# Does 'GIF' automatically mean 'animated GIF' to you young'uns? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 27, 2024, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478 "2024-03-27T21:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/41 "2024-03-30T17:29:39Z")
I don’t think @scudsucker means that the GIFs were literally vector images, just that images created as vector images, if they must be converted to a raster format for some reason, are well suited to GIF (certainly better than JPEG for that purpose). ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/42 "2024-03-30T17:35:24Z")
It was the late 90s, early 2000s. GIF was just better at rasters. (I mis-spoke when I typed “vector”, I am sorry) Also I championed PNG in my office when they became widely supported, and this was an office that kept an iMac G3 machine purely to cater to one client. Who knew Microsoft Internet Explorer (6.0) on Apple software could handle PNGs back in the old days? I knew. I knew. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/43 "2024-03-30T17:37:49Z")
Yes, precisely. We did not have a vector format back then. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/44 "2024-03-30T17:40:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t think @scudsucker means that the GIFs were literally vector images, just that images created as vector images, if they must be converted to a raster format for some reason, are well suited to GIF (certainly better than JPEG for that purpose). Any raster format, no? For Knuth’s Metafont stuff (1977–1984) he used some sort of run-length encoding. > [@scudsucker](#): > > GIF was just better at rasters. Better than what? The bullshit LZW patent claims had as much to do with people abandoning GIF as technical reasons. > [@scudsucker](#): > > Yes, precisely. We did not have a vector format back then. If you had GIF at some point in time, you also had EPS which dates back to 1987. I had to personally deal with a lot of diagrams submitted in that format. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/45 "2024-03-30T17:45:32Z")
Look, I am a backend programmer, my front-end experience and interest is years behind me, so I will bow out of this. I did what I was told as a junior programmer, and the GIF/JPEG/PNG stuff I mentioned upthread was what I was told. Having moved to backend, it all means quite a bit less. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/46 "2024-03-30T18:09:21Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Any raster format, no? For Knuth’s Metafont stuff (1977–1984) he used some sort of run-length encoding. Which, as I understand it, is how GIF works, too. And there were vector formats before SVG, such as EPS. But what made SVG new was that it was widely-supported. To open an EPS, you pretty much needed software specifically made for opening EPS, and likewise for all of the other formats, many of which were proprietary (I remember Microsoft had a few vector formats that weren’t even shared between all Microsoft products). SVGs, however, are an open format, and can be viewed in general-purpose programs like web browsers that everyone was using anyway. The fact that they’re directly human-readable is just an added plus. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/47 "2024-03-30T18:25:56Z")
I’m a old’un. I’ve always thought that GIFs meant they were animated. I didn’t really get into computers until 2000 though so that might be why. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/48 "2024-03-30T20:52:55Z")
I think this is the best discussion of jif vs gif that’s I’ve seen [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/N1AL2EMvVy0/maxresdefault.jpg "It’s pronounced GIF.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1AL2EMvVy0) It also makes it very clear to me why I’m strongly on team gif. (Note that the creator of the word once published a slide that says, “it’s pronounced jif, not gif”. Yes, spelled like that.) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/49 "2024-03-30T21:02:46Z")
His argument is non-valid as both pronunciations are valid. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/50 "2024-03-30T21:08:34Z")
Did you watch it? He doesn’t actually argue for either. He explains how different people come to conclusions as to how they will pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/51 "2024-03-30T21:09:51Z")
Then his arguments are sound. Sorry. But no, I kind of skimmed through it and didn’t want to watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/52 "2024-03-30T21:10:10Z")
I believe your esteemed colleague might have been addressing the last sentence in the post, not the video. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/53 "2024-03-30T21:12:23Z")
Well, _I_ always pronounce GIF with a hard “g”, as in girl and gift, and never with a “j” sound. That puts me on team gif, not team jif. But i don’t go around correcting other people, as i know it’s pronounced both ways. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/54 "2024-03-30T21:13:42Z")
Perfection. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478/55 "2024-03-31T19:17:27Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > … > Choosy graphic artists choose GIF. Of course if they pronounce “graphic” kinda like “grapple”, they pronounce the “G” in GIF the same way. Like “gift”. And contrariwise, if they pronounce “graphic” kinda like “giraffe”, they pronounce the “G” in GIF the same way. Like the peanut butter. And makes me think those designers work a lot on designing improved giraffes; they’re girafffic designers. 😁 :groan: Of course pronounced that way “graphic designer” makes you think of the folks in those resurrected dinosaur movies: Gurrasic Park and all its sequels. The above post is meant as entirely humorous; I get the real story on hard or soft G GIFs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-gif-automatically-mean-animated-gif-to-you-younguns/999478.md?page=2)