It is hard to believe that the GIF image format has been around for about 26 years. Some may argue that other formats have chipped its popularity, and it is true only if you refer to its replacement with PNG for user interface elements.
On the other hand, if you think of the animated part of the format, there is no doubt that GIF’s popularity reached an all-time high.
Specifically designed for animated GIF files, 7GIF is a freshly released application that not only lets you load and view the images, but it can also be used to check and extract every frame of the file.
The program is absolutely free of charge and installs quickly, with no worry about pushing third-party software onto the system. If you wish to skip the installation process, there is also portable version available. There is absolutely no difference in terms of functionality between the two editions.
Looks are simple and to the point: a window that displays the animated content and some options available at the bottom. It is easy to learn the ropes and most of the functions have a keyboard shortcut.
Loading a new GIF into the program is just a matter of dragging and dropping it into the interface. After that, you can browse to the next file automatically because 7GIF detects all supported files in that location.
Although the shortcut for moving to another file and back are not revealed in the interface, we intuitively tried the left and right arrows. Just like in the case of video players, you can use backspace to play/pause an animated GIF.
Getting from one frame to another in pause mode can be achieved with the up and down arrows.
The program is versatile as far as options are concerned; it allows you to increase or decrease the viewing speed as well as zoom in and out on the animation.
Furthermore, it can extract any frame in the animation or store them all at once in a user-defined location.
We evaluated the program using a 34-frame GIF in order to test its ability to save each snap. Storing all the pics did not take long and had no notable impact on our test system. The files can be saved in JPG, BMP, PNG, TIF or WMF format, and before proceeding the application prompts you to set a quality level for the output (from zero to 100 percent), which also affects the size of each item.
Renaming all the instances is done automatically based on the initial name, to which a numerical suffix is added.
7GIF is also capable of displaying some information about the loaded file. The details include file size, attributes, date and time of creation, last access and write. Additional information such as resolution, dots per inch and total number of frames included is also displayed.
Despite being a simple application, the configuration panel is quite packed with options; however, there is nothing complicated about them.
Apart from offering the possibility to select the working language, the developer included options for controlling the behavior of the application when closed. These help maintain the same position of the window, its size or the background color.
7GIF can be run with the Aero Glass effect on Windows 7, which is part of the default set up of the application; on Windows 8 this choice is not available.
The application can be used as the default GIF viewer on the system and this can be achieved by associating this particular file type with it. The developer makes this task easy, thanks to a special section in the configuration menu. The feature is available in the portable version as well.
7GIF does not seem like a complicated tool at a first glance, but the number of options and hidden functions may change that opinion; nevertheless, the initial impression is the right one.
One associated with GIF items viewing these animated images is just a matter of double-clicking them.
