Global palette and local palette

GIF files can use both a "Global Palette" and a "Local Palette."

Global palette
Refers to a palette used when an entire animation uses only that one palette. When an image frame does not use a local palette, it uses this global palette.
You can set a global palette by using the "Animation atributes" dialog box.

Local palette
Refers to a palette that is used exclusively for one image frame.
You can set the local palette for each image frame using the "Image properties" dialog box .

If each image frame uses its own local palette, the size of the resulting GIF file will be too large to be usable. If all the images share one global palette, the GIF file can be made small so that it takes little time to transmit over the network.

Note, however, that you must select the colors of a global palette carefully. Otherwise, the image will be poor. Therefore, you should use both a global palette and local palette, choosing whichever is appropriate to attain a small file size or high-quality image.

Related Item

Palette