What is "GIF"?

GIF, is the acronym for Graphics Interchange Format, is an image compression format limited to 256 colors. PNG is an image compression format approved by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as a replacement for GIF files, because GIF files use a patented data compression algorithm and PNG is patent- and license-free.

JPEG is considered best for photos and GIF and PNG for graphic images.

This format is supported by most browsers.