GIF-FB(1)

🎀 gif-fb — GIF-FB(1) 🎀

💖 NAME 💖

gif-fb — display a GIF image on a frame buffer

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

gif-fb [-c] [-o] [-v] [-z] [-F _frame_buffer_] [-i _image#_] [_gif_file_]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay so gif-fb decodes a CompuServe GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) image and writes it to a frame buffer. If no gif_file is given, the GIF data is read from standard input. Multi-image GIF files are displayed sequentially unless a single image is selected with -i.

The requested frame buffer is sized to the GIF screen dimensions, and the image is written right-side-up at the bottom of the available frame buffer. Cute, correct, and not doing any weird upside-down nonsense. 💅

🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

• -c — Force 8 bits of color resolution per R, G, and B channel, overriding the color resolution declared in the GIF file. Some non-standard GIF writers require this.
• -o — Overlay mode. Skip the initial clearing of the frame buffer to the GIF background color, leaving existing frame buffer contents in place.
• -v — Verbose mode. Print information about the GIF screen, color maps, and each image to standard error.
• -z — Zoom the frame buffer to enlarge the image as much as possible while keeping a square pixel aspect ratio.
• -F frame_buffer — Write to the named frame buffer instead of the one given by the FB_FILE environment variable (or the default frame buffer if FB_FILE is unset).
• -i image# — Display only the given image (1-indexed) from a multi-image GIF, rather than all images.

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

Example 1. Convert a GIF to a BRL-CAD pix file

gif-fb -F /dev/mem image.gif && fb-pix -F /dev/mem image.pix

Decode a GIF into an in-memory frame buffer and capture it with fb-pix(1), producing a pix(5) file for use with the rest of the BRL-CAD image tools. Obsessed with the pipeline, honestly. 🫶

Example 2. View a single frame of an animated GIF, zoomed

gif-fb -z -i 3 animation.gif

Display only the third image of a multi-image GIF on the default frame buffer, zoomed to fill the display while preserving square pixels. Third-frame main character energy, no cap. 👑

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

brlcad(1), gif2fb(1), fb-pix(1), fb-png(1), pix-fb(1), fbclear(1), pix(5)

💜 AUTHOR 💜

BRL-CAD Team

🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

This software is Copyright (c) 1989-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

🍓 BUG REPORTS 🍓

Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org

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💖 that’s the whole GIF-FB(1) vibe — source/version is BRL-CAD, this is the GIF-FB(1) page, and the footer didn’t give a separate date, so I’m not inventing one, periodt 🫶💅