Remember when GIFs were basically the only way to show something moving on a webpage without dragging in a full video player? Spinning loaders, little waving mascots, “loading…” icons — all GIFs, all looking slightly blurry and oddly heavy for something so small. Turns out there’s been a much better option sitting right under our noses for years: the animated SVG. Let’s get into how you actually build one, and whether it really deserves to replace GIF.