6 ms·

"With all these improvements, Imgur will now denote converted MP4s with a .gifv extension. The intention is to signal to users throughout the Internet that thes

by jawns 12y ago

"With all these improvements, Imgur will now denote converted MP4s with a .gifv extension. The intention is to signal to users throughout the Internet that these links will feature a GIF experience that incorporates all the current and future enhancements made through Project GIFV. Imgur plans to submit an accompanying specification to relevant standards organizations before the end of the year." This is bizarre. GIFV isn't a new file format. It is just an alias for an existing format. The only reason the letters "GIF" are in this new file extension is to signal that the file was converted from a GIF, but who cares, apart from the so-called cultural connotations? I mean, does anybody care to have a BMPJ (a JPEG file that was converted from a BMP) or a WAV3 (an MP3 that was converted from a WAV)? Or a .GIFMP4GIFMP4GIFMP4 file, which was converted back and forth a few times?

bhouston 12y ago
This is a marketing endeavor that is pretending to be a technical innovation.
- zobzu 12y ago
  Yep. Plus gfycat.com does that since a while now, but imgur comes as "oh look we're so innovative". " Imgur plans to submit an accompanying specification to relevant standards organizations" Hi we put a .gifv extension to mp4 can we HTML5 standard this non standard file extension of a standard format?! Riite.
  - gcb0 12y ago
    even 4chan does that. whish tumblr implements it with standards and do a huge campaign calling imgur BS
  - drawkbox 12y ago
    Twitter also followed the gfycat lead before imgur: http://blog.embed.ly/post/89265229166/what-twitter-isnt-telling-you-about-gifs http://blog.embed.ly/post/89265229166/what-twitter-isnt-tell... Glad imgur is doing it though, so annoying to have to wait for gifs in 2014 and they are intense bandwidth hogs.
techscruggs 12y ago
No, probably not anyone who is reading hackernews, but imgur has a much wider audience. GIFV will help communicate 2 things: 1) this file is audio free 2)this file is safe (people don't generally worry about getting a virus from a gif).
- u124556 12y ago
  Do they from an mp4?
- alexchamberlain 12y ago
  What stops you delivering any old mp4 as a gifv?
- willvarfar 12y ago
  Actually, exploiting bugs in image parsers has been a classic vector. Certainly tiff, jpeg and BMP to my memory. When i worked at symbian we had an svg parser vulnerability that went underreported. And given the slew of bugs Google keep finding fixing in libraries like ffmpeg, there are likely lots of bugs lurking in something as complex as an MP4 player...
  - fleitz 12y ago
    Yup, most video code has serious bug smell.
- kmfrk 12y ago
  If we're lucky, this also means people like Apple won't autoplay the stuff, so we actually download less data on page load.
xpaulbettsx 12y ago
Browsers should display GIFVs without transport controls (unlike <video>), and ignore any audio tracks that are included - basically construct a limited MP4 profile and handle it appropriately. It's a useful construct imho.
- u124556 12y ago
  So this is actually making mp4 worse? Talk about innovation.
  - wlesieutre 12y ago
    There are a lot of uses for dumb, audio-free video files. Web forums, for instance. You can allow users to embed them without worrying about 100 different auto-playing videos with sound on your page. Plenty of ways to implement that and I'm not sure this is the best approach, but it's not just "worse video". More features is worse, not better, a lot of the time. Like when people used to build entire websites in Flash before the iPhone's lack of flash player finally made them stop.
    - smeyer 12y ago
      >entire websites in Flash before the iPhone's lack of flash player finally made them stop I have a setting flipped in Chrome such that I have to click to enable each plugin on a page. This made me realize that the iPhone sadly didn't stop all such website builders (rare as it is to encounter one now.)
      - freehunter 12y ago
        I feel especially bad for local restaurants that have sites built all in Flash. When I look up who designed their website, it's proudly hosted on the only local dial-up ISP left in town, designed by a "company" which is really just a high schooler who took a digital media class once. I know there is no way that site is being redone, and they're now completely at the mercy of Yelp.
    - 12y ago
esolyt 12y ago
> but who cares, apart from the so-called cultural connotations? This whole thing is about preserving the GIF culture. So, people do care. Besides, browsers will probably start treating GIFVs differently if this catches on and becomes a standard.
piyush_soni 12y ago
That was the first question I had after I read the article. What's the need of calling it 'gifv' when it's really mp4? Does imgur want to take credit for creating a new format when it really hasn't? Conversions happen all the time behind the scenes.
fleitz 12y ago
"but who cares, apart from the so-called cultural connotations?" About 8 billion people, culture is everything to people compared to file format specifications. Acts like a GIF, talks like a GIFs, it's a GIF(V)!

