MacOS Preview – Previewing an Animated GIF Image

macospreview

How can I preview an animated GIF? When I double-click it, it opens in Preview and is not animated, showing each frame as a separate image instead of playing the animation. As an example, here is the image I was trying to preview (so you can try it yourself).

Is there some way to get Preview to play the animated GIF, or if not, what's the best app to imitate Preview in this one instance? (i.e. something that will quickly open and play the GIF, I don't care about editing and whatnot)

Best Answer

Right-click it, go to the Open With menu, and choose Safari (or your other favorite Web browser).

It should open quickly, and will play the animation.
No internet connection is required if you have a local copy of the image.