It’s a weird science and digital manipulation … the video is being hosted by imgur and the video file has a GIF filename … but the site plays all sorts of games with how files are presented, delivered and hosted. You can upload a whole WEBM or MP4 to the site and Imgur will convert it to GIF or GIFV format but apparently, all they do is change the filename extension and instead of calling your original video file … ‘myvideo.webm’ … they’ll just change it to … ‘myvideo.gif’ … without converting anything, all they did was change the filename extension. It will always look fine on the Imgur website, it’s when it’s linked elsewhere that it becomes a problem.
The problem is that when it gets linked to a service like Lemmy … Lemmy identifies the video as a WEBM regardless of what Imgur called it.
So the solution I’ve noticed is that you have to explicitly upload an already premade GIF to Imgur … which is a lot of skilled work to create a good looking GIF that has a small enough file size. Imgur then actually converts this file because it tends to degrade an uploaded GIF file which is where the science and skill comes in again. And if all works out -> you create a good GIF ->Imgur doesn’t degrade it too much -> the GIF will work on Lemmy and look great
The main reason why I keep going back to GIF is that it seems to be the only format that looks great, works as it should, presents nicely and is easy to view and watch on PC, Apps and on mobile. Every other video format is all over the place.
It’s a huge headache because GIF is an old outdated format and no one everywhere have settled on common modern video format which should make it easier for us all.
The original actual video file regardless of where it is hosted has to be explicitly a GIF … if you upload a WEBM and expect it to be converted to GIF, there isn’t many sites that actually do so … most of them just do the same as Imgur and just tack on a GIF file name while it is still just a WEBM in the background.
Only way around it is to first create a GIF yourself, which is a huge pain because it is like conjuring a sprite in the ancient woodlands of an Irish forest … and then most of the time you end up with an ugly troll or demon in the form of a shitty little degraded GIF file the size of a thumbtack … it’s takes a lot of time and patience to create a quality GIF that is viewable enough with a small enough file size. It’s like trying to draw a detailed painting on a letter sized sheet of paper using a mop as a paint brush.
But once you do actually create a good GIF, you can upload it to places like Imgur, Tenor … or getyarn.io (a site I never knew about until your posted your GIF here - thanks for that) … and chances are that your GIF will work as expected.
It’s a weird science and digital manipulation … the video is being hosted by imgur and the video file has a GIF filename … but the site plays all sorts of games with how files are presented, delivered and hosted. You can upload a whole WEBM or MP4 to the site and Imgur will convert it to GIF or GIFV format but apparently, all they do is change the filename extension and instead of calling your original video file … ‘myvideo.webm’ … they’ll just change it to … ‘myvideo.gif’ … without converting anything, all they did was change the filename extension. It will always look fine on the Imgur website, it’s when it’s linked elsewhere that it becomes a problem.
The problem is that when it gets linked to a service like Lemmy … Lemmy identifies the video as a WEBM regardless of what Imgur called it.
So the solution I’ve noticed is that you have to explicitly upload an already premade GIF to Imgur … which is a lot of skilled work to create a good looking GIF that has a small enough file size. Imgur then actually converts this file because it tends to degrade an uploaded GIF file which is where the science and skill comes in again. And if all works out -> you create a good GIF ->Imgur doesn’t degrade it too much -> the GIF will work on Lemmy and look great
The main reason why I keep going back to GIF is that it seems to be the only format that looks great, works as it should, presents nicely and is easy to view and watch on PC, Apps and on mobile. Every other video format is all over the place.
It’s a huge headache because GIF is an old outdated format and no one everywhere have settled on common modern video format which should make it easier for us all.
Haven’t dipped my toes into making gifs or what-have-you, but each time I’ve tried to use one as a post, any type/source is a gamble.
The original actual video file regardless of where it is hosted has to be explicitly a GIF … if you upload a WEBM and expect it to be converted to GIF, there isn’t many sites that actually do so … most of them just do the same as Imgur and just tack on a GIF file name while it is still just a WEBM in the background.
Only way around it is to first create a GIF yourself, which is a huge pain because it is like conjuring a sprite in the ancient woodlands of an Irish forest … and then most of the time you end up with an ugly troll or demon in the form of a shitty little degraded GIF file the size of a thumbtack … it’s takes a lot of time and patience to create a quality GIF that is viewable enough with a small enough file size. It’s like trying to draw a detailed painting on a letter sized sheet of paper using a mop as a paint brush.
But once you do actually create a good GIF, you can upload it to places like Imgur, Tenor … or getyarn.io (a site I never knew about until your posted your GIF here - thanks for that) … and chances are that your GIF will work as expected.