GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and is best known today for short, looping animations. Each frame can use at most 256 colours, and transparency is all-or-nothing: a pixel is either fully transparent or fully opaque. Its compression is lossless, but the colour limit makes photos look grainy or banded.

Use GIF for simple animations, reactions and small graphics that must play almost anywhere, including email clients. For longer or more colourful animations, an MP4 or WebM video, or an animated WebP, is far smaller and looks better.

Source formats: .gif