| GIF is one of the oldest file formats used | | | | and not free to use. GIF became so popular |
| for graphics and digital photos storage. GIF | | | | that practically it is used in many places |
| has many technical advantages but it also has | | | | without any practical licensing issues but |
| one big business disadvantage. GIF uses LZW | | | | regardless of the problem being practical and |
| compression which is tangled with patents and | | | | real it drove some industry groups to get |
| licensing issues. The free creation and usage | | | | organized in order to find a way to solve it |
| of GIF files was always in debate.While GIF | | | | once and for all.One solution that was |
| is a great format for the storage of graphics | | | | suggested and implemented was to create a |
| the usage of GIF files represents some | | | | completely new file format that will simply |
| licensing issues. Specifically GIF uses the | | | | replace the old GIF. |
| LZW compression algorithms that are patented | | | | |