Wilhite developed the GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) format in 1987 with the help of some members of his team at CompuServe, an internet service provider company. There, Wilhite and the computer development team he led were looking for an image format that would help save on storing and sending files, and that could be downloaded in a short time..
With this in mind, the central objective of GIF emerged: to offer a compressed image format, but of high quality, so that it could be easily used on different websites. The issue of compression was relevant, because, at that time, the Internet connection speed was very slow.
And although it is now widely used for more recreational purposes, such as memes and the representation of emotions and feelings on social and chat platforms, the original objective of the GIF was focused more on a work environment, since it was looking for a way to share graphics and images without losing definitionso that companies could make their presentations more dynamic.
According to Kathaleen Wilhite, widow of Stephen Wilhite, he did most of the work for the development of the GIF at home, on his own, while at CompuServe, alongside his team, what he did was perfect it. and optimize it.
It was in the late 1990s and early 2000s that the GIF format became popular.since it was very practical for saving and sharing small video sequences, which are still used today and have become the protagonists of memes and content on social networks, as well as being an important part of conversations on instant messaging platforms.
After the success of the format he created, Stephen Wilhite retired from computer development in 2000, due to a stroke that left him with sequelsand after having worked as chief architect at America Online (AOL).
After that, he didn’t work on anything computer-related again, so the last 20 years of his life were spent traveling and his hobby of collecting trains.
In 2013, Wilhite won a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of the creation of the GIF format.; These awards are given by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) and are considered the Oscars of the internet.
A curious fact is that, during his speech when receiving the award, Wilhite showed a small video in which it was explained that the correct pronunciation of GIF is “Jif”.