If we look up the word gif in the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) dictionary, we won't find it. It is an acronym ( GIF ) that refers to the English expression Graphics Interchange Format , which can be translated into our language as Graphics Interchange Format .
As an acronym, therefore, GIF is written in capital letters and does not vary depending on whether it is singular or plural. However, when referring to the extension of files developed in this format , it should be written in lowercase ( gif ) and does change in plural ( gifs ), as suggested by Fundéu BBVA – Fundación del Español Urgente .
Beyond these details, the idea of GIF or gif usually refers to a file of this graphic format, whose extension is .gif . GIFs are still images or animations .
Created in 1987 , the format gained popularity due to the efficiency of its compression algorithm , which allows large images to be downloaded in a short time. In images of up to 256 colors, the GIF does not lose quality , although when this number of shades is exceeded, a decrease in its attributes is recorded.
Nowadays, GIFs are often used in banners on websites . Many advertisements, in fact, are made into GIF files. This is due to the aforementioned speed of loading and downloading, as most browsers support the format.
GIF animations , on the other hand, are frequently used on social media . Because of their reduced size compared to videos and their ease of editing, these animations are used on Facebook , Twitter and other networks to complement messages or posts, representing ideas, emotions, etc.
In addition to all of the above, we cannot overlook the fact that GIFs are increasingly used in instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp or Telegram. In particular, we can highlight that the use of these elements has reached such a point that many people even use them to answer questions asked of them, to express how they are feeling at that moment and even to say hello or goodbye in a conversation.
We cannot overlook the fact that more and more people are not hesitating to create their own GIFs. To do this, they use videos from TV shows, movies or series as raw material, or videos they have recorded themselves with their smartphone camera. Then, they convert the moving images they want into GIFs using some of the specific apps that exist for this purpose.
Specifically, among the most used applications to create GIFs are Giphy GIF Maker, Biteable Video Maker, ImgFlip GIF Creator, GIF Marker, Gfycat, Microsoft GIF Maker or Make a GIF, among many others.
What's more, even today there are many digital media outlets that do not hesitate to use GIFs to give a more modern and fun touch to some of the news they publish daily. Among them we can find some such as “The New York Times” or “The Huffington Post”.