Allow GIFs in Bluesky #1157
Replies: 36 comments 33 replies
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I think the common consensus these days is to convert to video though. GIF animations are often huge and would get mangled if resized on upload to fit in, eg, 1MB limit. It is basically video, in terms of bandwidth, UX considerations, etc. While we are at it, could also consider webp and APNG animations. I don't have any market share numbers about how prevalent those actually are, so maybe not a priority. But, totally agree fun! |
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I think the average user doesn't care what in format the "animated pictures" are delivered. Convert it to whatever is best for storage and delivery. |
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+1 to this. They're needed by the '#BuildInPublic' users. ie: Developers/artists/creators post short work-in-progress gifs of what they're working on. I think it would be worth prioritising this, because without it - those users can't migrate their posting over. |
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im an indie game developer, twitter has (or at least had) a really popular community of indie game devs who share gifs of their progress on their games. would be nice if bluesky/at supported them so this type of content can be posted there too |
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webp has rather great usage support across browers given that it is also supported on ios versions 14 and above and android 4 and above. apng has greater support for older devices/browsers, but it's compression methods aren't as favourable to webp. The avif image format has a growing but not comparably high usage/compatibility in browsers, it's based on the AV1 video format and compresses better than webp in some cases, but getting data on how well these are support across non-browser experiences didn't bear any fruit I think other data like it's encoding and decoding performance would be important for both client and server, but I don't have good data on these |
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+1 to this suggestion. |
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Any update on this? |
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It would be simplest just to implement animated GIF support directly without converting it to video like Twitter has always done and which Mastodon also does, but this could lead to bigger files and slow things down (more bandwith and client CPU usage). @bnewbold proposed converting to video. This is what top animated GIF sites like Tenor and Giphy do, converting to MP4 files with H.264 video and no audio track. If we converted to multiple formats like also coverting to newer codecs like VP9, AV1, and HEVC, that would require extra computational power and disk space on the server and sniffing what formats a browser or device supports and just be excessively complicated. So for animated GIFs, if we convert to video, best to just stick with MP4 containers with the H.264 codec. Just having the original animated GIF unchanged would be simpler but admittedly this uses more bandwidth when people browse the site/app. Also displaying an animated GIF is computationally intensive on mobile devices that run on battery and wastes CPU and battery, while H.264 video is hardware accelerated on all Android and iOS devices and universally supported by all modern web browsers. If we do video conversion, it’s easiest to implement by calling FFmpeg to convert the animated GIF file to MP4 using the x264 codec. Because of licensing issues, you can’t directly integrate FFmpeg into anything not under GNU GPL so that means it can’t be a compile-time dependancy but can be a run-time dependency. So an external binary would be called to do the file conversion to MP4. Sites like Tenor and Giphy display in MP4 by default but give you the option to view and download the original animated GIF file. Having an interface to view and download the original animated GIF file, if we show it as a video instead, would be very useful to users. I think it best to keep the original animated GIF file for a post on the server and not delete it after the conversion to MP4. It is likely people would want to be able to see and download the original file to avoid losing quality. Adding support for other input and output formats could be added later, but it’s best to keep things simple at first, I think. MP4 with H.264 works well across all browsers and devices and has been standard for years, and if we tried using a newer codec, we’d still need it as a fallback format on devices and browsers that don’t support the newer one. Of course the simplest solution would be just upload animated GIF files unchanged and display them unchanged. I think Twitter and Mastodon do that. It’s not ideal on mobile phones with limited data and battery, but it’s better than not supporting animated GIFs at all. If we just go with animated GIFs being unchanged, we could add an option on the mobile app and the website settings to enable or disable animated GIFs, where disabling would just show you a smaller GIF or PNG file of the first frame. I’m fine with either way and would just like to see animated GIF support implemented soon. Thanks. |
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Hi! I'm just a lowly bluesky user here trying to figure out what the ETA is on this is, so i'm really sorry if this comment is out of place or seems intrusive. i just really want to give the perspective of a longtime member of fandom on twitter. (since roughly 2009.) the international fan community on twitter desperately needs a stable twitter alternative to migrate to, one that's easy to set up and navigate. i've been trying very hard to recruit fans to bluesky, but it's extremely difficult — even embarrassing — to ask major fandom influencer accounts to migrate to bluesky when it doesn't have .gif (converted format is fine) and video upload capabilities (.mp4 prolly ideal for most users), especially when there's no ETA for when they'll be added. It is really impossible to overstate how integral gifs and fanvids are to the culture of fandom on twitter, and by not having this feature you're effectively losing the potential to easily recruit millions of fans from around the world to the platform. i know that's probably not a priority to the bluesky devs, but there are countless fan communities and cultures residing on twitter that will likely be lost if twitter collapses and nothing exists to replace them, because the nature of an international community like this is that without quick simple access to an easy alternative — and crucially, an alternative they've been encouraged to join from other fans — members of fandom will just delete their content and cease to be active, losing all their content and all their connections and community. i know that sounds like a lot of pressure to put on .gif and video capability, but it's entirely accurate. so just want to say: please think of us, the fans! we need a (gif-friendly) lifeline! |
