# Submitting .gif animation file(s)



## Excelsior-the-lion (Mar 19, 2015)

Hi,

I just wasted a frustrating hour trying to post an animated gif image I did a while back and the thumbnail always comes out screwed up even when I manually load a different image in various sizes!

How do you submit a animated gif image file if at all?  

Or just post the .avi (which I do have, btw) somehow.  Though FA does not have a "submit video" part to the system as far as I know.  I know how to do the other stuff in the FAQ about posting like a youtube video and other 'workarounds".


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## Verin Asper (Mar 23, 2015)

sorry this got lost but...
FA does not convert animated gifs, to have a thumbnail, even if you have a thumbnail yourself it ONLY works if people have their thumbnail setting to show thumbnails at 100x100. I have mines set at 200x200 thus I see no thumbnails ever thus...I'm exposed fully to images at all times... due to that artist COULD of uploaded a warning thumbnail.


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## DUVMik (Mar 23, 2015)

Try putting the first frame last, if it remembered it correctly FA uses the last frame to generate a thumbnail.


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## quoting_mungo (Mar 23, 2015)

DUVMik said:


> Try putting the first frame last, if it remembered it correctly FA uses the last frame to generate a thumbnail.


This is part of the problem; the other part, which makes this approach ineffective in most cases, is GIF animation compression. Basically, each frame is only going to consist of whatever is different from the prior frame. Some graphics software will let you adjust these settings, and if yours will let you turn that compression option off for the final frame (or altogether, though that would drastically increase file size) that should make the image play nicely with the thumbnailer.

Disclaimer: The above is based on theory only; I know I had such options in a program I used to make animated GIFs 10-15 years ago, but I have no idea if/where they're available in my current software so I can't test it myself.


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