How do WebM and GIFcompare? Here's everything you need to know to choose the right format — and how to convert between them.
Web Media
WebM is Google's open-source video format designed specifically for the web. It offers excellent compression and quality, especially with the VP9 and AV1 codecs, and is royalty-free.
Graphics Interchange Format
GIF is a widely recognized format best known for animated images and short loops. While limited to 256 colors, GIF's animation support and universal compatibility make it a staple of web culture.
| Specification | WebM | GIF |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Web Media | Graphics Interchange Format |
| Extension | .webm | .gif |
| MIME type | video/webm | image/gif |
| Category | Video | Image |
| Developer | CompuServe | |
| Year introduced | 2010 | 1987 |
WebM (video) and GIF (image) serve fundamentally different purposes but are often compared when converting between media types.