Stephen Wilhite, Creator of the Animated GIF, Dies at 74
As looping animations became a staple of the internet, the pronunciation of ‘GIF,’ short for graphics interchange format, was a frequent subject of debate.
Stephen E. Wilhite, a computer programmer who was best known for inventing the GIF, the looping animations that became a universal language for conveying humor, sarcasm and angst on social media and in instant messages, died in Cincinnati on March 14. He was 74.
His death, at a hospital, was confirmed on Thursday by his wife, Kathaleen Wilhite, who said that the cause was complications of Covid-19.
In 1987, while Mr. Wilhite was working for CompuServe, the nation’s first online service, he led a team of engineers who revolutionized how people could share video clips on the internet. They called the format they created a GIF, short for graphics interchange format, a type of compressed image file with an ease of use that made it enduring.
The technology’s appeal expanded from computers to smartphones, giving the famous and the not-so-famous the ability to share GIFs on platforms like Twitter and Facebook and eventually to create their own loops. It inspired the famous
“dancing baby” GIF in 1996, which Mr. Wilhite cited as one of his favorites, and popular apps like Giphy.
“I saw the format I wanted in my head and then I started programming,” Mr. Wilhite
told The New York Times in 2013.
That year, Mr. Wilhite, who was also a former chief architect for America Online, received
a lifetime achievement honor at the Webby Awards.
CONTINUED:
Stephen Wilhite, Creator of the Animated GIF, Dies at 74 - The New York Times (nytimes.com)