MSC4230: Flag for animated images #4230

dbkr · 2024-11-21T12:52:44Z

Proposes adding a boolean flag to images that indicates whether they're animated.

Impl: element-hq/element-web#28513

Rendered

Disclosure: This is presented wearing my, "Element Employee and Element Web Engineer" hat.

FCP tickyboxes

MSC checklist

Today is not that day.

sumnerevans · 2024-11-21T17:11:56Z

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

+
+## Proposal
+
+We add an optional boolean flag, `ia_animated` to the `info` object of image events indicating if


To clarify, this field would be allowed in the info on msgtype: m.image and type: m.sticker events?

I guess just images for now: clarified.

Any reason not to allow it for stickers?

I'm not really sure to be honest, which is exactly why I'm leaving it for someone else to propose if they think it's appropriate.

Given that stickers are ~renamed images, I agree with Sumner that the same should apply to stickers.

We don't have extensible events yet, but MSC3552 goes in the same direction about the images and stickers relation ship.

+1, let's do it for stickers too.

I'm afraid I am somewhat drowning with other commitments at the moment. If anyone would like to propose an update to this that would encompass stickers then please go ahead, otherwise I will put this on the back burner for a bit.

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

Co-authored-by: R Midhun Suresh <[email protected]>

HarHarLinks · 2024-12-02T13:26:53Z

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

+
+Clients may lie about the flag which would cause unexpected behaviour, for example, an image which
+was not presented might then animate when the user clicks to enlarge it, allowing for 'jump scares'
+or similar. Clients may wish to prevent images from being animated if the flag is set to false.


Wouldn't be sensible for an implementation to use this flag only as a hint as to whether it should preload the original, and probe the media regardless of when it was downloaded to confirm the animation? I feel like this MSC is recommending a client behaviour that is a tad too "trusting".

They could do that if they saw a need to. I've tried to be specific though and call out a distinct case where clients might want to take care over. I don't think it's really the spec's job to enumerate every detail that clients might possibly mess up, although we can certainly give more hints if you think there's something else worth calling out.

HarHarLinks · 2024-12-02T13:29:42Z

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

+
+## Proposal
+
+We add an optional boolean flag, `is_animated` to the `info` object of `m.image` events indicating if


Just to bring it up, we could also give this flag a more general name prefetch_original to express "you might wanna prefetch this", and apply it optionally to any attachment type. A client might assume based on the attachment type, mime type, flag, and other metadata combinations, whether it wants to prefetch, e.g. to play an animated image/gif without delay. Then again I fail to come up with other reasons you might want to hints about prefetching attachments.

Personally I'm more persuaded by the idea of giving information about the media rather than trying to second guess what the client might want to do.

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

Co-authored-by: Will Hunt <[email protected]>

zecakeh · 2025-01-13T16:52:04Z

This is implemented in Fractal too as of today:

Ruma: events: Add unstable support for is_animated image flag ruma/ruma#1985
matrix-rust-sdk: feat(sdk): Allow to set and check whether an image is animated matrix-rust-sdk#4503
Fractal: https://gitlab.gnome.org/World/fractal/-/merge_requests/1889

dbkr · 2025-02-19T13:07:36Z

As per discussion on element-hq/element-web#28311 and since this now has 2 impls, I'm going to

@mscbot fcp merge

mscbot · 2025-02-19T13:07:39Z

turt2live · 2025-02-24T18:33:22Z

MSCs proposed for Final Comment Period (FCP) should meet the requirements outlined in the checklist prior to being accepted into the spec. This checklist is a bit long, but aims to reduce the number of follow-on MSCs after a feature lands.

SCT members: please check off things you check for, and raise a concern against FCP if the checklist is incomplete. If an item doesn't apply, prefer to check it rather than remove it. Unchecking items is encouraged where applicable.

Checklist:

turt2live · 2025-02-24T18:34:11Z

@mscbot concern Checklist incomplete

(I haven't attempted to pre-populate it this time, sorry)

Johennes · 2025-02-25T07:19:03Z

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

+If this flag is `false`, receiving clients can assume that the image is not animated. If `true`, they should
+assume that it is.


The strength of these statements is not quite clear to me in relation to the SHOULD when sending images. Do you intend for "can assume" and "should assume" to translate into "MAY assume" and "SHOULD assume" in the spec?

TheArcaneBrony · 2025-02-25T08:33:56Z

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

+
+## Proposal
+
+We add an optional boolean flag, `is_animated` to the `info` object of `m.image` events indicating if


Unrelated thread: how would this work with inline emojis?

emojis are not animated?

Emojis can definitely be animated. Might be better to leave adding a new attribute like data-mx-animated-emoticon to a different MSC though (perhaps MSC2545, or a completely new one, or reuse the data-mx-emoticon attribute by giving it a value)

it might be that we're using different definitions of "emoji". Are they not just a unicode codepoint? (Which, sure, a client can animate if it wants to be cute, but that's not something we need to represent in an event body)

I'm assuming the question was about custom emojis, which are inline images (<img> tags in formatted_body)

That was definitely not clear from the question! But yes, that sounds like a question for another MSC, given that such things aren't yet specced.

