GIF is an image file format commonly used for images on the web and sprites in software programs.
GIF stands for "Graphics Interchange Format."
Graphics
Interchange
Format
The inventor of the format, Steve Wilhite, has insisted from its introduction at a computer conference in the late 1980s that the pronunciation is [jif]. J. I. F.
Fuck that shit.
To pronounce GIF correctly, just say “gift” without the “t”. The word has a hard G because of the graphics word in: Graphics Interchange Format.
Unlike the JPEG image format, GIFs uses lossless compression that does not degrade the quality of the image. However, GIFs store image data using indexed color, meaning a standard GIF image can include a maximum of 256 colors. NOTE: A GIF image can actually store more than 256 colors. Because of the increase in file size, a 24-bit gif image is rarely, almost never, used.
The GIF format was published more than a quarter century ago, in 1987 by CompuServ. CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service) was the first major commercial online service provider/internet connection provider in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major influence through the mid-1990s.
Nearly all GIFs today use the newer version released in 1989, by CompuServe, the 89a format. While the gif format always has allowed multiple images to be stored and streamed within a single file; this newer 89a version added support for image stream/animation delays.
In the early years of the Web, animated GIFs were a popular way to display motion and liven up websites. They were commonly used for advertisements, such as banners and leaderboards. As Flash animations became more popular, animated GIFs became less prominent. However, animated GIFs have recently seen a resurgence on the web since they are supported by all platforms. For example, Apple's iOS does not support Flash animations, but can display animated GIFs.
The GIF format was meant for file efficient stills and shorter animations - it was not designed to compress animation, a stream of multiple images, effectively. Each frame in a GIF file is compressed independently. A GIF file will be much larger, than a video of the same length and comparable quality.
Internet, seriously: get this archaic, no longer sufficient, now cumbersome piece of garbage format carefully escorted to its well-deserved, cozy & classy retirement home. A modern, iterative, ultra light, non-online heavy, high quality video-based format should have been everywhere by now, accessible by all, all browsers, platforms/mobile etc, effectively and swiftly replacing the GIF.
... Meanwhile. Back on Earth. Present day.
Some websites/social networking sites/whatever sites allow small, shitty mp4 video files to be uploaded and looped. Some sites like IE imgur - one of the many popular image upload'n'share sites, come up with their own, native solution, like the .gifv - which is okay within the confined space of the imgur website, but it becomes more awkward to share or direct link for near-effortless/seamless consumption elsewhere.
The idea behind imgur's .gifv is to keep the convenience of a gif, but using an actual video format. Gifv is not actually a specific format, it's just a filename used to inform you that it's a video that's intended to be looped endlessly like a gif. A gifv is actually just a basic WebM or mp4 video file.
It'd be cool with a new standard, is all.
TLDR:
CompuServe, thank you for the GIF format. 30 years.
Internet, seriously: get this archaic, no longer sufficient, now cumbersome piece of garbage format carefully escorted to its well-deserved, cozy & classy retirement home. A modern, iterative, ultra light, non-online heavy, high quality video-based format should have been everywhere by now, accessible by all, all browsers, platforms/mobile etc, effectively and swiftly replacing the GIF.
Please don't blame the internet.
The internet is smarter and less fussed than the big companies in control of this shit. The only reason we don't have something better is because of licensing mafia (MPEG LA/HEVC Advance) and the companies behind the major browsers generally not giving a shit about the internet, its users and web developers.
APNG is getting support slowly now that Apple decided to go back on their decision to shoot the spec down a decade ago, Chrome/Opera will have support in their next versions. MS is the odd one out now. Mozilla have obviously had support for a decade since they cooked it up to begin with. The internet always wanted APNG, but Apple, Google (amongst others, like bloody Novell of all companies) shot it down 10 years ago.
One can only hope that now that software implementations of HEVC are royalty free that browsers will implement this. Because this one puts all the common "internet formats" (JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, APNG) to shame.
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