In what year did Facebook add support for GIFs?

Facebook added support for GIFs in 2015. On May 29 that year, Facebook confirmed that users could post GIFs in the News Feed, with the animated images behaving in ways similar to autoplaying videos.

The change arrived after years in which Facebook generally did not provide straightforward native GIF support. Before the official rollout, users often relied on external links or services such as Giphy to share animated images. Facebook’s 2015 support made the format much easier to use inside the platform.

The year is easy to mix up with other social networks. Twitter added GIF support in 2014, while Instagram introduced GIF stickers in 2018. Those nearby dates help explain why 2014 and 2018 can look plausible, but they refer to different platforms or features.

The move also reflected GIFs’ broader return to mainstream online communication. Although GIF files had existed since 1987, faster connections, social feeds, and searchable GIF libraries turned short looping animations into a common form of reaction, humor, and visual emphasis.