will run.

What it does

The tool's purpose is narrow and clear — take a data set and output it as an animated GIF. That format matters because GIFs autoplay and loop in most feeds, chat apps, and article embeds, so a data point can move on its own without a video player or an interactive chart library.

Typical uses:

  • A reporter illustrating a trend in a news story
  • A social post where a static chart would get scrolled past
  • A slide or newsletter where you want motion without embedding video

Who makes it

It is a Google News Labs project, hosted on a withgoogle.com subdomain. That origin is the main signal about what it is: an experimental or editorial-facing tool from Google's news-side team, not a general-purpose design suite. The share text the tool generates — "I've created an animated GIF using Data Gif Maker by Google News Labs" — confirms the attribution.

What to know before you use it

Question Answer
Cost No pricing information is published on the page
Account needed Not stated on the page
Works without JavaScript No — the page requires JavaScript enabled
Output format Animated GIF
Provider Google News Labs

If you land on the page and see only the JavaScript notice, that is the tool telling you it cannot initialize — check your browser's JavaScript setting (and any script-blocking extension) rather than assuming the site is down.

When it fits, and when it doesn't

Use Data Gif Maker when the goal is a lightweight, looping animation of a data series that plays anywhere a GIF plays. It is a poor fit if you need interactivity, precise axis control, or a format other than GIF — for those, a charting library or a full visualization tool is the better route.