GIF Format — What is Graphics Interchange Format?
GIF is one of the oldest image formats, best known for supporting animations. It uses lossless compression but is limited to 256 colors per frame.
Extension
.gif
Compression
Lossless
Transparency
Yes
MIME Type
image/gif
Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- • Animation support
- • Universal support
- • Simple transparency
- • Small file size for simple graphics
❌ Cons
- • Limited to 256 colors
- • Large animated file sizes
- • Binary transparency only
- • Outdated compression
Best Use Cases
- Simple animations
- Memes
- Simple graphics
- Legacy compatibility
Technical Details
GIF uses LZW compression and supports up to 256 colors per frame from a 24-bit color space. Transparency is binary (on/off, no semi-transparency). Animated GIFs use multiple frames.
History
GIF was introduced by CompuServe in 1987. Despite being over 35 years old, it remains popular for short animations and memes on the web.