A type of
GIF image that can be
animated by combining several images into a single GIF file. Applications that support the animated GIF standard,
GIF89A, cycle through each image. GIF animation doesn't give the same level of control and flexibility as other animation formats but it has become extremely popular because it is supported by nearly all
Web browsers. In addition, animated GIF files tend to be quite a bit smaller that other animation files, such as
Java applets.