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<\/a><\/figure><\/div>In this post, I\u2019ll show you just how easy it is to convert GIFs to HTML5 video and achieve incredibly small file sizes for your site.<\/p>
How GIFs Became Pseudo Videos in the First Place<\/h2>
The GIF file format was never intended to be used for animation or video. In fact, it says so right there, in black and white, in the GIF89a specification published in 1990:<\/p>
\u201cThe Graphics Interchange Format is not intended as a platform for animation, even though it can be done in a limited way.<\/em>\u201d<\/p> So how did we end up here, in this online world, where GIFs are the go-to format for animations?<\/p> GIFs were actually designed to hold multiple images in a single file, kind of like a ZIP file for images. And that\u2019s how they were used until Netscape 2.0 came along in 1995 and introduced the looping extension<\/a> that set GIF animations free, bringing them to life.<\/p> Back in those days, the internet was under construction, and so was the GIF. There were dancing babies<\/a> and dancing hamsters<\/a>. GIFs were harmless fun because they were simple animations, often with few colors and frames, limiting their file size.<\/p> Fast forward to today\u201430 years after GIFs were invented\u2014and they\u2019ve have become an art form unto themselves. Reddit, Twitter and Tumblr helped popularized GIFs, making it easy for anyone to quickly share an animated GIF. And services like Giphy and Imgur have made it easier than ever to quickly find a GIF and share a reaction.<\/p> Reaction GIFs are now a form of expression. If you\u2019re like me, you\u2019ve probably replied to a comment on Slack using a GIF rather than words because often a GIF can convey a feeling\u2014or help carry an inside joke\u2014more so than words.<\/p> Besides being fun to use, GIFs have several benefits:<\/p> GIFs in 2018 are no longer just a collection of simple images, as they were back in 1995. Often, animated GIFs are clips ripped from TV and movies\u2014basically, video saved in the wrong format.<\/p> Unlike actual, video formats, GIFs don\u2019t use any kind of video encoding or compression techniques. So a GIF that\u2019s only a few seconds long can quickly blow out to several megabytes in size, depending on the frame rate and quality.<\/p> On top of that GIFs lack the quality of video and have color limitations and slower frame rates.<\/p> But the biggest problem of all with GIFs is their file size. While JPEG and PNG files can be easily compressed, GIF animations are a nightmare to optimize because the more you compress them, the worse they look, making them less than ideal for use on modern websites.<\/p> Before HTML5, videos could only be played in browsers using plug-ins, like Flash. HTML5 turned video on its head, providing a standard way to show video on the web using the While video can take more time to encode, HTML5 does offer a number of advantages compared to GIF:<\/p> There are three supported HTML5 video formats: MP4, WebM, and Ogg. Of these three formats, MP4 is the most widely, with 94% of browsers<\/a> using this video compression format.<\/p><\/a><\/figure><\/div>img<\/code><\/li>GIF != Video<\/h3>
The Case for Using HTML5 Video Instead of GIF<\/h2>
<video><\/code> tag.<\/p><\/a><\/figure><\/div>
WebM, a video and audio format that Google has developed as a royalty-free codec, isn\u2019t far behind on 79% (see below). However, Apple doesn\u2019t support WebM and is unlikely to do so any time soon<\/a>.<\/p><\/a><\/figure><\/div>