GIF and SVG are vital image formats in the digital scene, each with its pros and cons. Choosing one format while ignoring the other is subject to the area of application and its technical features, including performance, structure, compression, file sizes, browser support, image quality, animation, storage, and transparency.
The article discusses the technical attributes of SVG vs. GIF and offers an all-inclusive guideline anchored on the web developers and graphic designers understanding of when to use each file type.
When is GIF better than SVG?
GIF images are universally supported by all old and new web browsers, while SVG images are only supported by new but not legacy web browsers such as Internet Explorer 8. This makes GIF files suitable for creating and displaying images, line art, and small, soundless animated videos.
The GIF file extension uses designs of the nearby pixels to stimulate the exterior of the hidden colors, add noise to images, decrease sharpness, and allow images to look nearer to the screen as it progressively displays the complete image version.
When is SVG better than GIF?
SVG images can be easily scaled upwards or downwards without distorting image resolution and quality levels, while GIF images are often slightly pixelated or jagged, making them blurry when scaled up or down. This makes the SVG extension suitable for producing professionally sharp and accessible application icons and interactive charts of varying sizes that update promptly in real-time.
The SVG file format can be easily edited using CSS and JavaScript, making it ideal for web-responsive designs, including high-quality hyperlinks and animations.
SVG versus GIF Table Comparison
| Element | GIF | SVG |
| Transparency | Supports transparency | Supports transparency |
| File Size | Larger files compared to SVG files. | Smaller files compared to GIF files |
| Image Quality | Low-quality images compared to SVG images. | High-quality images compared to GIF. |
| Performance | Increased image loading times than SVG. | Decreased image loading times than GIF. |
| Structure | Raster graphics with a header, color table blocks, screen descriptor, and a trailer block. | Vector graphic using an XML markup language: XML code specifying colors, shapes, texts, and paths. |
| Animation | Supports animations. | Supports animations. |
| Storage | Necessitates more storage space than SVG. | Necessities less storage space than GIF. |
| Compression | Supports lossless compression. | Supports lossless compression |
| Browser Support | Wider web browsers support compared to SVG. | Comparatively limited web browser support than GIF |
Differences and similarities between GIF and SVG images
GIF and SVG file formats support lossless compression, animation, and transparency. However, the technical features of image formats involving GIF versus SVG reveal differences in file size, storage demands, image quality, structure, web browser support, and performance.
Transparency
Both GIF and SVG formats support transparency but in different ways. SVG uses a lossless method, allowing for alpha channel transparency at varying levels, which means elements in an SVG file can have varying degrees of openness. SVG files have a default transparent background and can include detailed graphical features described using XML.
In contrast, GIFs, precisely the GIF89a format, support transparency by allowing a single color in the palette to be designated as transparent. This means any pixel of that color will be fully transparent, but GIF does not support varying levels of transparency within the same image.
File Size
SVG files are smaller than GIF files. While SVG has no definite file size limit since its images can be resized using CSS and JavaScript to any dimension, it compresses and stores single files. Conversely, GIF format can store multiple images per file, with each file size limit between 2MB and 3MB.
When multiple GIF files are pooled and stored together, they become significantly larger than SVG files. Therefore, graphic designers and web developers should opt for SVG rather than GIF format for smaller, high-quality files.
Image Quality
GIF is a relatively low-quality format, whereas SVG is a high-quality image format. For example, GIF file type merely supports 8 bits per color channel with a limited color space of 256 indexed colors. The format's low resolution levels fall between 72 and 90 dpi, justifying its low-quality images.
Conversely, an SVG file has no bit depth as other bitmap image formats because it is created and stored differently using formulas, numbers, or a set of commands. All SVG image attributes, namely color, shape, lines, and curves, are preserved during compression, hence the high quality.
Performance
While SVG format has no definite file size limit, GIF format can store multiple images in a single file, making it comparatively larger than an SVG file. Therefore, compressed SVG files are smaller, load faster online, incur fewer bandwidth expenses, and consume fewer bytes than lossless GIF files.
As a result, web developers and graphic designers should consider using the SVG format for their web pages, as its files or images boost online user experience and help in search engine optimization.
Structure
GIF is a raster graphics file format, while SVG is a vector-based file format. The difference in structural components makes both formats challenging to compare. For instance, a GIF file starts with a fixed-length header, either GIF87a or GIF89a.
After a GIF's file header, we have the logical screen descriptor and file version with a fixed length, specifying the extra GIF features. The logical screen scales in pixels. The logical screen checks if the Global Color Table and size description exist.
Conversely, the SVG file format stores images using mathematical formulas, which define and support images on grid points, curves, shapes, and lines. SVG relies on the XML markup language to explain its vector graphics. The XML code is embedded directly into XML texts or HTML documents or inserted and kept in an SVG file. It uses scripting languages, including CSS and JavaScript, to seamlessly manipulate all features and elements in the SVG file.
Animation
GIF and SVG file types support animation or animated content. For example, the SVG format has markup code that supports and presents website animations. The animation code is accessible from JavaScript, a technical feature in SVG that enables its files to support animation elements via CSS or Scripting.
In contrast, GIF supports animations using the GIF89a specifications, which add several enhancers to its file header and allow browsers to show various GIF pictures in a scheduled series or looped sequences. GIF frames and images can be fused to create basic animations. Unlike the SVG format, the GIF mechanism only permits the creation of small and simple animations.
Storage
GIF and SVG data are encoded and stored using lossless compression methods. However, while GIF uses Lempel Ziv Welch (LZW) algorithms while SVG supports gzip lossless compression algorithms, multiple GIF files are significantly larger and necessitate more storage space than the compressed SVG files.
Both file types' compressed image data can last forever depending on the storage mediums used, conditions, and handling process. GIF files are stored in Cloud, File Systems, Base64 Encoding, hard Drives, and Content Delivery Networks, while SVG data is kept in SVG DOM, XML text files, and HTML documents.
Compression
GIF and SVG file types support lossless compression. For instance, GIF compresses image data using lossless Lempel Ziv Welch (LZW) algorithms, which alter color space, merge local palettes, substitute alpha channels, spatially calculate pixels, and merge altered pixels in a single pixel.
As such, LZW algorithms exploit repetition in data streams to store simple graphical images using flat colors efficiently. GIF's compression method retains all image data in multiple stored files, resulting in larger files than SVG.
In contrast, the SVG format compresses data using the gzip algorithm. Its multistage lossless compression occurs in two stages. First, the SVG images are written and stored in XML text files. Then, the stored images undergo lossless compression using the gzip algorithm to ensure no image information is lost. The final SVG is 20-50% smaller than the original image file.
Browser Support
GIF and SVG file types are widely supported across most social media platforms and web browsers. However, compared to SVG, GIF is universally supported by almost all old and new web browsers, including Discord, Vivaldi, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Edge, Safari, Chrome, and Samsung Internet.
In contrast, all web browsers, namely Edge, Chrome, Discord, Vivaldi, Opera, Safari, Firefox, Samsung Internet, Discord, and all versions of Internet Explorer, except the legacy IE 8, support SVG. Thus, while Internet Explorer is almost outdated, users should choose GIF instead of SVG for broader browser support.
Converting GIF to SVG or SVG to GIF
Convertjack helps graphic designers and web developers convert GIF to SVG easily. The SVG format preserves all image features with lossless compression, resulting in smaller, high-quality images with limited storage demands and high web responsiveness compared to the GIF format.
Convertjack is an ideal SVG to GIF converter, ensuring image details are preserved, and an anticipated file is produced. GIF files are preferred because they are scalable, widely compatible across platforms, and browser-friendly, ensuring an enhanced user experience.