What Is GIF?

Date First Published: 29th July 2023

Topic: Computer Systems

Subtopic: Computer Software

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 5/10

Learn about what GIF is in this article.

Stands for Graphics Interchange Format. GIF is an image format with an 8-bit colour depth, meaning that it can only display 256 different colours from the 24-bit RGB colour space. It also uses lossless compression, so that the image can be decompressed to its original form without losing quality. It is often used for short animations because GIF files are easy to create and share due to their small size and high quality. However, JPEG files are more suitable for sharing photos because they support more colours than the GIF format.

GIF files can be opened by most image viewers, video viewers, and web browsers. Windows and macOS come with built-in image viewers that support GIF files, including Microsoft Photos and Apple Preview. Most image editors, including Microsoft Photos, Apple Preview, and Corel PaintShop Pro, can also convert GIF files to other image formats, including JPEG, PNG, and BMP.

Note:

GIF files have the ".gif" file extension and the "image/gif" MIME media type.

Use Of The GIF Format

Due to the limited number of colours and the ability to make a single colour transparent, the GIF format is often used for simple graphics, like logos and banners on websites that don't require many colours. Most websites use the newer PNG format since it supports a wider range of colours and is more suitable for high-quality photos, but it is still in common usage on the Web due to its wide support and portability between operating systems and applications.

Although GIF files can be used to display static images, the most common use of the GIF format is for animation. JPEGs and PNGs do not support animation, so animated GIFs remain popular on the Web. Animated GIFs are often used for display motion, like on banner ads and memes, and for casual communication on social media to make images more interesting to users. They are short, don't contain any sound, and tend to have a low resolution. Animated GIFs include multiple images (frames), which are played back in a sequence when the file is opened or displayed on the Web. The Graphics Control Extension enables a single GIF file to store multiple frames.

Pronunciation

According to Steve Wilhite, the creator of the original GIF format, the proper pronunciation is "jiff", like the peanut butter brand Jif. But, most people pronounce it as "gif" with a hard G. Therefore, both pronunciations are acceptable.

History

The GIF format was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe and led by an American computer scientist Steve Wilhite. It was officially released on 15th June 1987 and designed to speed up the download process for large images. The original version of GIF was called 87a. In 1997, CompuServe released an updated version of the format called 89a, which added support for animation delays, transparent background colours, storage of application-specific metadata, and the ability to allow text labels as text.

On 24th December 1994, Unisys and CompuServe announced that licensing fees were required for software that creates and displays GIF images. This caused controversy amongst developers and website owners using GIF images, leading to the development of the non-patented PNG format. The Software Freedom Law Center announced that after 1st October 2006, any patent claims interfering with the usage of the GIF format have expired and users should not have any issues using the format.

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