As you may be somewhat aware, around here, we love GIFs. But all things must pass, and the GIF is on the verge of being replaced by the GFY. Here’s what you need to know to properly hail our new animated overlords.



First, and most importantly, how do you pronounce it?

Either Jiffy, as in the mass market peanut butter, or Giffy, as in “Anybody who whines that you’re mispronouncing an acronym needs to be crane-kicked.”

OK, so what does it stand for?

GIF Format Yoker. What that name really means is that you can create a looping, silent moving image in both GIF format and HTML5 video; if your browser can use HTML5, you’ll see the video, and if not, you’ll see the GIF.

Wait, that sounds like Vine!

Yep, bar a few differences, it’s the same basic concept.

So why am I going to start using GFY in the future?

Simple: It saves a ton of space. A four-megabyte GIF can be shaved down to roughly 200 kilobytes using GFY. This means that the GIFs don’t chug as they load, that you get the superior color reproduction of video, that your site loads faster, and that you can see the content regardless of what browser you’re using. Oh, and you can also make them bigger.