# What's in a GIF (convert .mov to .gif) (2024-02-07)

**URL:** <https://pluralist.net/t/whats-in-a-gif-convert-mov-to-gif-2024-02-07/68>\
**Category:** breadcrumbs\
**Created:** [February 7, 2024, 8:00am UTC](https://pluralist.net/t/whats-in-a-gif-convert-mov-to-gif-2024-02-07/68 "2024-02-07T08:00:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![delyan](https://pluralist.net/user_avatar/pluralist.net/delyan/32/245_2.png) [@delyan](https://pluralist.net/u/delyan)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 8:00am UTC](https://pluralist.net/t/whats-in-a-gif-convert-mov-to-gif-2024-02-07/68/1 "2024-02-07T08:00:00Z")

</div>

It is fairly easy to create a GIF from a QuickTime .mov file, which showcases some new product or a workflow you may have. Here is how do achieve that:

```sh
brew install ffmpeg gifsicle
ffmpeg -i input.mov output.gif
ffmpeg -i input.mov -vf "fps=10,scale=320:-1:flags=lanczos" -c:v gif intermediate.gif
gifsicle -O3 intermediate.gif -o optimized.gif

```

But this got me thinking, why GIF? What’s in a GIF?

* * *

# GIF

Remember [CompuServe](https://web.archive.org/web/19991012193652/http://compuserve.com:80/gateway/default.asp)? They invented GIF. GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format and it is a bitmap image format. CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released on June 15, 1987.

# steganography

s11y is the study of hiding messages in plain sight

## What about steganography with GIFs?

- Calder White wrote about it here: [https://calderwhite.medium.com/hiding-data-from-humans-and-computers-in-gif-files-6d95523bf9bb](https://calderwhite.medium.com/hiding-data-from-humans-and-computers-in-gif-files-6d95523bf9bb)
  - and built a prototype: [gif-msg/gif\_msg.py at master · CalderWhite/gif-msg · GitHub](https://github.com/CalderWhite/gif-msg/blob/master/gif_msg.py)