AVI to GIF

Do you want to make a GIF banner from an AVI file? Do you want to convert your AVI file to GIF easily and quickly? Go on with this topic.

At first, let us know some definitions and their features.

AVI stands for "Audio Video Interlaced". This video format was created by Microsoft, which was introduced along with Windows 3.1. AVI, the proprietary format of Microsoft's "Video for Windows" application, merely provides a framework for various compression algorithms such as Cinepak, Intel Indeo, Microsoft Video 1, Clear Video or IVI. AVI is a file format, like MP3 or JPG. But unlike these formats, AVI is a container format, meaning it can contain video audio compressed using many different combinations of codecs. So while MP3 and JPG can only contain a certain kind of compression (MPEG Audio Layer 3 and JPEG), AVI can contain many different kinds of compression (e.g. DivX video + WMA audio or Indeo video + PCM audio), as long as a codec is available for encoding/decoding. AVI all look the same on the "outside", but on the "inside", they may be completely different.

AVI Advantages:
Choice of codecs allows experimentation with different results. Plays in mainstream media players such as Windows Media Player. Can be used as a starting point to create playable DVDs.

AVI Drawbacks:
The codec used to create your movie is required in order to view it. Often produces larger file sizes than other file formats. Some codecs take a long time to create your AVI movie. Some codecs produce reduced visual quality. AVI format does not support user interactivity (e.g. "click to continue" pauses).

GIF (also known as Graphics Interchange Format) / GIFF (also known as Graphics Interchange File Format) is a bitmap image format for pictures with up to 256 distinct colours from the over 16 million representable in 24 bit rgb. GIF is a file format that should not really be used for prepress; it is far more suited for web design or to exchange images through e-mail or newsgroups.

There are two versions of the GIF format: versions 87a and 89a. These versions were released in 1987 and 1989 respectively.

GIF 87a is the initial version of the GIF file format, supporting LZW file compression, interlacing, 256-colour palettes and multiple image storage. While version 89a added background transparency and a few other additions such as delay times and image replacement parameters which made the multiple image storage feature more useful for animation.

A GIF image can contain 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 or 256 colours which are stored in a colour palette or colour table within the image file. Each colour in the GIF colour table is described in RGB values, with each value having a range of 0 to 255. CMYK colours are not possible in GIF.

Now, some AVI to GIF converter software are available for you.