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I don’t know if this is a bug or is this how the images work, hosted on imgur. It basically adds a query string. I added a profile pic as gif but it doesn’t work as how gif images work. If I goto the image url it works fine.

My Profile: https://stackoverflow.com/users/724764/defau1t

Image URL on profile: https://i.sstatic.net/QcPvr.gif?s=128&g=1

Actual animated image Url without Query String (working): https://i.sstatic.net/QcPvr.gif

Is this how images hosted on imgur work or is this something else?

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  • 26
    I am glad it doesn't work on the profile page and URL.
    – Oded
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 14:58
  • 1
    imgur doesn't support animation when it resize the image on the fly.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 15:01
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    So your bug report is "it's not animated"? I'd call that a "feature". Not nauseating your users (or not allowing users to post animated content) is a definite plus (especially in a professional setting). I assume you can't use an animated Gravatar either, so that should have stayed the same.
    – Joachim Sauer
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 15:02
  • 4
    Please tell me you're only trying this out as a 'proof of concept', and you don't really want an animated brain-ache image as your profile pic?
    – JonW
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 15:16
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    +1 for trying to test. I'd +100 if I could because your test shows that animation is blocked (quite a relief)
    – gnat
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 15:18
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    @Anna I won't call it by design. The ?s=[number here] wasn't added to the profile pictures URL to block animation but to preserve bandwidth and improve the speed. Blocking animation is just a side effect, and for all we know imgur might decide one day to support animation when resizing their images. This is by-design on imgur side. :)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 15:35
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    @ShaWizDowArd No, disabling animation is very much by design on our side.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 15:36
  • @Anna nope.. (like I said, the reason it's not animating right now is due to the added ?s=128 or ?s=32.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 15:37
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    @ShaWizDowArd In profile pictures...
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 15:38
  • @Anna that's my profile picture. :)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 15:39
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    @ShaWizDowArd Okay, let me spell this out. Disabling animation in profile pictures even if you uploaded an animated gif is by design. If Imgur fixes their resizing so that it lets animations through, we'll have to find another way to disable them. See Tim Stone's answer on this question as well.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 15:40
  • I am so amused that this question has got an answer with 19 votes. but the question itself has -8 points. ppl on stackoverflow are crazy and that includes me as well.
    – anon
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 18:37
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    @refhat It happens; there's even a badge for it. In this case, people clearly disagreed with the idea that animated gifs should exist; hence, down voting your question, and up voting the answer. Makes perfect sense.
    – Andrew Barber
    Commented Jan 17, 2013 at 20:13
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    @AndrewBarber: My question wasn't that why doesn't animated gif work on my profile. I just brought this to notice on meta, giving my feedback as I assumed it may be a bug.
    – anon
    Commented Jan 18, 2013 at 1:15
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    @anon: the pic is actually pretty cool, wish it did work!
    – LOSTinNEWYORK
    Commented Sep 24, 2015 at 18:14

1 Answer 1

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It doesn't animate because allowing it to do so would be super annoying.

A few days ago, uploading an animated gif would work as you were expecting it to, but that was considered a bug and was fixed, making this :

I'm afraid we're not going to support animated gifs. The ability to upload them was a bug that has been fixed

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  • 5
    IT WOULD SO NOT BE SUPER ANNOYING
    – Pekka
    Commented Jan 20, 2013 at 18:56
  • You didn't put your all-caps link in italic-bold, I am not fazed.
    – Tim Stone
    Commented Jan 20, 2013 at 19:00
  • Crap, it's too late to edit. I'll have to flag for a moderator to do it for me. I WILL FAZE YOU YET!
    – Pekka
    Commented Jan 20, 2013 at 19:02
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    I wonder whether it's possible to create a GIF header that passes Stack Exchange's filters but causes a browser's sloppy image library to render an animation. Probably the only reason to delve into the GIF format spec in 2013!
    – Pekka
    Commented Jan 20, 2013 at 19:04
  • I think they're relying on the fact that a gif image requested with a size parameter from imgur will actually be sent back as a jpeg of the appropriate size, so I think you're out of luck on that one :P
    – Tim Stone
    Commented Jan 20, 2013 at 19:15
  • I wondered about doing something similar with PNG/MNG...
    – uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐN
    Commented Apr 22, 2013 at 23:00
  • Forget that - apparently the g=1 query string parameter prevents this from working. But I came pretty close :P
    – uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐN
    Commented Apr 22, 2013 at 23:51
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    Forum sites allow this .I don't know why StackExchange doesn't
    – Suici Doga
    Commented May 12, 2016 at 12:48
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    @SuiciDoga it's mentioned many times - it's super duper annoying because they're eye catching. Stackoverflow is more about content whereas forums are about community.
    – N.J.Dawson
    Commented Sep 1, 2016 at 11:46
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    @N.J.Dawson I do find these annoying on forums and they also make my Nexus 9 hot (but not my laptop)
    – Suici Doga
    Commented Sep 1, 2016 at 11:53

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