What is the technical difference between an animated GIF and a video?
Both types of files show moving images, but they differ in several areas. An animated GIF, which is a series of still pictures (frames) combined together to create action or motion, does not contain sound like most video formats do.
Because of limitations in the file format, a GIF can support only 256 colors, giving it much less color depth than most video file formats. Video files typically have at least 24 frames per second or higher to create fluid motion in a wide range of colors. Animated GIF files are generally smaller than the average video file, which led to their relative popularity in the early days of the Web when dial-up connections were too slow to handle much (if any) streaming video.
Despite their limitations, animated GIFs are enjoying something of a renaissance lately, as people use the format to create humorous In ternet memes or low-resolution video clips of events. The Tumblr site even hosted a “live GIF†event to capture moments from the recent presidential debates. In case you want to give GIF-animating a try, several sites and programs available around the Web have tutorials or software to convert regular video clips (or a collection of images) into animated GIF files.
