The "Graphics Interchange Format," or GIF, is often recognized as a de-facto standard in Internet history, and more obviously, a web animation format. Existing since CompuServe introduced it in 1987, GIFs have the largest browser support anywhere. Until recently, still-framed and simple-toned (8bpp; 256-color palette) images used this format extensively, as GIF compression is lossless and creates relatively-small file sizes.

However, modern web browsing with higher image qualities (JPEGs and PNGs) and faster connections has caused single-frame GIFs to take a downturn; the usage of this format is now mainly simple, repeating animations. Even then, the SWF file format has also superceded GIFs when smaller-sized, complicated, interactive animations are required.

About this file: the forum signature image, my custom frame-by-frame GIF capture of a segment in the first Halo Wars game trailer, illustrates why the file format is still useful in creating basic animations. However, it weighs in at a hefty 3.8 MB, bandwidth easily conserved by Flash animation nowadays.