Stands for Graphics Interchange Format. Originally developed by CompuServe in 1987 to transmit graphics files across computer networks. The GIF format is limited to 8-bit or in other words 256 color images, and the image data is compressed with the LZW algorithm (after Lempel-Ziv-Welch). Unlike JPEG, the GIF format is lossless therefore it does not produce artifacts on images. In 1989, CompuServe added additional features to the format such as transparency, interlace, and the ability to store multiple images in a single file (this final feature would later give life to animated GIFs). Because of patent issues and other inherent limitations GIF is expected to be slowly replaced by the free and superior PNG format.
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The GIF Controversy: A Software Developer's Perspective
