Stephen E. Wilhite, the man who created the “GIF” dies at 74

Stephen E. Wilhite, who created the GIF (short for Graphics Interchange Format), has died at 74. As noted on Wilhite’s obituary page, he received a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award and retired as Chief Architect of America Online, passing away on March 14th. His wife, Kathaleen R. (née Bauer) Wilhite, who spoke to NPR, said he died at a hospital near their home in Milford, Ohio, as a result of COVID-19 complications.

In the 1980s, Wilhite worked at CompuServe as a computer scientist. The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) he developed while working at the company is still frequently used today for jokes, communications, and fast reactions. GIFs have come to be associated with animated internet memes, but it was not Wilhite’s intention when he designed the format.

In the late 1980s, CompuServe offered them as a way to distribute “high-quality, high-resolution graphics” in colour at a time when internet connections were glacial. As Kathaleen pointed out, “He invented GIF all by himself—he actually did that at home and brought it into work when he mastered it.”. In his head, he’d come up with everything, and then he’d go to town on the computer.

While there have been long-standing disagreements over how to pronounce the graphic format, Wilhite was very clear on how he envisioned it. To quote him in 2013, “The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations.” And so, it is pronounced ‘jif,’ a soft ‘G.’ That’s it!

During his acceptance speech for the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for creating the GIF, he reaffirmed his views on the subject with an animated GIF. In a video of him accepting the prize, you can see the full clip here. Creating the GIF was something of which he was very proud, according to Kathaleen, who noted that it had taken them 25 years to acknowledge his achievement.

Stephen’s obituary page includes a number of tributes from former colleagues who describe him as a hard-working employee who had a significant impact on CompuServe’s success.

After Stephen’s retirement, he travelled the world with his wife. Their honeymoon excursion to the Grand Canyon, according to Kathaleen, was one of the highlights of their travels together. After seeing it for the first time “he wanted to share it with me,” she gushed. She recalled that she and her husband went camping “all the time.”

Whenever he was alone at home, he’d play with his model train set. For his train area, we had a complete basement part constructed into the house when it was built.” Kathaleen asserted that he had always designed and installed the layout.

When asked about his favourite GIFs in the Times interview, Wilhite cited the dancing baby meme, which went popular before the terms “memes” and “becoming viral” were commonplaces. 

To learn more about the GIF’s origin, check out the Daily Dot’s explanation of how it became an online trend.