> Quick answer: To use a laughing emoji GIF in Slack or Discord, upload your GIF to AnimGifMoji and it automatically resizes it to the required 128×128px and compresses it under 128KB (Slack) or 256KB (Discord). Download the converted file and add it as a custom emoji in seconds.
A good laughing emoji gif lands differently than plain text. It makes a joke land, defuses a tense thread, or just lets your teammates know that yes, you really did find that cat meme hilarious. This guide covers where to find the best laughing GIFs, how to convert them into custom emoji for Slack and Discord, and exactly what specs you need to nail before uploading.
AnimGifMoji is a free online tool that converts laughing GIFs into Slack-compatible custom emojis, automatically resizing to 128×128 pixels and compressing under 128KB. No account or download required.
Why Laughing Emoji GIFs Are Everywhere {#why-laughing-emoji-gifs-are-everywhere}
Laughing GIFs tap into a simple truth: animated reactions feel more human than a single static emoji. The 😂 face has dominated digital communication for years, but an animated version — the looping eyes, the shaking shoulders, the tears flying — communicates genuine amusement in a way still images just cannot match.
Workplace chat in particular has driven demand for funny emoji GIFs. Slack alone hosts millions of active workspaces, and custom emoji have become a core part of team culture. A perfectly timed animated laughing emoji gif in a channel thread signals personality, builds rapport, and often gets more engagement than a full paragraph of text. The same is true in Discord communities where reaction emoji can make or break a server's vibe.
The rise of gif emoji for slack has also spawned an entire ecosystem of animated emoji gif creators, converters, and search tools — because the average GIF from Tenor or Giphy is nowhere near the 128×128 pixel square a chat platform needs. That mismatch between what you find online and what platforms accept is exactly the problem AnimGifMoji was built to solve.
Best Laughing Emoji GIFs for Slack & Discord {#best-laughing-emoji-gifs-for-slack-discord}
Not all laughing GIFs translate well into tiny square emoji. The best ones share a few traits:
- Clear subject on a simple background. When you shrink a laughing GIF down to 128×128 pixels, busy backgrounds turn into visual noise. A face on a plain or transparent background stays readable even at emoji scale.
- Short loop (under 3 seconds). Long GIFs ballooned in file size. A tight 1–2 second loop of a laughing face or happy dance emoji gif compresses cleanly and loads fast in chat.
- High contrast motion. Subtle shoulder shakes get lost at small sizes. Exaggerated movement — tears shooting sideways, a full body happy dance — reads clearly even in the emoji tray.
Some perennially popular categories for a laughing emoji gif include:
- Classic 😂 face animations — the yellow laughing emoji brought to life with looping tears and squinting eyes
- Happy dance emoji gifs — a dancing figure or bouncing character that signals celebratory laughter
- Reaction meme GIFs — short clips of recognizable laughing reactions cropped and looped
- Cartoon character laughs — clean lines and solid colors that hold up perfectly at 128×128
The key is finding a GIF, then immediately running it through a converter to confirm it fits the platform specs. AnimGifMoji handles that conversion automatically, so you can search and convert in the same workflow without bouncing between tabs.
> 💡 Tip: Search for "laughing emoji" or "lol emoji" on AnimGifMoji's Tenor search at animgifmoji.com/search/tenor to find hundreds of animated laughing GIFs ready to convert.
How to Use a Laughing Emoji GIF in Slack {#how-to-use-a-laughing-emoji-gif-in-slack}
Slack accepts animated custom emoji, but it enforces strict size limits: 128×128 pixels and under 128KB. A typical laughing GIF you find online is 480×270 pixels and several hundred kilobytes — way too large to upload directly. Here is the step-by-step process using AnimGifMoji:
- Find your laughing GIF. Search Tenor directly at AnimGifMoji's Tenor search using terms like "laughing emoji", "funny emoji gif", or "happy dance emoji gif". Pick the one that makes you actually laugh.
- Convert it. AnimGifMoji automatically resizes the GIF to 128×128px and compresses it below Slack's 128KB file size limit while preserving the animation. No manual editing required.
- Download the converted emoji. Click the download button to save the properly sized animated GIF to your device.
- Open Slack and navigate to emoji settings. Go to Preferences → Emoji → Add Emoji (or click your workspace name → Settings & Administration → Customize → Emoji).
- Upload and name it. Click "Upload Image", select your converted laughing emoji gif, give it a name like
laughing-hardorlol-tears, and hit Save. - Use it in any channel. Type the shortcode or pick it from the emoji tray. The animated gif emoji plays inline in the message for everyone in your workspace.
You can learn more about the full upload workflow in the how to add gif emoji to Slack guide, which covers workspace admin permissions and troubleshooting common upload errors.
For reference on converting GIFs for Slack more broadly, see the convert GIF to Slack emoji walkthrough.
> ⚠️ Warning: Slack silently rejects custom emojis over 128KB. AnimGifMoji automatically compresses GIFs to meet this limit, so you never have to worry about upload failures.
