Imgur has long been our favorite image hosting site and a key source of reaction GIFs, and now it's taken things a step further with support for video clips.
At the moment, Imgur only supports uploading of videos through the iOS app, but users on all platforms can see and share the fruits of iPhone owners' labor.
You can visit the Unmuted channel to see what's been shared so far. Despite the name, sound is actually muted by default (otherwise the channel would be a cacophony of meowing), but you can play sound by choosing a video, then selecting the volume toggle at the bottom right.
Breaking the sound barrier
There's no danger of Imgur eating YouTube's lunch. It's referring to these snippets as 'GIFs with sound', and limiting them to a bite-sized 30 seconds in line with its usual shareable, memetic content.
Instead, it seems like a move designed to help secure Imgur's future. Video opens up more opportunities for advertisers like Old Spice, which are currently limited to targeting the site's users through the medium of silent GIFs.
The move to video is useful to the community, too. No longer do you have to spend time hunting down the source of that meme of a man being hit in the face with a basketball – it's now right there on the site. What more could you want?
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Via Engadget
