Editing GIF (section)

{{short description|Bitmap image file format family}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Overly detailed|details=color palettes and the structure of the file format|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox file format
| icon =
| iconcaption =
| icon_size =
| screenshot = Rotating earth (large).gif
| screenshot_size = 200px
| caption = An [[#Animated GIF|animated GIF]] of a [[Earth's rotation|rotating globe]]
|_noextcode =
| extension = {{code|.gif}}
<!-- or: | extensions = -->
|_nomimecode =
| mime = {{code|image/gif}}
| type code = {{code|GIFf}}
| uniform_type = com.compuserve.gif
| conforms_to =
| magic = <code>GIF87a</code>/<code>GIF89a</code>
| developer = [[CompuServe]]
| released = {{start date and age|df=yes|1987|6|15}}<ref name="87aSpec">{{cite web |url= http://www.w3.org/Graphics/GIF/spec-gif87.txt |title= Graphics Interchange Format, Version 87a |date= 15 June 1987 |publisher= [[W3C]] |access-date= 13 October 2012 |archive-date= 22 December 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181222025600/http://www.w3.org/Graphics/GIF/spec-gif87.txt |url-status= live }}</ref>
| latest_release_version = 89a
| latest_release_date = {{start date and age|1989}}<ref name="89aSpec">{{cite web |url= http://www.w3.org/Graphics/GIF/spec-gif89a.txt |title= Graphics Interchange Format, Version 89a |date= 31 July 1990 |publisher= [[W3C]] |access-date= 6 March 2009 |archive-date= 22 December 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181222182620/http://www.w3.org/Graphics/GIF/spec-gif89a.txt |url-status= live }}</ref>
| genre = [[Lossless data compression|lossless]] [[Raster graphics|bitmap]] [[Graphics file format|image format]]
| container_for =
| contained_by =
| extended_from =
| extended_to =
| standard =
<!-- or: | standards = -->
| free =
| url = {{URL|https://www.w3.org/Graphics/GIF/spec-gif89a.txt}}
}}
<!-- IMPORTANT: PRONUNCIATION CHANGES WITHOUT DISCUSSION WILL BE REVERTED

If you have a good reason for wanting this article to focus on one particular pronunciation, you are welcome to raise your concerns on the talk page and start a discussion about it. Maybe you will even change the current consensus on this point and then be able to change this article. Any changes made to the article without discussion will be reverted.

Thank you for listening. -->
The '''Graphics Interchange Format''' ('''GIF'''; {{IPAc-en|ɡ|ɪ|f}} {{respell|GHIF}} or {{IPAc-en|dʒ|ɪ|f}} {{respell|JIF}}, {{crossreference|see {{slink||Pronunciation}}}}) is a [[Raster graphics|bitmap]] [[Image file formats|image format]] that was developed by a team at the online services provider [[CompuServe]] led by American computer scientist [[Steve Wilhite]] and released on June 15, 1987.<ref name="87aSpec" />

The format can contain up to [[8-bit color|8 bits per pixel]], allowing a single image to reference its own [[Palette (computing)|palette]] of up to 256 different colors chosen from the [[24-bit color|24-bit]] [[RGB color model|RGB color space]]. It can also represent multiple images in a file, which can be used for [[animation]]s, and allows a separate palette of up to 256 colors for each frame. These palette limitations make GIF less suitable for reproducing color photographs and other [[Image gradient|images with color gradients]] but well-suited for simpler images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of color.

GIF images are compressed using the [[Lempel–Ziv–Welch]] (LZW) [[lossless data compression]] technique to reduce the file size without degrading the visual quality.

While once in widespread usage on the [[World Wide Web]] because of its wide implementation and portability between applications and operating systems, usage of the format has declined for space and quality reasons, often being replaced with newer formats such as [[PNG]] for static images and [[MP4 file format|MP4]] for videos. In this context, short video clips are sometimes termed "GIFs" despite having no relation to the original file format.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/10/using-reaction-gifs-over-tumblr-giphy/671680/|title=The GIF Is on Its Deathbed|last=Tiffany|first=Kaitlyn|publisher=[[The Atlantic]]|date=2022-10-07|access-date=2023-10-21}}</ref>