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GIF

bitmap image file format family
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Summary

GIF is a raster-graphics file format[1]. GIF ranks in the top 5% of raster graphics file format entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (15,340 views/month).[2]

Key Facts

  • Instance of: lossless compression[3], image compression[4], video compression[5]
  • Based on: Lempel–Ziv–Welch[6]
  • Developer: CompuServe[7], Steve Wilhite[8]
  • Subclass of: format[9]
  • Commons category: GIF file format[10]
  • Has part(s): Graphics Interchange Format, version 87a[11], Graphics Interchange Format, version 89a[12]
  • Inception: 1987[13]
  • Described at URL: https://www.w3.org/Graphics/GIF/spec-gif89a.txt[14], https://raw.githubusercontent.com/synalysis/Grammars/master/gif.grammar[15], https://www.sweetscape.com/010editor/repository/files/GIF.bt[16], https://raw.githubusercontent.com/0xdabbad00/icebuddha/gh-pages/parse_scripts/gif.py[17], https://raw.githubusercontent.com/haypo/hachoir3/master/hachoir/parser/image/gif.py[18], https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaitai-io/kaitai_struct_formats/master/image/gif.ksy[19], https://www.fileformat.info/format/gif/egff.htm[20], https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wader/fq/master/format/gif/gif.go[21]
  • Media type: image/gif[22]
  • File extension: gif[23]
  • Described by source: Compressed Image File Formats[24]
  • Stack Exchange tag: https://stackoverflow.com/tags/gif[25]
  • Short name: GIF[26]
  • Name: Graphics Interchange Format[27]
  • Exact match: http://rs.tdwg.org/format/values/m010[28]
  • Endianness: little endian[29]
  • File format identification pattern: GIF[30], 474931[31]
  • Maintained by WikiProject: WikiProject Internet[32], WikiProject Computing[33], Computer animation work group[34], WikiProject Animation[35]

Body

Influence

Things named for GIF include Kuaishou[36], a mobile app[37], in People's Republic of China[38], founded in 2015[39], headquartered in Beijing[40].

Why It Matters

GIF has Wikipedia articles in 30 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[41] GIF is known by 30 alternative names across languages and contexts.[42]

Entities named for GIF include Kuaishou[36], a mobile app[37], in People's Republic of China[38], founded in 2015[39], headquartered in Beijing[40].

Related Entities

ABBYY FineReader 11 Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Adobe FrameMaker 5.5 Adobe FrameMaker 6 Adobe Photoshop Android Camtasia Studio 3.0 Camtasia Studio 4.0 CoffeeCup Software CoffeeCup Website Color Schemer Creator NXT 2 EF*CK Chat Keyboard Figma FrontPage Explore Front Page Explorer Kimoji Mathematica Matisse Light netScope Server netScope Viewer OmniPage Pro 12 PDF Guru Piskel PrintMaster Gold Classic Snagit 8 Steve Wilhite Topaze Udine

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [3] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  2. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  3. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  4. [6] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  5. [7] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [8] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  8. [10] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  9. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  10. [12] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  11. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  12. [14] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [15] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  14. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  15. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [18] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  18. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [21] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  23. [25] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [28] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [29] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  29. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  30. [32] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [33] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  33. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Inverse relationships (entities pointing at this one)

  1. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site

Inline context (facts about related entities)

  1. [37] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  2. [38] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  3. [39] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  4. [40] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site

Class ancestry

  1. [1] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [2] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [41] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [42] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). GIF. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/gif
MLA “GIF.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 14 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/gif.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_gif_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{GIF}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/gif}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-14}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): GIF — https://4ort.xyz/entity/gif (retrieved 2026-10-14)

Canonical URL: https://4ort.xyz/entity/gif · Last refreshed:

Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 20d ago · ~2026-51794-61 · 2026-09-26 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Google play store app id → com.whatsappstickers.stickermakerforwhatsapp
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ Google play store app id: com.whatsappstickers.stickermakerforwhatsapp"
  2. 6w ago · ~2026-47878-27 · 2026-09-03 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    File format identification pattern → GIF, 474931
    Maintained by wikiproject → WikiProject Internet, WikiProject Computing, Computer animation work group +1
    "/* wbsetclaim-update:2||1 */ File format identification pattern: 474931"
  3. 10w ago · Treisijs · 2026-08-07 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Maintained by wikiproject → WikiProject Internet, WikiProject Computing, Computer animation work group +1
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ Maintained by wikiproject: WikiProject Internet"
  4. 18w ago · HelloImSteven · 2026-06-10 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Foldoc id → GIF, Graphics+Interchange+Format
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ Foldoc id: Graphics+Interchange+Format, import FOLDOC ID ([[:toollabs:editgroups/b/wikibase-cli/9aef88c707e54/|details]])"
  5. 21w ago · Twofivesixbot bot · 2026-05-18 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Edam ontology id → format_3467
    "/* wbsetclaim-update-qualifiers:1||1|8 */ Yso id: 39005, mv to monolingual text names on YSO statements"
  6. 24w ago · Piotr Osada · 2026-04-30 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Subclass of → format
    Has part(s) → Graphics Interchange Format, version 87a, Graphics Interchange Format, version 89a
    Inception → —
    Instance of → —
    + 12 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:2||1 */ National library of poland mms id: 9814610070405606"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.