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 Introduction

 'GIF' (tm) is CompuServe's standard for defining generalized  colour raster
 images.    This   'Graphics  Interchange  Format'  (tm)  allows
 high-quality, high-resolution graphics to be displayed on a  variety  of
 graphics  hardware  and is intended as an exchange and display mechanism
 for graphics images.  The image format described  in  this  document  is
 designed  to  support  current  and  future image technology and will in
 addition serve as a basis for future CompuServe graphics products.

 The main focus  of  this  document  is  to  provide  the  technical
 information  necessary  for  a  programmer to implement GIF encoders and
 decoders.  As such, some assumptions are made as to terminology relavent
 to graphics and programming in general.

 The first section of this document describes the  GIF  data  format and
 its components and applies to all GIF decoders, either as standalone
 programs or as part of  a  communications  package.   Appendix  B  is  a
 section  relavent to decoders that are part of a communications software
 package and describes the protocol requirements for entering and exiting
 GIF mode, and responding to host interrogations.  A glossary in Appendix A
 defines some of the terminology used in  this  document.   Appendix  C
 gives  a  detailed  explanation  of  how  the  graphics  image itself is
 packaged as a series of data bytes.