system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do GIFs on the imgur.com & giant.gfycat platforms load SO much slower than just a gfycat GIF, even if they seem to be the same quality?
gpt
gfycat files are not GIFs. GIF is a particular way of storing an image, and it is supposed to be an image, not a movie. GIFs allow you to have layered images, and change which layer is at the top. Each layer is basically a separate image. gfycat (and Imgur's new "gifv" thing) store movie files, not image files. These take advantage of the fact that most animations consist of smooth movement and that in general each frame is pretty similar to the previous one. Rather than describing the entire scene each frame (at 30 frames per second), it will describe one scene every couple seconds and then just describe the changes for each frame in the middle. It makes it take much less space than storing the full image each time, so you have a much smaller download.