pulp hosted at ImgBB
files.catbox.moe
Image pulp hosted in ImgBB

I’m doing some testing to see what the best format / upload site is.

This webp file was uploaded to an external site (not many support animated webp files, but ImgBB is one I found that does).
I’ve used the full URL (rather than the direct hot-link), because using the hot-link often results in Lemmy pulling the file in and re-compressing it.
(edit: imgbb deleted the original post, have re-uploaded to catbox.moe instead. Whether lemmy lets a file stay on catbox, or copies it in and re-compresses it though, is difficult to determine)
An alternative is to make a text post, and hot-link the image as an inline link in the body. This has decent support on mobile clients, but it looks more like you’ve made a mistake in your upload for web clients.

Lossy .webp file, 1.16MB, uploaded to ImgBB

Desktop

web:
Thumbnail? yes, Loads in post? no, Loop? yes
alexandrite:
Thumbnail? yes (but cuts image), Loads in post? no, Loop? yes
photon:
Thumbnail? no, Loads in post? yes (but cuts image), Loop? yes
tesseract:
Thumbnail? no, Loads in post? yes, Loop? yes
mlmym:
Thumbnail? static image, Loads in post? no, Loop? yes (on click-through)

Mobile (thumbnail refers to Link View)

sync:
Thumbnail? yes, Loads in post? yes, Loop? yes
voyager:
Thumbnail? no (broken image), Loads in post? yes (but cuts image), Loop? yes
connect:
Thumbnail? no, Loads in post? no, Loop? yes (on click-through)
liftoff:
Thumbnail? yes, Loads in post? no (still thumbnail size), Loop? yes
jerboa:
Thumbnail? yes, Loads in post? no (still thumbnail size), Loop? yes
thunder:
Thumbnail? yes, Loads in post? yes, Loop? yes

I don’t have access to every front-end and mobile app available. Please share your experiences with whatever it is you use. Thanks.

  • Apathy Tree@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    I’m going to edit this after I check the other iOS apps I have - stay tuned

    Voyager - plays in feed, loops, plays in post. Not sure what you mean by thumbnail, I do the expanded view for feed.

    Updated info -

    Thunder - doesn’t have the gif in the post? I must be doing something wrong, I assume…? But I can’t see that I’ve done anything wrong so the iOS version of thunder really doesn’t seem to like it.

    Lemmios, memmy, and Mlem - does not play, just shows a still. Clicking it brings up the still.

    Wefwef plays, loops.

    Hope this helps! Most of your apps looked like android, so may as well! (Low-key I enjoy doing these comparisons)

    • freamon@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Thank you. Much appreciated. I don’t have iOS, so I’m very reliant on this kind of info.

      I’ll make one big [META] post at some point, listing the relative pro/cons of file formats and upload sites, as well as how well they’re supported in the various apps.

      • Apathy Tree@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        If you ever need other, or more detailed, testing, lmk (I have an iPhone, older Samsung tablet, and an android phone from about 3 years ago). There’s a few iOS apps I tend not to keep/use because they are ad-driven or paid (there’s a place for that ofc, I’m just not it) and I can download them to test on if desired, but they aren’t part of my normal lineup, only die-hards of that particular dev tend to use them.

        I’m willing to do it rigorously as well, with more detailed info. I did a quick check today, but I’m happy to contribute what I can to finding good systems!

          • Apathy Tree@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            That Lana tried cociane one did not do well on any app. Did it do well in your tests?

            I’m start with that one.

            Wefwef, memmy, liftoff, voyager got zero from it, just blank.

            Mlem, thunder - provide link

            Lemmios - spins loading

            Avalon (which I didn’t know existed until today!) gives a fail to load message.

            Cheer was most consistent.

            Wefwef, memmy, liftoff, voyager, thunder, and Avalon played and looped perfectly.

            Lemmios and Mlem failed and provided a link.

            Caville was kinda all over the place

            Wefwe, liftoff, voyager, and Avalon* all showed it and looped it. Avalon required being clicked but then functioned the same.

            Mlem, memmy, Lemmios all showed the thumb but it was a still and opened a still.

            Thunder was a dud and showed nothing.

            • freamon@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              The Lana was bit middling on my tests too. Weirdly Cavill worked on Sync for Android when I first tested it, but now it’s decided that it’s a still image.

              So this means that of mp4, webp and gif, the most inefficient one is the one with the most widespread support. Oh, well - the community is called ‘gifs’ after all!

              • Apathy Tree@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                1·
                1 year ago

                That’s disappointing. I didn’t actually look because I’m lazy, but which format was which? (Spoken like a true tester 😜)

                Hopefully as time goes on the other things will be added (apps weren’t started until quite recently, perhaps support will be added as they mature), and it will improve.

                Most of my apps also have Lemmy communities, so you could request support for the other formats

                • freamon@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
                  2·
                  1 year ago

                  Cheers is a gif, Lana is an MP4, Cavill is a webp hosted on Lemmy, and Dance Off is a webp hosted externally.

                  Yeah, I think all the apps are in relatively early stages, and the Devs have all prioritised different things. But I’ll look into their Communities/GitHub sites and see if there’s already an issue raised, or if I should raise one.