can't use gifs in Photos anymore

Rysz wrote:

Yes. I think that's what most people mean when referring to GIFs without any other qualifiers.

I think that is debatable, but regardless I just did a few tests with animated gifs on my system, & while Photos will not show the animation, it will import them as gifs & export the originals with the animation preserved.

So, if you elect to send Apple feedback requesting in-app animation support for animated gifs, I think it would be a good idea to make it clear that is specifically what you are requesting.

xoxoyazyxoxo wrote:

okay so everytime I try importing a gif I saved in photos, it doesn't work. It only imports as a jpg, but in the photos app, it clearly says the file is a gif file. What is going on?

I'm not sure what you mean about gifs only importing as a jpegs. If in Photos the Info window shows its filename with the ".gif" extension, what makes you think it was not imported as a gif format file?

If instead you mean you cannot export a gif file from Photos, & instead have to export it in the JPEG, TIFF, or PNG format, you should try using the Export Unmodified Original option instead. That will export an exact copy of the gif file.

Rysz wrote:

Photos doesn't (yet?) support GIF format.

It does on my system. The only thing it won't do is export other photo file formats to the gif format, but it will import gifs without problems or conversions & export them as unmodified originals.

I'm just guessing but this may have something to do with the GIF format being encumbered with a compression method patented by Unisys & the controversy over licensing it (see this for a bit more about that) that spurred the development of the more modern & flexible PNG format as a replacement. Aside from using more efficient compression, PNG also provides support for embedding XMP metadata in files, multiple languages, & other features GIF lacks.

xoxoyazyxoxo wrote:

I know you can export as original to the desktop first, but that defeats the purpose of storing into the photos app in the first place...

The only good reason I can think of to store gifs in Photos is for the search features, like by adding keywords, descriptions, or titles, & to organize them into folders & albums. You could do almost all of that without using Photos by using Finder's folders, tags, & comments if you want to avoid exporting an original, but if you decide to keep them in Photos, & don't want to use reference files, then you will have to export the originals.

Option-Drag the thumbnail of the gif to the Desktop and you'll get the original, annimated gif file that works. Or export using the File ➙ Export Unmodified Original... menu option.

Photos doesn't (yet?) support GIF format.

Or directly for Photos.

File > Export > Original

It does not work here. The GIF is imported, shows the .gif extension, but it's displayed (and exports) only as a static image.

Rysz wrote:

It does not work here. The GIF is imported, shows the .gif extension, but it's displayed (and exports) only as a static image.

So I gather you are talking about animated GIF's?

Yes. I think that's what most people mean when referring to GIFs without any other qualifiers.

Thanks. Option-drag indeed exported the GIF properly.

Now, if we could just get proper support in OS X for the "animated" portion of animated GIFs...