To do some basic explaining, GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format, a bitmap image format that was introduced back in 1987. And now it seems that YouTube is finally ready to make this feature eventually available for every video out there. At the moment though, as Gizmodo observes, the feature is experimental, and there are just some scarce videos that have this new option enabled. But, as you can see in the above screenshot, it worked on the PBS Idea Channel and we got to play around with the new tool. As you’d expect, it’s super easy to use. If you find a video with GIF capability, you just need to click the Share button, then GIF, and you can then customize your clip. At the moment, maximum length is six seconds, and users also have the choice to add top and bottom text if needed. Once you are done with your creation, you can choose to embed it in websites and blogs and there’s of course a direct link that you can share with your buddies, but you can do it so directly from YouTube, as well. The feature is still in test mode, but I’m totally sure that it will soon become available to all videos. My single concern is that this could clutter YouTube even more, but let’s hope that it will be used to what we’re accustomed – witty, ingenious memes.
