Stephen Wilhite’s team at CompuServe was asked to work on a better way for people to send large images at a time when people were using slow dial-up speeds. He created a way to compress the images without losing the image quality. The first GIF or graphics interchange format was a plane flying through the sky. Wilhite made GIFs customizable which led to the creation of animated GIFs. GIFs are more popular today than ever with the rise of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. He received a Webby lifetime achievement award for his work in 2013.
Tributes to Stephen Wilhite
RIP Stephen Wilhite, creator of the GIF. This was the first GIF ever created in 1987. pic.twitter.com/gqtMBqEOdg
Stephen Wilhite, a computer scientist who is credited with being the lead inventor of the GIF, died this month at the age of 74. His wife Kathaleen says Wilhite passed away due to COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/RfyBGUKIkK
Senior producer, Legacy.com. Dedicated daily to memorializing notable personalities. After work hours guitarist, DJ, record label owner and New York style pizza aficionado.
