GIF Files: Definition, Functions, and Comparison [Information You Need to Know]

What Is GIF File Extension

Full Graphics Interchange Format, also known asGIF, is a digital file format created in 1987 by internet service provider CompuServe as a way to compress images and brief animations. GIF quickly gained popularity as a transmission and storage format for graphic files because it is a lossless data compression standard, meaning no information is lost during the compression.

Each GIF image can reference a palette of up to 256 different colors drawn from the 24-bit RGB color space thanks to the format's capability for up to 8 bits per pixel. Actually, GIF is often small image, and the majority of users use GIFs to make animated graphics for social media sharing.

In this passage, we will introduce what is a GIF file used for and how to open GIF files on Mac and Windows. To help you learn more about this file format, we'll also list the advantages and disadvantages of GIF files. You'll learn more in the last part if you want to know the difference between GIF and PNG.

What Is a GIF Used For

Basically, a GIF can be used for creating online animations, and GIF is popular among social media users. GIF files aren't designed to hold high-quality photos because they can only display a finite number of colors. Instead, GIFs work best with designs and logos with limited colors, crisp edges, and lines.

What can GIF brings you? The following tips will tell you the answer:

For social media users:

• More emotionally. A Gif file can add more emotional information to a simple text.
• Easy to share. GIF files are usually small, and users can download and save them easily.
• 容易找到。它是容易找到bunch of GIF files, and you can search for GIF files on Google.

For advertising designers:

• More detailed. GIF files will show more details about your product.
• Visible instructions. GIF is perfect for designers to create short instructions for users, and GIFs can repeat over and over until the users can fully understand the instructions.
• Catch attentions. GIFs can be shared easily between social media platforms, so the products will be seen easily.

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How to Open GIF Files on Mac

For Mac users who are using the latestmacOS base system, you can open GIF files with the Previewer directly, or you can open GIF files withSafarieasily. We will show you two methods in this part to help you open GIF files on Mac.

1. How to Open GIF Files on Mac with Safari

This method is a simple one, and most GIF files can be opened with Safari directly. Let's check how to open GIF files on Mac with Safari:

Step 1.Find and locate the target GIF file on your Mac.

Step 2.Right-click the target GIF file and choose "Open With", then you should click "Safari". The GIF file will play with Safari immediately.

2. How to Open GIF Files on Mac with Previewer

This method is the quick one and also a basic one. Most Mac users will open a GIF file in this way:

Step 1.Find your GIF file on Mac.

Step 2.单击它,按下空格键,然后GIF费尔e will be opened and played immediately.

Note:If you want to recover deleted GIF files on Mac, downloadingob欧宝电竞官网入口 will be a wise solution.

How to Open GIF Files on Windows

GIF is widely used, and it is also very simple to open a GIF file on Windows with default applications. We will show you how to open GIF files on Windows with the Photos app and Microsoft Edge.

1. How to Open GIF Files on Windows with Microsoft Edge

This method is similar to the methods on Mac. You can open GIF files on Mac with Safari, and you should open GIF files on Windows with Microsoft Edge.

Step 1. Locate the GIF file on your PC.

Step 2.Right-click the GIF file and choose Open With > Microsoft Edge.

2. How to Open GIF Files on Windows with Photos

Windows Photos application is a default photos viewer on Windows OS, and most pictures can be opened with the Photos:

Step 1.Locate the GIF file on your PC.

Step 2.Right-click the GIF file and choose Open With > Photos.

Note:If you accidentally deleted GIF files on Windows or your GIF files are corrupted/damaged, you should try EaseUS GIF repair software torepair corrupted GIF files.

GIF Files Pros and Cons

Maybe you don't know whether you should choose GIF files or not. We'll introduce the advantages and disadvantages of GIF files in this section:

Pros:

• GIF files are easy to create. Users will not need to be very professional, and even home users can create many GIF files in a short time.
• GIF files have a small size. Because GIF files are limited in colors, that makes GIF files are not very large.
• GIF files have a lossless compression feature, so the size is small but the image quality will not be compressed.

Cons:

• GIF files will not be very clear because of their color limitation.
• GIF files may be more challenging to show up than normal pictures when users are in a poor internet environment.
• GIF files are not as easy to edit as other image formats because it has multiple images.

Difference Between GIF and PNG

PNGfiles are also very popular, and we will offer a table to help you learn the differences between GIF and PNG files.

GIF	PNG
Support animations	Do not support animations
Small size	Bigger than GIF
Limited color range of 256 colors	Provides thousands of colors
MIME-type is image/gif	MIME-type is image/png
Supports layers and multi-paging	不支持层和多页

Final Words

We hope you have learned all the important messages about GIF files. If you have lost some essential GIF files on your Windows computer or Mac device, try the EaseUS GIF recovery program to restore the deleted GIF files.