GIF, or Graphic Interchange Format, is a file extension for an often animated raster graphics file and is the second most common image format used on the World Wide Web after JPEG.
GIF uses the LZW compression algorithm and is owned by Unisys. Though Unisys licensing statement indicates a license is required to use GIF files, in practice they have not required it and many downloaders and website builders remain ignorant to the required license and GIF’s proposed patent-free replacement in PNG.
What is a GIF File?
A GIF (with the file extension, .gif) is basically an image file format that is animated by combining several other images or frames into a single file. This single file is encoded as graphics interchange format (better known as GIF). Unlike the JPEG image format (.jpg), GIFs typically use a compression algorithm referred to as LZW encoding that does not degrade the image quality and allows for easy storing of the file in bytes.
The multiple images within a single GIF file are displayed in succession to create an animated clip or a short movie. By default, animated GIFs display the sequence of images only once, stopping when the last image or frame is displayed, although it can also loop endlessly or stop after a few sequences.
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