Compuserve Introduces the Graphic Interchange (GIF) Image Format

1987

In 1987 Compuserve introduced the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), a bitmap image format widely used on the Internet.  

"The format supports up to 8 bits per pixel for each image, allowing a single image to reference its own palette of up to 256 different colors chosen from the 24-bit RGB color space. It also supports animations and allows a separate palette of up to 256 colors for each frame. These palette limitations make the GIF format unsuitable for reproducing color photographs and other images with continuous color, but it is well-suited for simpler images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of color" (Wikipedia article on Graphics Interchange Format, accessed 10-27-2013).

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