Like GIFs, videos encode a series of moving images, but they can also include audio. The frame rate is usually much higher than that of a GIF, resulting in smoother motion and higher quality. Unlike GIFs, videos are not usually intended to be played in a loop. The duration varies, but shorter is better for videos in the email.
A GIF differs from a video in that it is an animated sequence of images. How is a sequence of images different from a video? Aren't all videos just sequences of images? In some respects, yes, in others no. The difference lies in how containers and files inside containers are configured, as we'll soon discover. GIFs are limited because they only support 256 colors, which adds a “grainy” look to the video, which I think is an important part of the “kitsch” of animated GIFs.
You don't need to restrict your choice to videos or animated GIFs, as these types of visual content have their own unique advantages and both are a powerful addition to your website. If you have multiple GIFs on your website, it could slow down your page considerably and you risk losing customers. Just reducing the file size makes converting GIFs to animated videos a fantastic optimization option. This difference in size means that GIFs waste a lot of bandwidth and also load at a slower speed, leading to a poor user experience.
Playable HD video is sent to an email only when it is opened, instead of being added to the initial upload as a GIF or other attachments. By converting your animated gifs to MP4 files, you can dramatically reduce their size and any associated bandwidth expenditures. But for digital products, web and applications, is GIF the best option? Let's look at three things to compare with another alternative, HTML5 video. This leads me to the launch of Netflix in France, they created an outdoor campaign made entirely with gifs.
Many social media sites silently convert uploaded GIFs into animated video files and display the saved file instead of the original one. GIFs come with their own set of benefits, especially when it comes to marketing a particular service or product. GIFs are especially useful if you're doing something with limited colors, well-defined borders and lines, and you plan to use them sparingly. GIFs are compressed using Lempel-Ziv-Welch's lossless data compression, which reduces file size without degrading visual quality.
These animated GIFs combine several images or “frames” into a single file to convey movement, and are a very visual but cheaper alternative to video content.
