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Safari Can't Handle Moving GIFs

Since upgrading to Safari 4 a while ago, Safari simply hasn't been able to handle moving GIF images. While one is on the screen, it lags out the browser (which otherwise works quite well). Even once the spinning beach-ball of doom goes away, the GIF still plays really slowly and continues to lag out the browser until it is no longer on the visible page.

The same GIFs work without issue or lag on Firefox, and I believe that they worked fine on the old version of Safari.

I have tried Golden Shoes' suggestions posted on many topics for enhancing the speed of Safari, and none of it has worked, though I think that those were more for overall performance rather than this specific issue.

Any suggestions? Is this a fundamental issue with Safari's programming? Because I'd really rather not have to switch over to Firefox for my primary browser if I don't have to.

Black Mackbook August 2006, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Aug 10, 2009 4:12 PM

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25 replies

Aug 10, 2009 4:43 PM in response to RafiB

HI and Welcome to Apple Discussions...

Your Mac is a 2006 and you are running 10.4 Tiger. Some sites on Safari 4 may not run as expected due to an outdated video card.

Also, how much free disk space on your Mac?

Control or right click the MacintoshHD icon on your Desktop. Click "Get Info". Under the General tab you will see Capacity and Available. Make sure there is at least 10% available disk space, 15% is better.

Have you tried maintenance?






Carolyn 🙂

Aug 10, 2009 6:59 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thanks for the greeting, but I'm not new to the forums and I've been using macs since I was in utero. My dad and I have shared an account in the past as we always consult each other on mac issues anyways, but I was getting tired of the e-mail notifications getting sent to him.

On to the issue at hand!

I do my best to keep 15% of my hard drive free at all times. I find it hard to believe that my video card being three years old has a lot to do with the problem as this issue did not occur in the old version of Safari or in the current version of Firefox. Also, the issue is not with specific websites, it's with moving GIF animations/images.

Any other ideas/suggestions?

Aug 10, 2009 11:17 PM in response to RafiB

Are you saying that a simple animated gif makes your CPU jump to over 100% and moves the memory to 200mb...

Click to see animated GIF

The above animated gif (64KB) above only adds 1-2% to my CPU and really doesn't added to the real memory on my computer.

Even if you hard drive was 95% full and you never did any maintenance on your computer, and you able to get on the internet. You should be able to still view the animated above animated gif... strange very strange.

Gee...I guess your computer would blowup on a simple flash.

Message was edited by: David M Brewer

Aug 11, 2009 9:10 PM in response to RafiB

RafiB, I can see your point. But, gifs are (were) never meant to be 2MB in file size or a series of photos.

Gifs are 256 or less in color and should be line drawings or text. The physical size and file size should be small so they can work right. Like the example I provided.

The examples you gave are bad examples of gifs, so I wouldn't fret over it.

Aug 12, 2009 8:22 AM in response to David M Brewer

The point is that neither other people, nor other browsers experience the lag that Safari 4 does. Larger sized GIFs have become increasingly used over the past several years, and have grown greatly in popularity in the internet culture, enough so that it is not a problem that I can just ignore or "not fret over."

Still looking for any suggestions as to the cause of the issue and a possible solution!

Aug 15, 2009 8:30 AM in response to RafiB

I've been having the SAME problem ever since upgrading to Safari 4. I had no problems viewing pages or forums with animated gifs when I had Safari 3, still have no problem if I use Firefox. In fact, I just loaded the same exact page on both Safari and Firefox. Firefox loaded with no issue, Safari, on the other hand, just sat and spun until the gif was fully loaded.

I'd love to just go back to Safari 3 (or suffer wit Firefox, which I hate) if Apple can't come upwith a fix for their browser.

Safari Can't Handle Moving GIFs

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