What does GIF stand for?

GIFs are moving images that swamp our social media feeds. This image file format suddenly became so popular a few years back that the acronym became Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2012. What most people do not know about it is that the file format was developed back in 1987 and was one of the first two graphic file types used on the internet.

What Does GIF Stand For?

Getting to the one question that you probably have come across many times but never knew the answer to, what does GIF stand for? GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. The credit for inventing the file format goes to Steve Wilhite of CompuServe.

How Is It Pronounced?

Although the acronym is more than two decades old, the debates regarding how it should be pronounced are ongoing. While some say it should be pronounced as ‘Jif,’ others argue that it should be ‘gif,’ with a hard G. The argument that is put forward is that it should be pronounced as the latter is that that is how most one-syllable words starting with a ‘G,’ such as gag, gal, gap, get, gig, gill, got, gore, go, goal, gum, and gun are spoken. The closest word that comes to “GIF” is “Gift” is also pronounced the same way.

However, other one-syllable words that are starting with a ‘G’ but is pronounced with a sound of a ‘J,’ include gym, gin, gem, geo, and gel. Adding to that, the inventor of the file format, Steve Wilhite also revealed in an interview with the New York Times that it should be pronounced “Jif” and not “giff.” So, perhaps that’s where the argument should end.

You can find more GIF information on: What does GIF stand for?