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GIF which stands for Graphics Interchange Format is developed by CompuServe to store multiple bitmap images in a single file. It supports animation, interlacing, multi-page, storing metadata, and preserving layers. GIF also supports transparency, which is a 1-bit per pixel plane-only mask using a color index. It's a lossless image format that uses LZW (Lempel–Ziv–Welch), a universal compression algorithm.
GIF has been extremely popular for many years, because of its simple structure and compatibility. It's widely known among internet users, when animated GIFs started to be used for short videos, internet memes, and other mediums to convey emotion and feelings, as a reaction in online messaging.
| Name | Graphics Interchange Format | ||||||||||||||||||
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| File Extension(s) | .gif | ||||||||||||||||||
| Category | Raster Images | ||||||||||||||||||
| Use For | Small animations and low-resolution video clips, internet memes, low-color sprite data for games, and sharp-edged graphics with a limited number of colors, such as logos. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Developer | CompuServe | ||||||||||||||||||
| MIME Type(s) | image/gif | ||||||||||||||||||
| License | While the GIF format itself is open, the LZW compression algorithm was covered by patents until the early 2000s. As of July 7, 2004, all relevant patents have expired and the GIF format may be used freely | ||||||||||||||||||
| File Sample(s) | N/A | ||||||||||||||||||
| Compression | Lossless (LZW) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Max Dimensions | 65,536×65,536 pixels | ||||||||||||||||||
| Color Modes |
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| Animation | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Transparency | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Interlacing | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Metadata | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Layers | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Multipage | Yes |