by jawns 12y ago

bhouston 12y ago

This is a marketing endeavor that is pretending to be a technical innovation.

zobzu 12y ago
Yep. Plus gfycat.com does that since a while now, but imgur comes as "oh look we're so innovative". " Imgur plans to submit an accompanying specification to relevant standards organizations" Hi we put a .gifv extension to mp4 can we HTML5 standard this non standard file extension of a standard format?! Riite.
- gcb0 12y ago
  even 4chan does that. whish tumblr implements it with standards and do a huge campaign calling imgur BS
- drawkbox 12y ago
  Twitter also followed the gfycat lead before imgur: http://blog.embed.ly/post/89265229166/what-twitter-isnt-telling-you-about-gifs http://blog.embed.ly/post/89265229166/what-twitter-isnt-tell... Glad imgur is doing it though, so annoying to have to wait for gifs in 2014 and they are intense bandwidth hogs.

techscruggs 12y ago

No, probably not anyone who is reading hackernews, but imgur has a much wider audience. GIFV will help communicate 2 things: 1) this file is audio free 2)this file is safe (people don't generally worry about getting a virus from a gif).

u124556 12y ago
Do they from an mp4?
alexchamberlain 12y ago
What stops you delivering any old mp4 as a gifv?
willvarfar 12y ago
Actually, exploiting bugs in image parsers has been a classic vector. Certainly tiff, jpeg and BMP to my memory. When i worked at symbian we had an svg parser vulnerability that went underreported. And given the slew of bugs Google keep finding fixing in libraries like ffmpeg, there are likely lots of bugs lurking in something as complex as an MP4 player...
- fleitz 12y ago
  Yup, most video code has serious bug smell.
kmfrk 12y ago
If we're lucky, this also means people like Apple won't autoplay the stuff, so we actually download less data on page load.

xpaulbettsx 12y ago

Browsers should display GIFVs without transport controls (unlike <video>), and ignore any audio tracks that are included - basically construct a limited MP4 profile and handle it appropriately. It's a useful construct imho.

u124556 12y ago
So this is actually making mp4 worse? Talk about innovation.
- wlesieutre 12y ago
  There are a lot of uses for dumb, audio-free video files. Web forums, for instance. You can allow users to embed them without worrying about 100 different auto-playing videos with sound on your page. Plenty of ways to implement that and I'm not sure this is the best approach, but it's not just "worse video". More features is worse, not better, a lot of the time. Like when people used to build entire websites in Flash before the iPhone's lack of flash player finally made them stop.
  - smeyer 12y ago
    >entire websites in Flash before the iPhone's lack of flash player finally made them stop I have a setting flipped in Chrome such that I have to click to enable each plugin on a page. This made me realize that the iPhone sadly didn't stop all such website builders (rare as it is to encounter one now.)
    - freehunter 12y ago
      I feel especially bad for local restaurants that have sites built all in Flash. When I look up who designed their website, it's proudly hosted on the only local dial-up ISP left in town, designed by a "company" which is really just a high schooler who took a digital media class once. I know there is no way that site is being redone, and they're now completely at the mercy of Yelp.
  - 12y ago

esolyt 12y ago

> but who cares, apart from the so-called cultural connotations? This whole thing is about preserving the GIF culture. So, people do care. Besides, browsers will probably start treating GIFVs differently if this catches on and becomes a standard.

piyush_soni 12y ago

That was the first question I had after I read the article. What's the need of calling it 'gifv' when it's really mp4? Does imgur want to take credit for creating a new format when it really hasn't? Conversions happen all the time behind the scenes.

fleitz 12y ago

"but who cares, apart from the so-called cultural connotations?" About 8 billion people, culture is everything to people compared to file format specifications. Acts like a GIF, talks like a GIFs, it's a GIF(V)!