About
Perfectly Looped GIFs are animated images created with the first and final frames matched up to create a seamless loop.
Origin
On June 17th, 2012, Redditor djloreddit launched the /r/perfectloops subreddit for submissions of seamlessly looping animations.
Spread
On October 8th, 2013, CollegeHumor highlighted 23 perfectly looping GIF examples.
On January 22nd, 2014, BuzzFeed posted a compilation of notable perfectly looped GIFs.
Notable Examples
Cinemagraphs
Cinemagraphs are partially animated photographs in which a subtle movement action occurs, many of which are seamlessly looped. The effect is produced by taking a series of continuous shot photographs or a video recording and compositing the frames into an animated GIF file.
Droste Effect
Droste Effect refers to an artistic technique that creates a recursive picture in which a smaller version of the image is placed inside itself repeatedly. In still images, the recursion is limited by the fixed resolution of the picture but can repeat as an infinite loop in animations.
