Remember when the authority of your high school's queen bee was put into question in the face of a generation of younger, hotter newbies? Our former favorite file format might be in for a similarly rude awakening.Introducing the GFY: the "GIF Format Yoker." Pronounced, "jiffy," it's leaner and meaner than the Graphics Interchange Format of its namesake, and it's already the greatest threat to the GIF since Vine.It makes sense: beleaguered by massive file sizes and poor load speeds, the twenty-seven year old GIF hearkens back to a time when images were still saved as BMPs-- large, cumbersome files tailored for Windows (and very little else). Instead, the GFY takes advantage of HTML5 technologies that allow for higher image qualities and smaller file sizes. GFY even allows users zoom and fast forward/scrubbing options. The only setback? Older browsers that don't (yet) support HTML5.GFYcat, a fourteen-month old service that allows users to make GFYs out of GIFs, URLs, and pretty much anything else that moves, already boasts a bandwidth in the hundred millions, actually a poor indication of the file format's success given its streamlined file sizes. But if the GFY's success on Reddit is any indication, it might be time to put the old girl out to pasture.Below, a side-by-side comparison of the GIF vs the GFY. I rest my case.
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via The Daily Dot