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It's time to replace GIFs with AV1 video

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Re: It's time to replace GIFs with AV1 video

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can simply save the file and expect it to work everywhere I don't quite follow. This is because the gif is decoded and played. No different than a video. You don't need a proprietary player to loop a video, you just go back to the start of the video. For streaming, this is only problematic for large videos that can't be cached, but the same applies to large gifs. Browsers can loop video, it's just a right-click…

Video isn't superior for sharable, loopable images. Try downloading a video from a popular social network. Can you easily do it without inspecting the source? If it's a two second clip, does it loop on your system? Or does the video player exit / end the stream? This is absolutely a problem that GIF doesn't have. > You don't need a proprietary player to loop a video > You can save any video file just like a gif. Exce…

> Try downloading a video from a popular social network.

That's the site's decision. You also cannot easily download images from Twitter if there are more than one in a tweet for example. On Instagram it is blocked all in all.

Re: It's time to replace GIFs with AV1 video

#262
post #126

At this point, killing GIF is a UX problem, not a format problem. I've talked about this before [0], but the big problem for me is that video is just difficult as hell. Compared to a GIF, it is just that much harder to save a video on a phone, and then upload it the same way as an image. Try to save a "GIF" from Twitter or from GIPHY - it's a /huge/ pain. Whatever the GIF killer is will need to pass the right click t…

As if developers weren't actively trying to kill regular images in the web! More and more sites serve me some blobs via some pointless js scripts, forcing me to use developer tools to just save the original image. Combined with lazy loading it results in some frustrating UX.

Re: It's time to replace GIFs with AV1 video

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The UX for saving and sharing videos is the same as for images… Minus drag and drop, in browsers at least.

This comment reminded me of Terry Davis, because that's exactly the kind of feature he would have deemed essential in a browser if he'd ever decided to add networking to TempleOS. RIP brother. Videos really should be first-class entities, though. Imagine an OS/browser-level ffmpeg implementation which would allow seamless copy/paste of videos, integrated snipping tools both for cropping and time, color adjustment, et…

The dream of QuickTime back in the 90s

Re: It's time to replace GIFs with AV1 video

#264
post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, agreed. That lack of play-control is both a weakness and a strength of GIF. The strength is misunderstood and underrated by those who think videos should replace all usage of GIFs.

Play control isn't impossible for GIF. I'm using sxiv for viewing images, which is as minimal as it gets, but it does have pause, single step forward and single step backward for GIF.

Who said it was impossible?

Re: It's time to replace GIFs with AV1 video

#265
post #258
post #126

At this point, killing GIF is a UX problem, not a format problem. I've talked about this before [0], but the big problem for me is that video is just difficult as hell. Compared to a GIF, it is just that much harder to save a video on a phone, and then upload it the same way as an image. Try to save a "GIF" from Twitter or from GIPHY - it's a /huge/ pain. Whatever the GIF killer is will need to pass the right click t…

There's already apng (animated png) which is like GIF, but with the quality of PNG. No one really seems to care, though.

I wonder why, apart from IE not supporting it? Which we just serve gif to IE user.

Re: It's time to replace GIFs with AV1 video

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the current direction of the industry, the most likely candidate for this in the not-so-distant future is HEIF, which has support for an image-sequence [1]. HEIF is an ISOBMFF (aka Quicktime/MP4 container)-derived container format for images, image sequences, and transformations. Its most visible use right now is Apple Live Photos, but various use-cases exist [2]. OS and application support is increasing. Work…

Which, exactly like GIF in its very beginning, is encumbered by an infinite amount of patents. You can't replace an open format with a patented one; killing video patents is the very reason AV1 exists.

>killing video patents is the very reason AV1 exists

Again, AV1 is royalty free, not patents free.

Re: It's time to replace GIFs with AV1 video

#267
post #126

At this point, killing GIF is a UX problem, not a format problem. I've talked about this before [0], but the big problem for me is that video is just difficult as hell. Compared to a GIF, it is just that much harder to save a video on a phone, and then upload it the same way as an image. Try to save a "GIF" from Twitter or from GIPHY - it's a /huge/ pain. Whatever the GIF killer is will need to pass the right click t…

I can right-click and save videos just fine. You can too, try it here: https://thumbs.gfycat.com/GregariousDevotedArachnid-mobile.m... You just have to write some Greasemonkey script to circumvent all the crap that the video-serving websites do to prevent you from getting the normal video-in-a-browser UI. It's harder when you get this link https://gfycat.com/GregariousDevotedArachnid

On your second link I can directly right click and save, on others (like Twitter) I just have to shift right click to bypass the blocking scripts. (Firefox desktop with multiple privacy extensions)

Re: It's time to replace GIFs with AV1 video

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can you easily do it without inspecting the source? Yes, I use Page Info (Tools menu -> Page Info) in Firefox. It lists all the media assets on the page and you can download the one you want. The inability to right-click and save a video is less a problem with the video file itself and more a problem with how the page is structured. You can have the same right-click problem with GIFs depending on where they appear…

... That’s far from what I would call an acceptable ux.

So make an add-on which does the same thing with whatever UX you want. It's a good project for you. I look forward to using it when you're finished.

Alternatively, use one of the media downloading add-ons which already exist.

Re: It's time to replace GIFs with AV1 video

#269
post #6

Why no h265? I suspect it's similar to VP9 in quality, but h264 is pretty old at this point (nowhere near as old as GIFs of course).

Because Google Refuse to pay a single dollar for HEVC, even on their Pixel Phones. So there will likely never be HEVC on Google related properties, that is from Chrome, Android, to Youtube.
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