The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF; /ɡɪf/ GHIF or /dʒɪf/ JIF, see § Pronunciation) is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released on June 15, 1987.[1] The format can contain up to 8 bits per pixel, allowing a single image to reference its own palette of up to 256 different colors chose