Reddit and Giphy are bringing GIF comments to every sub that wants them

Reddit is joining the GIF party with its new partnership with Giphy, a giant online hub where Internet users upload and share GIFs. The new partnership, which begins today, July 13, requires that moderators of existing subreddits opt in to enable this feature. The new subreddit will automatically opt in for GIFs in comments, leaving the option to opt out of mods.

Reddit users typically post a link to a GIF on a third-party host instead of viewing it, but the new partnership will remove the extra step of clicking on a linked GIF to view the image or animation. Reddit previously tested adding GIFs to Reddit comments, but they were only available to people who paid for a PowerUp subscription. After seeing success with this feature over the past two years, it should now be available to all users.

GIF is the latest upgrade that Reddit has added to its comments sections. In April, Reddit began indexing comments in its searches, a move it said could make it easier to find things outside of specific subreddits and was a top-requested feature by users. Recently, it began testing collectible avatars, its NFT profile picture sales scheme that avoids using the word "NFT".