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I don't think there's an ETA on this as there's other more features that the team are working on, the biggest being the federation of atproto PDS which is being actively worked on in a sandbox environment. Even with this in mind, getting animated content support into the network is more than just allowing users to upload the content, having the types written and displaying it on the website, but it also must integrate appropriately with the content labelling and moderation filters though Hive or otherwise |
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Yeah agreed 100% @bookshop, couldn’t have said it better myself. I hope animated GIF support is added ASAP. Someone needs to code it and submit a pull request that adds this feature. You don’t have to be a Bluesky developer to do it, anyone with a GitHub account can add animated GIF support to Bluesky if they have the right skills and enough time to spend on it to get it working. |
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I would seriously begin considering giving higher prioritization to the reason people literally browse and join social media platforms for. The very idea that it is not even on the near-term roadmap is honestly troubling, from any perspective. |
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Huge +1 for this feature.
My understanding is that Twitter has done the conversion to video for quite a long time. Back when I used it over 5 years ago, I once uploaded a video that lacked audio and it was treated as a gif, getting both the looping playback treatment and that little "GIF" text that shows in the bottom-left corner. Also, any time I've tried to download a gif from Twitter, it's given me an MP4 video that uses H.264 and lacks an audio track. I also took a random gif on my phone and with Termux, used ffmpeg to convert it to H.264. Took just a couple seconds, even on a low-power phone and the file size went from >6MB to <250KB. So I'd say yes, just do the conversion to H.264 and save everyone the resources in the end. If a phone can do it in a couple seconds, no one's gonna notice it being converted live by a server and then served back to them in the composition's image preview area. |
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as long as the forced/automated conversion is to a lossless format so the art posted isnt irreversibly damaged i can imagine all users would probably be okay with it. as soon as we start introducing lossy conversion thats where real pushback could occur. im sure passionate art fans are a minority, but i just cant imagine why anyone would want to spend time creating a planform that irreversibly alters the content posted. hopefully this is something thats taken into consideration with this big debate of simply...adding gif support. |
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Also a +1 for this with the MP4 container and H.264 codec (for now). If the goal is to have folks migrate from Twitter and other services like Mastodon and to grow bsky, uploading gifs and short videos should definitely be part of the very-near-term roadmap. I fully understand the complexity and resourcing involved, but this is also pretty much a core feature of every single social network / app that bsky is competing with. Love what you folks are doing! |
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+1 to GIF support - I'm a game developer who primarily uses twitter to share progress on our titles. GIFs have been essential for this. GIF support should be an urgent priority if users are to consider Bluesky as a serious replacement to Twitter going forward. |
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just passing by and dropping +1 |
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I'm also a game developer. I've been able to select GIFs from my Photos when running the iOS app on macOS. But when it is So other than the technical aspect of which file format, there's also the user interface and user experience considerations. On Twitter and Mastodon I can add images by pasting a link or image data from the clipboard, dragging and dropping, or the system picker. |
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I'm a new-ish user who has wished for GIF support on several occasions already; dropping by in support of the functionality. |
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+1 need GIFs asap! |
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I double checked this: it is in fact an upscaled PNG that gets |
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just to clarify this small thing: I believe what is probably happening is that the original GIF is uploading as-is (byte-for-byte), and then when a thumbnail is generated it is a non-animated PNG. |
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Oh, thanks for that insight! |
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You gave me the idea to upload an animated png and the thumbnail downloaded as a jpeg. I was really hoping that animated pngs might just be a "secret way to get 'gif' support in the interim" xD |
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It's clear there's a lot of support for this. Maybe someone could make an issue? |
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This used to be the issue but it was migrated into a discussion page #519 |
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Which is this discussion page. |
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Ok thanks for the info, I'll make an issue then, unless someone beats me to it |
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Besides the general support for GIFs/APNG/... (not sure if this is being discussed elsewhere): |
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i do think a GIF library would be great, but also plenty of people do upload their own gifs — it really just depends on the context. it's not that hard to search the web, grab/save (or copy and then paste) a gif and upload it that way. just having the functionality on site is a huge start. |
