APNG vs GIF for Small Web Animations: Transparency, Loops and File Size

Spinners, success checkmarks, a waving mascot on an empty state, chat stickers: small looping animations still get exported as GIF by default, mostly out of habit. GIF works everywhere, but it was designed in 1987, and its limits show up quickly once the animation has soft edges or sits on a dark background. APNG (Animated PNG) is the other format that every major browser plays natively without…