It also seems irrelevant since there would be no thumbnail support here anyway.

richvdh · 2025-02-25T14:34:11Z

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

+Since animated images are thumbnailed to a still image, clients need to download the full
+image in order to display it animated. However, there is currently no way of telling that
+an image is animated without downloading the original image. This means that clients wishing
+to display the image as animated must download the original image for any image format which


what does "display the image as animated" mean? An annotation in the UI? Or actually making an animated thumbnail?

Either, I guess. Would be good to be clearer though.

richvdh · 2025-02-25T14:34:20Z

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

+image in order to display it animated. However, there is currently no way of telling that
+an image is animated without downloading the original image. This means that clients wishing
+to display the image as animated must download the original image for any image format which
+is capabale of being animated. This means they download the full size image for non-animated


Suggested change

is capabale of being animated. This means they download the full size image for non-animated

is capable of being animated. This means they download the full size image for non-animated

richvdh · 2025-02-25T14:35:15Z

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

+
+## Proposal
+
+We add an optional boolean flag, `is_animated` to the `info` object of `m.image` events indicating if


emojis are not animated?

richvdh · 2025-02-25T14:36:18Z

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

+## Potential issues
+
+Clients may lie about the flag which would cause unexpected behaviour, for example, an image which
+was not presented might then animate when the user clicks to enlarge it, allowing for 'jump scares'


"was not presented"?

richvdh · 2025-02-25T14:39:28Z

proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md

+
+## Proposal
+
+We add an optional boolean flag, `ia_animated` to the `info` object of image events indicating if


+1, let's do it for stickers too.

richvdh · 2025-02-25T14:40:44Z

Other than the nit-picking, this looks good to me, except that I agree with the "let's extend this to stickers" thread.

Placeholder for animated image flag msc

2366c1f

dbkr mentioned this pull request Nov 21, 2024

Send and respect MSC4230 is_animated flag element-hq/element-web#28513

Merged

turt2live added proposal A matrix spec change proposal client-server Client-Server API kind:feature MSC for not-core and not-maintenance stuff needs-implementation This MSC does not have a qualifying implementation for the SCT to review. The MSC cannot enter FCP. labels Nov 21, 2024

turt2live marked this pull request as draft November 21, 2024 16:24

dbkr added 4 commits November 21, 2024 16:57

First draft

f2d9f02

Get the prefixed flag right

7a54973

Use is_animated because that's what michael's impl uses

694fe6d

One day I will learn how to spell this word

5e16aa6

Today is not that day.

dbkr marked this pull request as ready for review November 21, 2024 17:07

dbkr changed the title ~~[Placeholder] Flag for animated images~~ Flag for animated images Nov 21, 2024

dbkr changed the title ~~Flag for animated images~~ [MSC4230]: Flag for animated images Nov 21, 2024

dbkr changed the title ~~[MSC4230]: Flag for animated images~~ MSC4230: Flag for animated images Nov 21, 2024

sumnerevans reviewed Nov 21, 2024

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Use specific image type

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MidhunSureshR reviewed Nov 22, 2024

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proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

Typo

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Co-authored-by: R Midhun Suresh <[email protected]>

HarHarLinks reviewed Dec 2, 2024

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Half-Shot reviewed Dec 6, 2024

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proposals/4230-animated-image-flag.md Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

Not a string

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Co-authored-by: Will Hunt <[email protected]>

zecakeh mentioned this pull request Dec 28, 2024

events: Add unstable support for is_animated image flag ruma/ruma#1985

Merged

nebulade mentioned this pull request Feb 6, 2025

Add support for a GIF keyboard / ability to easily send GIFs element-hq/element-meta#321

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dbkr removed the needs-implementation This MSC does not have a qualifying implementation for the SCT to review. The MSC cannot enter FCP. label Feb 19, 2025

mscbot added proposed-final-comment-period Currently awaiting signoff of a majority of team members in order to enter the final comment period. disposition-merge labels Feb 19, 2025

mscbot added the unresolved-concerns This proposal has at least one outstanding concern label Feb 24, 2025

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Half-Shot mentioned this pull request Mar 21, 2025

GIF badge on an image that is not a GIF element-hq/element-web#29560

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MSC4230: Flag for animated images #4230

MSC4230: Flag for animated images #4230

dbkr commented Nov 21, 2024 •

edited by turt2live

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richvdh commented Feb 25, 2025


		## Proposal

		We add an optional boolean flag, `ia_animated` to the `info` object of image events indicating if


		## Proposal

		We add an optional boolean flag, `is_animated` to the `info` object of `m.image` events indicating if

		If this flag is `false`, receiving clients can assume that the image is not animated. If `true`, they should
		assume that it is.

	is capabale of being animated. This means they download the full size image for non-animated
	is capable of being animated. This means they download the full size image for non-animated

MSC4230: Flag for animated images #4230

Are you sure you want to change the base?

MSC4230: Flag for animated images #4230

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dbkr commented Nov 21, 2024 • edited by turt2live Loading

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richvdh commented Feb 25, 2025

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