GIFs are very popular these days so I know you have probably come across GIFs on social media. Currently GIFs are trending everywhere and there seem to be much hype in using GIFs all over the social media. You can use GIFs in public posts and comments, as well as in DMs (Direct Messages). GIFs are fun to use and they are quite cute and so funny that they can crack you up.
There are GIFs for every occasion, emotion, celebration, and reaction and everything else you can think of. You can even use GIFs in forums, email signatures, Facebook, Instagram, websites as well as other platforms where GIFs is supported.
In as much as GIFs are a fun way of chatting with your friends, family and even co-workers, you still have to be careful. You have to pay close attention to the context of the conversation when sending a GIF file to a friend or coworker. This is because some files are unprofessional and even rude, and may ultimately turn out negatively. Thus it is best to use simple, lighthearted GIFs in casual conversations with people you know well.
If you have been confused about how to save animated GIFs to the computer for use later, we are here to guide you.
What is a GIF?
GIF means Graphics Interchange Format. The concept was designed by a team of computer scientists led by Steve Wilhite in 1987. GIFs have become quite popular on the web because of its wide portability between applications and operating systems. GIF is an 8-bit format that supports up to 256 colors with the use of RGB.
How to Save Animated GIFs to Your Computer
When you come across a GIF online that you like and want to save it to your computer, you can download the GIF to your computer or phone just like you would download any image file.
Here’s how it works:
- Simply right click on the animated GIF that you want to download.
- Choose “Save Image As”
- Choose the location where you want to save your image, you have to keep the file format as gif.
- Then click on “Save”.
You can use these steps for most desktop browsers. Once you have downloaded your preferred gif, you can use it wherever you want. Since GIFs are self-contained, they can be saved, uploaded, embedded in emails that use HTML, used in blog posts, on web pages or wherever you want to use it. Currently, most online platform supports GIFs so you won’t find it difficult to use them anywhere you want to.
Using GIF Files
After saving a GIF file on your computer or hosted on a website, using it is quite easy. Here’s how its done. If the file is hosted on a website, you can copy the link and paste it to a chat room or website in order to display it. In a situation where the host site removes the GIFs from its database, the GIFs will not function. Thus, hosting the file on your computer is the best choice.
Most GIFs are used in the moment, thus long-term functionality may not be necessary. If you have a GIF in your email signature or another long-term position, you can take the best decision which is keeping it hosted on your computer. So you can copy and paste directly from the file on your hard drive, anytime you have the need to.