Animated .GIF support under Windows 7

[bat0u]

Hi,

is it possible, to view animated .gif files in Windows 7 Photoview?

I am trying to find a sollution to this for quite a long time and there

are many complaining about the fact, that, since windows 7 there

is no way to watch animated .gif files in windows photoview, like

you could under win xp. But why? All I found out is, in short, that

Microsoft thought, that the .gif format is old fashioned!!! Wonder why

they run their boot animation through a .gif file then ?! And because

of that, they decided not to support .gif animations in their new

imaging software.

I am not an expert and maybe there is more to it and I would be very

happy if there is a way of showing gif animations in photoview,

without using Irfan or ACDC or internetexplorer??? I am full of hope...

Thanks for your help, cheers

[Glenn9999]

I am not an expert and maybe there is more to it

The main issue with GIF is the LZW patent issue. Once Unisys started throwing their weight around regarding it (basically wanting $1 for every copy of LZW/GIF running), everyone backed off from using it in any major way as soon as they could manage it. As I understand it, the patent is expired now, but there is still a huge sting behind how it was handled in that very few really have an interest in implementing it. Which is likely that you won't find your GIF viewer for Windows 7 Photoview. Just no interest in it.

[bat0u]

thanks for your reply, and wow I didn't know that. I understand the monetary reasons not to implement the support for animated .gif files.

Although I wonder, is there a difference, licence wise, between showing animated gifs/ any gifs as a still image or actually as animations?

Because when open a gif file in photoviewer, I can see it, but as a still image. And why does the internet explorer support animated .gifs too?

When I looked around for a solution to this, I found the following on the microsoft developers blogs, Id like to share with you:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive/2009/11/13/test.aspx

It basically sais that WIC (Windows Imaging Component) is used in the Windows 7 GDI+ to work with images. And I think, this GDI+ think

is also what the Win7 Photoview is based on. And under "Additional information related to Imaging on Windows" you will find "WIC Samples

(Progressive decoding, animated gifs, available here) So that confused me, is it or is it not possible to deal with animated gifs, or do

I need some upgrade or anything? Maybe you can help me with this?

From the users point of view, I think the intrest in animated .gifs is rather rising. From a artistic/ design perspective they have some nice

potential to them. On many art and design related tumblr blogs you will find heaps of .gif animations and when you work with .gifs and

sometimes I do some animations myself, it would be cool to be able to see them in photoviewer, like back in the days of XP.

Thank you, cheers

[tain]

Try viewing the file in Internet Explorer.

I was aware of the patent issue but never cared enough to try fixing the Windows issue. I, and lots of people, just install a better image viewer such as http://www.irfanview.com/ (free). Also, you may consider using one of the semi-supported branches of PNG for animation: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Portable_Network_Graphics#Animation