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Can also confirm I post gifs manually on mastodon and X. It's a common practice in the "build-in-public" community |
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+1 for GIF support!!! Please!! |
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It seems like there is still an open issue about GIFs here: bluesky-social/social-app#1047 Be sure to be a part of that conversation! |
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+1 GIF/Video Support. Bluesky is gaining traction and it would be a shame for new users to revert back to other alternatives due to such a crucial feature missing. I am especially thinking of artists, who often upload process videos or animations they've created to social media. Thanks for all the great work on Bluesky! |
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Considering how long this has been open - has anything been done, is anything planned, or has anything been announced? |
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@Arsenic110 unfortunately not, although some third-party apps have been picking up the pieces, like Graysky and deck.blue They have done quite a good job despite the limitations they're working with (eg: file size limit). At the very least, I think those limitations could be improved. +1 GIF support! Thank you! |
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When/if Bluesky adds gifs, I am really hoping they enable people to access gifs from GIPHY. Graysky and deck.blue only access Tenor. I'm a GIPHY artist and don't find Tenor nearly as user-friendly for a creator. Fingers crossed! |
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You're in luck, please see bluesky-social/social-app#2314 and bluesky-social/social-app#2353 At this stage it's embed support rather than full built-in support, but it's still an important step forward |
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oh no... uploadable gifs are the requested thing here. not embedded ones |
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So take what I say with a grain of salt, as obviously design decisions are not up to me. And I certainly think that actually uploading user GIFs is definitely the ultimate solution long term. However, having the embed support is probably the most important aspect of having GIFs available. The vast majority of times, the GIFs that people use are going to be already created ones that are hosted elsewhere. GIFs on Twitter for example are all offered through GIPHY, Discord uses Tenor, etc. I think it's important to note too that even though this is labeled as an "embed", its actually playing the actual GIF file, not embedding through Giphy/Tenor. There is virtually no difference here between user-uploaded GIFs and the Giphy "embeds" aside from the fact that you are having to link the GIF instead of uploading it. Again, don't make design decisions, but with this support it is very viable to implement a Giphy search that operates in the same way that Discord, Twitter, etc. all do and without the immediate need to support and handle the uploading of many large files. Just my two cents. |
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FWIW, I do understand that there's a big need for GIFs that are not "meme" related. I.e. I think you've mentioned wanting to show some of your work perhaps through GIFs, and I think that's a super important thing to have available. |
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Another +1. |
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adding my +1 to this, im a game developer and the lack of gifs here means i literally cannot move over from twitter. nearly every single offline convo i've had about this site as a twitter alternative ends with "too bad there's no gifs/video". seems like the team isn't interested in prioritizing it but seriously, you have no idea how much this is holding the site back from being a viable alternative |
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That seems like an important feature! Perhaps there should be an issue for it |
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There is for the app itself here: |
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lol |
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HURRAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!
Thanks for the heads-up!
Debbie
Debbie Ridpath Ohi - Children’s book author & illustrator
Website ~ Twitter ~ Instagram (art) ~ Bookstagram - Substack - BlueSky
…On Dec 28, 2023 at 1:37 PM -0500, surfdude29 ***@***.***>, wrote:
You're in luck, please see bluesky-social/social-app#2314 and bluesky-social/social-app#2353
At this stage it's embed support rather than full built-in support, but it's still an important step forward
—
Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.
You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>
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And the gifs gets converted into a jpeg that shows only the first frame of the image |
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should I mention I have a gif avatar on TWTR ? (lookup my handle same as my github) |
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What does that have to do with this discussion? |
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by allowing gif/vid in posts, naturally the next step is gif in avatars. |
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Oh, then that makes sense. |
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Another +1 from me, just uploaded a gif and was shocked to find it displayed only a single frame. Not even attempting to convert it to some modern format or even just telling me gifs aren't supported feels misleading |
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We've shipped Tenor integration now! |
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That's not... that's not what we meant. |
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it's still on the roadmap, please be patient |
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Your roadmap has the wrong priorities. Uploaded animated gifs is in position 1 before you even start a social media project. Position 2 is make a system that allows animated gifs to have audio attached along side it. Position 3 is convert all other media to this superior format with sweet dithering. Position 4 is remove all other video formats. XD |
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and others
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They're fun & right now we only support jpeg & png
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