Let’s face it, GIF files have unintentionally shaped the 2010s. GIF files are used in more than 23% of websites worldwide — for now.
However, that might not be the case for long. A string of competitors and rivals have come up boasting superiority in almost every category.
These days, the mention of GIF doesn’t only bring to mind emoticons, memes, and laughs. Even the pronunciation of the file format is enough to spark geekdom protest.
So should you start converting from GIF files to other formats? Keep reading to find out!
The Advantages of Using GIF files
The advantages of GIF were many in the early 1990s, especially at the start of the internet as we knew it then.
GIFs were relatively small, compared to BMP or Microsoft Bitmap files. This was due to a revolutionary new technology called the LZW algorithm. This algorithm was a compression algorithm developed by Unisys and patented in several countries around the world.
CompuServe was the company that decided to take up the LZW algorithm and do something with image formats. They created the GIF on June 15, 1987.
The GIF had a lot of things to brag about, such as:
- Lossless saving formats
- Lossy compression
- Dithering
- 256 color depth
- Animation
Later, even more features were added, like binary transparency, infinite looping, and a specified number of loops.
This combination of features allowed for GIF to spread as a use of clipart and small animations on websites until the 2000s. After the patent in the USA expired in 2003 and the rest of the world in 2004, its use exploded commercially.
Even news sites got in on the action with things like cinemagraphs and GIF art as article headers.
The use of GIF stickers and memes on Twitter and Instagram pushed its use-case long beyond its expiration date.
The Disadvantages of Using GIF files
This discussion about patents and use-case brings us to the disadvantages. The use of licensed information for memes and commercial use brings GIF into international copyright focus.
The Olympic Committee and Disney both have tried with varying levels of success to halt, contain, or push back use of their products and broadcasts in viral social media content.
Even in 1999 because of the patent infringement cases against developers and corporations, there was a protest against using LZW algorithms.
Legal and social issues aside, there are many disadvantages for using GIF files today.
- Large size for animated files
- Low resolution for images
- Not photographically preferable
- Limited color palette
- Unpredictable loading times
- Non-editable after creation
- Long load times for webpages
- Huge file size and low resolution compared to rivals
To be fair, in the past there was a need for several different technologies to take up the torch for GIF files.
JPEG could act as a good photographic medium at small file size, but lacked transparency. It’s portable and was the king of the internet until PNG came along to dethrone it in a search for high-resolution graphics.
PNG could show transparency, have crisp lossless image fidelity, and also compressed 8-bit graphics like the GIF file type. What it lacked were animation capabilities. Though, we’ll get to that later.
SVG could be animated, but it was limited to more-or-less geometric shapes and difficult-to-use code. Flash animations worked for a little while, too on a vector image basis. Since SVG is vector-based and not raster-based, it didn’t work well as a good medium of image exchange.
A Whole New World: Moving Past the GIF
Today, though we have a need for high-resolution graphics and images, with transparency, and 4k size and short loading times. In the past, this was impossible. GIF, JPEG, and other file formats got their starts in the 1970s with algorithms that didn’t get to debut until at least 10 or even 20 years later.
Now, though, technology explodes onto the scene in a matter of a few years from conception to deployment.
Because of that, there’s a new sheriff in town. Rather, there are several.
There are several new file types with their own extensions. These are:
- GIFV
- MP4
- WebM
- WebP
- APNG
These five filetypes cover just about everything a GIF would do and more. Some are made as a direct replacement of GIF files while others just happen to do some of the features we enjoy quite well.
MP4, GIFV, and WebM are compressed video or image file formats. A GIFV is meant as a replacement for GIF on sites like Imgur where a GIF would take up massive server size and load to run. It runs within an HTML5 element much like an MP4.
WebM is a Google project to make load times better and offer all the possibilities of MP4 and other video compression in a lossless or lossy format at small file size.
WebP is for pictures rendering. It has transparency, compression, lossy and lossless formats, and animation at larger resolutions, more colors, and smaller file size.
APNG, like the PNG, was made to replace GIF. Finally, though, the PNG has extended to include animations. APNG stands for Animated Portable Network Graphics, and is made specifically to animate at better color depth, frame rendering, resolution, and file size constraints than GIF.
Solved: No More GIF Problems
It’s actually amazing that there is a computer technology that is still being used more than 30 years after its implementation. Not even HTML and JPEG can have the distinction of being relatively unchanged during their lifetime of use.
Offdrive is the file conversion expert with several file conversion server-side applications you need. In order to bring your GIF files new life, you can choose from WebP, MP4, and more.
Check out what file conversion methods work best for your GIF file if it’s a logo, a meme, or something else. Our conversions will always be free. We use our powerful servers, rather than your phone or computer, to process the file conversion