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I have an interesting issue that I never had a problem doing in the past. Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

It seems that since my Photoshop CC updated to 22.0.1, I am unable to export one of my PSD files into a GIF and still maintain the the gradient's transparency. I don't know what setting/feature changed. I have reset my settings to default. I didn't use anything custom when exporting in the past, just the presets for GIF that are listed in the Export for Web (Legacy) tool.

Images in Question

The image on the left is the GIF file (lls_gc.gif) that has the working transparency. I can put that image on any background and it works perfectly, example below. The image one the right is the result I'm getting now.

enter image description here

Anyone know how to export to GIF while maintaining the transparency of the gradient?

As for the PSD file, there are two layers: one being the Y and the other being a transparent layer with a circle shape with the blending options on using the Gradient tool.

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  • you don't need to edit just to say the problem is solved, accepting an answer (which you did) is the way around here to say 'thank you' :)
    – Luciano
    Dec 1, 2020 at 14:38
  • @Luciano Thanks.
    – TAG
    Dec 1, 2020 at 15:44

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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GIFs do not allow for smooth 8-bit transparency. It is simply a limitation of the format itself. There's nothing you can do to alter or overcome that limitation.

GIF transparency is 1-bit - meaning it's either on or off, nothing in between. The best you can do in a GIF is to dither the transparency which will create a sort of stipple or dot pattern within the areas of transparency.

You won't ever get a smooth gradient of transparency in the GIF format.

If you need smooth transparency then PNG is the correct format. But, unlike GIF, PNG won't support animation.

If you need smooth transparency and animation then the PNGA format may work. However PNGA is not yet widely supported.

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  • Thanks for the reply. The image with the gray background is a snapshot of a gif image with the gradient. I used the grey background to show it works. It is an older image I created last year or so. I just needed to make a small modification to the copyright information in the Metadata.
    – TAG
    Dec 1, 2020 at 4:54
  • Sorry, hit done before I was done (on the mobile app instead of my computer). I can send you the working gif file (one showed on the left. I added the gray background in a div to showcase the gradient works) and the PSD.
    – TAG
    Dec 1, 2020 at 4:57
  • My apologies for the messed up comments above (back on my laptop). I have edited the question to show the GIF file with the gradient being used in a webpage. I understand what you are saying about the GIF format, however, I have been working with this file for little over a year now. I just don't remember how I made it now... lol
    – TAG
    Dec 1, 2020 at 5:48
  • That does not appear to be gif transparency to me.. that would be more along the lines of a png file with the suffix merely changed to gif. As I posted, gif transparency is 1-bit... never 8 bit. I'm not posting opinion here.. it's a technical limitation of the gif format. You can't get that smooth gradient transparency in the actual gif format. But you can save a PNG, then using Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder, change the suffix from .png to .gif -- you get png transparency but web site upload scripts still read "gif".
    – Scott
    Dec 1, 2020 at 6:52
  • So tried the suffix change from png to gif...and well you were right on the money with that. Never even thought to try that as I have no idea why I would have done that. Most likely needed a GIF image for some program I was working on wanted to use that image. No clue. Thanks! Sanity returned to me.
    – TAG
    Dec 1, 2020 at 6:53

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