The ‘father’ of the GIF animation format passed away

Mr. Wilhite created the GIF image format in 1987 while working as a technical lead at CompuServe, one of the largest Internet service providers in the US at the time. CompuServe is currently owned by the US telecommunications corporation Verizon. In 2012, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the GIF image format, Mr. Wilhite was awarded the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award, which is considered the “Oscar” of Internet achievements.

In its simplest form, a GIF is just an image file. However, GIF format has more special features, so it is called animation. GIF is so named because it is not yet a video and also has no sound.

Currently, GIF is gradually becoming popular and widely used in the world of social networks. GIF animations help users convey emotions, jokes, and ideas in a more vivid way.

Besides, GIF is also very easy to use. GIFs are built-in on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and phone keyboards. Therefore, users do not need to go through the steps of downloading or installing, but just need to find keywords by emotion, the image they want to convey to express their feelings and thoughts in chats, comments. and posts on social networking sites.