Wikipedia talk:Other frequent questions

AxelBoldt: GIF patent?

Is GIF itself patented? AFAIK, it is the compression algorithm (LZW) used with GIF that is patented. I think it is OK to produce uncompressed GIF images. After all, Debian distributes libungif, which create uncompressed GIF files, in its main section; not in the non-US section where most of the patented stuff is relegated to.

An uncompressed GIF file is quite large. So, it is preferable to use the unencumbered PNG format instead.

-- Hari (haven't registered yet)

You're right, the compression algorithm is patented. I didn't know that there are also uncompressed gif images. I'll fix it in the FAQ. AxelBoldt