The three formats
- Animated GIF — universal support, but only 256 colors and large files. Fine for tiny, simple loops.
- APNG — animated PNG with full color and transparency; better quality than GIF, well supported now.
- Animated WebP — full color, transparency, and far smaller than GIF at the same quality.
Which to use
For quality and size, animated WebP usually wins. APNG is a good choice when you need PNG-style transparency. Plain GIF only makes sense for maximum compatibility or very short clips.
When to skip them all
For anything longer than a couple of seconds, an MP4 video is dramatically smaller and smoother than any animated image. Related reading: GIF to WebP / video and WebP standard.