So they efficiently convert GIF (With a hard G, it's not a kitchen cleaner) to MP4 and the final MP4 needs a new file extension? Nah.... let's not start having multiple file extensions for the same format just to designate the 'experience' .blockypeg = Jpegs saved with a quality of 10% .whatisdpipeg = Jpegs saved at native 20mp resolution and scaled down in HTML .annoyingvision = Camera video shot in portrait .gifhasnastyalpha = Transparent gif images that really need an graduated alpha channel .upscaledfornogoodreason = Image or video that's been upscaled from a low quality source .redneckfilmingtheirtelevision = Video sourced by someone filming their TV screen Hmmm... actually if all video was renamed like this it would be sure easy to filter it all out.
This is basically an image upload site automatically compressing one format to another to reduce the amount of data they have to serve. In this case GIF to HTML5 (MP4) video. Similar to automatically applying jpeg compression to lossless image uploads. Calling it GIFV smacks of a PR exercise. I doubt it will herald the death of GIF. GIF is like the Terminator of formats. No one has quite worked out a way to kill it yet. I actually think one of the things about GIF that helps it endure is the lack of compression. It forcibly limits length and complexity, which is the reason Twitter and Vine are so popular.
Twitter and Vine both convert GIFs to MP4s (as does Gfycat, MediaCru.sh and many other image hosts). http://blog.embed.ly/post/89265229166/what-twitter-isnt-telling-you-about-gifs This situation is completely idiotic IMO.
