Discord has a feature that allows you to set a GIF as your profile picture/avatar.
Changing your Discord profile picture to an animated one will make your profile stand out.
Whenever someone views your profile, they’ll see that your profile picture is animated.
However, they need to expand your profile to see it.
That said, not many users know how to set a GIF as their profile picture.
This is because when they set it, the GIF is not working—but why is this the case?
In this guide, you’ll learn how to get an animated profile picture (pfp) on Discord with or without Nitro.
How to get an animated profile picture on Discord
To get an animated profile picture on Discord, you need to get Nitro.
After you’ve got Nitro, find and save a GIF that you like on tenor (an online GIF search engine).
Lastly, go to your user profile and change your profile picture to the GIF to make it animated.
To view your animated profile picture, you need to navigate to a small Discord server.
Then, find your profile on the member list of the server and click on it.
When you click on your profile, it’ll expand, and you’ll be able to see that your profile picture is animated.
However, if you don’t have Nitro, the GIF will not move.
Hence, you need to have Nitro to set an animated profile picture.
Here’s how to get an animated profile picture on Discord:
- Navigate to “Discord Nitro”
- Get Discord Nitro
- Go to tenor and save a GIF that you like
- Change your avatar
- Resize the GIF
- View your animated profile picture on a Discord server
1. Navigate to “Discord Nitro”
In this guide, we’ll use the desktop version of Discord.
Firstly, open the desktop version of Discord and log in to your account.
Once you’re on Discord, you need to go to your user settings.
To do so, click on the gear icon next to your profile picture.
Skip this step if you’ve already have Discord Nitro.
After you’ve clicked on the gear icon, you’ll land on your user settings.
On the left sidebar, you’ll see multiple options.
This includes “My Account”, “User Profile”, “Privacy & Safety”, and more.
Under the “Billing Settings” header, you’ll see a “Discord Nitro” option.
Click on “Discord Nitro” to go to the Discord Nitro page.
If you don’t have Discord Nitro, you need to click on “Subscribe”.
2. Get Discord Nitro
Skip this step if you’ve already have Discord Nitro.
After you’ve clicked on “Subscribe”, you need to select a plan.
There are a couple of plans that you can choose from.
This includes the yearly plan and the monthly plan.
If you plan on using Nitro for a long time, select “Yearly” because you’ll save 16%.
However, you’ll have to pay $99.99 upfront.
On the other hand, if you plan on using Nitro for a short period of time, select “Monthly”.
After you’ve selected a plan, click on “Select” to confirm it.
After you’ve selected a plan, you’ll need to enter your debit or credit card details.
You can also use PayPal to subscribe to Nitro.
Next, you need to enter your address.
Once you’ve added a payment method, click on the checkbox to agree to the Discord Terms of Service.
When done, the “Nitro Activated” pop-up will open.
This means that you’ve successfully subscribed to Nitro!
Click on “Sweet!” to complete your subscription.
3. Go to tenor and save a GIF that you like
After you’ve subscribed to Nitro, you’ll be able to set an animated pfp (profile picture) on Discord!
But first, you need to download a GIF.
There are several GIF search engines that you can use.
This includes “Giphy”, “Tenor”, “Gfycat”, and others.
Tenor is highly recommended because it’s the default GIF search engine on Discord.
Firstly, go to Tenor by clicking on this link: https://tenor.com/.
Once you’re on Tenor, search for a GIF that you want to use as your Discord profile picture.
You can do this by using the search bar at the top of the page.
After you’ve found a GIF that you like, right-click it and click on “Save image as…”.
Then, save the GIF on your computer.
4. Change your avatar
After you’ve saved a GIF that you like on your computer, you need to set it as your Discord profile picture.
Firstly, go to your user settings on Discord.
On the left sidebar, you’ll see multiple options including “My Account”, “User Profile”, “Privacy & Safety”, and more.
Click on “User Profile” to go to your user profile.
On your user profile, you’ll be able to edit your Discord profile.
Firstly, click on “Change Avatar” to change your profile picture.
After you’ve clicked on “Change Avatar”, the File Explorer will open.
Now, you need to find the GIF that you’ve saved and select it.
On the File Explorer, navigate to the folder that you’ve saved the GIF in.
For example, if you’ve saved the GIF in the “Saved Pictures” folder, click on “Saved Pictures”.
If you forgot where you saved the GIF, click on “Downloads” to go to the downloads folder.
In the downloads folder, you’ll see your most recent downloads including GIFs.
Once you’ve found the GIF, click on it, then click on “Open” to select it.
5. Resize the GIF
After you’ve selected a GIF that you want to use as your Discord profile picture, you’ll land on the editing page.
On the editing page, you’ll be able to resize the GIF.
If the GIF is too small, you can enlarge it by moving the scale to the right.
Once you’re done resizing, click on “Apply” to apply the changes.
If you don’t want to resize the GIF, click on “Skip” to skip it.
After you’ve edited the GIF, you’ll see a preview of it under the “Preview” header.
If the GIF is working, your profile picture will be animated/moving.
Keep in mind that you need to have Nitro for the GIF to work.
Before you leave, don’t forget to save your changes!
Click on “Save Changes” to save your changes.
6. View your animated profile picture on a Discord server
After you’ve set a GIF as your Discord pfp (profile picture)/avatar, it’ll be animated.
To check if your profile picture is animated, you need to go to a small Discord server.
A small Discord server is defined as under 100 members.
Once you’re on a small Discord server, you’ll see its member list on the right sidebar.
Scroll down the member list until you find your profile.
Then, click on your profile to expand it.
Once you’ve expanded your profile, you’ll be able to see that your Discord profile picture is animated!
How to get an animated profile picture on Discord without Nitro
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to get an animated profile picture on Discord without Nitro.
This is because a GIF will only work if you have Nitro.
If you don’t have Nitro, the GIF will be a normal image.
In other words, it will not be animated.
Once you have Nitro, you’ll be able to use any appropriate GIF as your Discord profile picture and it’ll be animated.
Conclusion
There are a couple of Nitro types including Nitro and Nitro Classic.
Nitro Classic is the cheaper version of Nitro with fewer perks.
Nitro costs $9.99 per month while Nitro Classic costs $4.99 per month.
That said, both Nitro and Nitro Classic allow you to use an animated profile picture.
Using an animated avatar is one of many Nitro perks.
Nitro also allows you to make a custom or animated emoji, upload a profile banner, and more.
To see a full list of Nitro features, you can visit https://discord.com/nitro.
Further reading
How to Fix “You are being rate limited” on Discord
