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The GIF Almost Fell Into Total Internet Obscurity

Daniel Goodman,Walter HickeyJul 12, 2013, 19:54 IST

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The GIF was originally created in 1987, bringing color image files to the Internet. It was pretty awesome.

As time marched forward and developers continued to develop, newer file formats came into existence and it seemed like the GIF was destined to follow its big brother, the black and white RLE format, into complete Internet obscurity.

But a small feature of the early GIF and the boom of quixotic Internet culture turned it into Oxford American Dictionaries' word of the year in 2012 and one of the most popular image formats on the web. Even if no one can really agree on its pronunciation.

Watch below to learn how the GIF was saved and why the Internet loves it.

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Produced by Daniel Goodman