How to Use a Laughing Emoji GIF in Discord {#how-to-use-a-laughing-emoji-gif-in-discord}
Discord's custom emoji specs are slightly more generous than Slack's: 128×128 pixels and under 256KB. Animated emoji in Discord are called "animated emoji" and display with the .gif extension in the emoji name. There is a catch though — to use animated custom emoji across different servers, you need Discord Nitro. Within your own boosted server, any member can use animated emoji.
Here is how to add a laughing emoji gif to Discord using AnimGifMoji:
- Search for your GIF. Use AnimGifMoji's Tenor search to find a laughing GIF, animated emoji gif, or funny emoji gif that fits the vibe of your server.
- Convert and download. AnimGifMoji resizes to 128×128px and keeps the file under 256KB automatically. Download the result.
- Open your Discord server. You need "Manage Emoji" permissions. Go to Server Settings → Emoji → Upload Emoji.
- Upload the animated GIF. Discord detects the animation automatically and marks it as an animated emoji. Name it something like
laughing_tearsorlol_dance. - Use it in chat. Type the colon shortcode or pick it from the emoji picker. Members with Nitro can use it in any server; everyone else can use it within your server.
For a deep dive on Discord-specific emoji creation, the Discord emoji maker GIF guide walks through the upload process and covers animated emoji limits per server tier.
How to Find Laughing GIFs with AnimGifMoji {#how-to-find-laughing-gifs-with-animgifmoji}
AnimGifMoji includes a built-in Tenor search at animgifmoji.com/search/tenor so you never need to leave the tool to find source material. The search pulls live results from Tenor's library, which has millions of animated GIFs including an enormous catalog of laughing, funny, and reaction GIFs.
Useful search terms that surface great laughing emoji gif candidates:
| Search term | What you get |
|---|---|
laughing emoji | Animated 😂 face loops, tears flying |
funny emoji gif | Reaction emoji in motion, face palms, hysterical laughing |
happy dance emoji gif | Bouncing, dancing figures for celebratory humor |
animated laughing | People and characters cracking up |
lol reaction | Short, punchy reaction clips that loop cleanly |
Once you find one you like, AnimGifMoji converts it in place — no download-and-upload cycle needed. This makes building a full set of slack gif emojis or discord emoji sets much faster than the manual approach of downloading from Tenor, opening an image editor, resizing, re-exporting, and hoping the file comes in under the limit.
If you want to start from a GIF you already have saved, the GIF to emoji converter accepts file uploads and handles the same automatic resizing and compression pipeline.
Platform Comparison: Slack vs Discord vs Teams {#platform-comparison-slack-vs-discord-vs-teams}
Before you convert your laughing emoji gif, check the specs for the platform you're targeting. Requirements differ enough that a file optimized for one platform may be too large for another.
| Platform | Max size | Max file size | Animated? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slack | 128×128px | 128KB | Yes | Animated GIF emoji play inline in messages for all workspace members |
| Discord | 128×128px | 256KB | Yes | Animated emoji require Nitro to use cross-server; work in own server without Nitro |
| Microsoft Teams | 128×128px | 1MB | Limited | Teams supports animated stickers but custom animated emoji support varies by version |
All three platforms share the 128×128px square format, which is why AnimGifMoji defaults to that output size regardless of which platform you select. The main variable is file size — Slack is the strictest at 128KB, so if your converted laughing emoji gif passes the Slack limit, it will pass everywhere else.
For animated gif slack use cases in particular, the animated emoji Slack guide covers how workspace admins can enable or restrict custom animated emoji and what policies apply to free versus paid Slack plans.
Frequently Asked Questions {#frequently-asked-questions}
What size does a laughing emoji GIF need to be for Slack?
Slack requires custom emoji to be exactly 128×128 pixels and under 128KB in file size. AnimGifMoji automatically resizes and optimizes any laughing GIF to meet these specs before you upload. You do not need to manually crop, resize, or run a separate compression tool.
Can I use an animated laughing emoji GIF in Discord without Nitro?
Animated custom emoji in Discord require a Nitro subscription to use in other servers, but server boosters can upload animated emoji to their own boosted server. Discord requires emoji files to be 128×128px and under 256KB. AnimGifMoji handles both constraints automatically when you convert a laughing GIF for Discord use.
Where can I find the best laughing GIFs to turn into emoji?
AnimGifMoji has a built-in Tenor search at animgifmoji.com/search/tenor where you can search for "laughing", "funny emoji gif", or "happy dance emoji gif" and convert the result to a custom emoji in one click. You can also upload any GIF you have saved locally.
How do I turn a laughing GIF into a Slack emoji?
Go to AnimGifMoji.com, search for or upload your laughing GIF, let the tool resize it to 128×128px and compress it under 128KB, download the converted file, then upload it to Slack via Preferences → Emoji → Add Emoji. The full step-by-step process is covered in the how to add gif emoji to Slack guide.
Does AnimGifMoji keep the animation in laughing emoji GIFs?
Yes. AnimGifMoji preserves the full animation when converting a laughing emoji gif. You get a properly sized animated GIF that plays in Slack messages, Discord chats, and anywhere custom animated emoji are supported. The conversion does not flatten the animation to a still image.