> GIF [...] and is limited to a palette of a meagre 256 colours
I am SO tired of this myth. It is 256 colors per frame, but frames are allowed to overlay each other, have transparency, allowing earlier frames to shine through, do so with no delay, and have their own palettes. Here is a fullcolor gif for your viewing pleasure: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/SmallFul.... More details: https://web.archive.org/web/20130330081050/http://phil.ipal....