Gif stands for Graphical Interchange Format and it is used to store raster images. It can store up to 256 colors, which can either be pre-defined or adapted to the image. It is a lossless format, which means image quality does not suffer. GIF can also save short animations and supports transparent pixels (without support for gradual fades like PNG).
Open GIF File on Windows OS
- Look for an GIF file you need to open in Windows Explorer and double-click on it
- If the file doesn’t open automatically and you see a “Windows can’t open a file” message then you should search for a program which can open GIF file
- If you have a program which can open GIF file installed on your computer then launch that program and select “File” and then “Open” or similar options from its menu to open the GIF file
- If you don’t have the program installed then you need to try searching for “GIF wiki”, “how to open GIF file” in the search engine.
- Once you find the application, install it on your computer
- After the program is installed double-click on the GIF file to open it
File extensions are used by Windows operating system to specify what kind of information is stored in the file. Every file in Windows OS needs to have file extension and file extensions are used by Windows to determine which application it should use to open the file. Every application installed on Windows OS places information about which extensions it could open into the Windows registry and Windows uses this information to determine which application it should launch when user double-clicks on the file. If application which can open GIF file is not installed, then Windows will show ‘Windows can’t open GIF file’ message and buttons to either select an application on the computer which can open the file or to search the web for the application which can open GIF file.