GIF graphics format is short for Graphics Interchange Format and generally used for animated images such as short clips. GIFs are used as visual nuggets for web design and as a means of digital communication.
The term GIF is the abbreviation of “Graphics Interchange Format”. This is a file and image format introduced in 1987 which supports both static and dynamic images (such as short videos and animations) and comes with a powerful compression feature. Unlike other formats, its color palette is limited to 256 colors. The inventor and developer of the GIF format is the American programmer Steve Wilhite.
There are different designations of GIFs: Animated GIFs constitute a single animation through a succession of images. This animation can play once or repeat in an infinite loop. If this sequence of images is read at the same speed of real time, that is to say without acceleration or slowing down, then we speak of a real-time GIF.
