How to create click and stop GIFs for Facebook?

Question

I have seen GIFs on Facebook which will freeze on the mouse click. Normally these kinds of GIF are used to run a contest in social media. Right now I am not getting any social media links for reference but here is the GIF file uploaded in Giphy: http://gph.is/2hWCUaX (I am assuming this GIF is used for some contest where we need to freeze the GIF when aeroplanes are right inside the white shape).

Could anybody explain to me how to create Click & Stop GIFs?

Answer 1

As mentioned, GIFs cannot be paused or scrubbed through because they are just images. There are some projects that fake it like giffer, which replaces the GIF with a div with the first frame of the GIF, that then gets replaced by the original GIF when the div is clicked.

However, in recent years some applications have been converting GIFs into video files (mp4 and WebM formats usually) in order to save massively on file size (up to 95%) and gain some additional functionality like pausing and scrubbing through it. This format is called GIFV (.gifv) by Imgur. It seems that Facebook is now doing the same thing.

One valid approach for you might be to upload your GIFs to Imgur and link to their .gifv link. Another would be to just use the mp4 and WebM video formats to begin with (this is what I did with my personal page).

Answer 2

The GIF file format can't contain any interaction. The example you gave would be an HTML link with a GIF inside it. Something like:

<a href="link-to-the-next-page"><img src="gif-file.gif" /></a>

The animation itself is a looped animation that can be made in a graphics software like GIMP or Photoshop. They don't actually stop when you click on it.

Answer 3

I found out the way to do 'Click and Stop GIF.'after understanding above comments by Zach Saucier & Billy Kerr It's simple and easy to do. First create a GIF using any software whichever is available for you. You can get plenty of them in online. Once you are done upload the GIF file to Facebook as you do in a normal posts. When you upload the GIF, Facebook will convert that to a video format instead of a GIF file and now user can pause & play by a mouse click.

Hope this helps.