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GIF Inventor Steven Wilhite dies at 74 from COVID

Although few knew his name, Steven Wilhite had influenced our lives in one way or another, the inventor of GIFs completely revolutionized the world of the Internet thanks to the invention and now after learning of his death, the networks mourn his death.

A GIF is an image exchange format that consists of the movement of one to several frames that are repeated. Since its birth, they have revolutionized networks, but despite the fact that they were invented in 1987, they are still very relevant today.

Most of the memes and GIF jokes we see on the Internet today are possible only because of Wilhite’s invention. Although we know him today from memes, Wilhite did not create GIFs for that, but rather his goal was to create a color file format that reduced the size of images to send them through the communication channels that existed at the time, such as email.

According to his wife, Wilhite designed this type of file alone and in his house and it was not until he had an improved version that he presented it to the world. In 2013, the Internet world recognized his work with the Lifetime Achievement of the Webby Awards and as a thank you he ended the eternal debate on the networks about how this file should be pronounced if “gif” or “jif”.

It is true that everyone can pronounce it as they please, it would be missing more, but for the most purists, Wilhite explained that although it was written with G the sound in English was “jif”

Now that Wilhite is gone, the Internet and especially Twitter mourns his death. Each one has wanted to pay their own tribute, either with their favorite GIF or with a compilation of them. Without a doubt, the Internet would not be the same today without memes, which is why it is important to highlight the work of Steven Wilhite.

 

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