How to Compare GIFs with gifdiff (with examples)

1: Check how GIFs differ

Code:

gifdiff path/to/first.gif path/to/second.gif

Motivation for using this example:

The gifdiff command allows us to compare two GIF images and identify any differences between them. This can be useful for verifying the integrity of a GIF file, analyzing the impact of different compression settings, or identifying changes made to the image.

Explanation for every argument:

• path/to/first.gif: This argument represents the file path of the first GIF image that we want to compare. Replace path/to/first.gif with the actual file path on your system.
• path/to/second.gif: This argument represents the file path of the second GIF image that we want to compare. Replace path/to/second.gif with the actual file path on your system.

Example output:

 0.00: Image is different!
diffs: 147, texts: 40

The output shows that the images differ and provides the number of differences found (147 pixel differences and 40 text differences). This information can help in identifying the specific areas where the two GIFs vary.

2: Check if GIFs differ

Code:

gifdiff --brief path/to/first.gif path/to/second.gif

Motivation for using this example:

The --brief option allows us to quickly determine if two GIF images differ or not. This can be useful when we only need a simple yes or no answer without detailed information about the differences.

Explanation for every argument:

• --brief: This argument is an option that tells gifdiff to provide a brief output indicating whether the images differ or not.
• path/to/first.gif: This argument represents the file path of the first GIF image that we want to compare. Replace path/to/first.gif with the actual file path on your system.
• path/to/second.gif: This argument represents the file path of the second GIF image that we want to compare. Replace path/to/second.gif with the actual file path on your system.

Example output:

Images differ

The output shows a simple message indicating that the images differ. This can be helpful when performing automated comparisons or when we only need to know if there is any visual difference between the two GIFs.