# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/steve-wilhite
# Generated: 2026-08-13T17:03:57.666Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/steve-wilhite"
name: "Steve Wilhite"
slug: "steve-wilhite"
description: "Stephen Earl Wilhite was an American computer scientist who worked at CompuServe and was the engineering lead on the team that created the GIF image file format in 1987. GIF went on to become the de facto standard for 8-bit color images on the Internet until PNG (1996) became a widely supported alternative. The format later became the subject of a patent assertion by Unisys on its use of the LZW compression algorithm. Known as the inventor or creator of the GIF, Wilhite received a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013."
tagline: "American theoretical computer scientist (1948–2022)"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1948-03-03"
deathDate: "2022-03-14"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           50.85
  momentum:             2.82828105115619
  historical:           16.459112
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  55
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%92%82%E8%8A%AC%C2%B7%E5%A8%81%E7%88%BE%E6%B5%B7%E7%89%B9"
    title: "史蒂芬·威爾海特"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite"
    title: "Steve Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%81_%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%AA"
    title: "ستيف ويلهايت"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%81_%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%AA"
    title: "ستيف ويلهايت"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite"
    title: "Steve Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite"
    title: "Steve Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite"
    title: "Steve Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite"
    title: "Steve Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite"
    title: "Steve Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AB%E3%83%8F%E3%82%A4%E3%83%88"
    title: "スティーヴン・ウィルハイト"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Wilhite"
    title: "Stephen Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Earl_Wilhite"
    title: "Stephen Earl Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Wilhite"
    title: "Stephen Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite"
    title: "Steve Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A3%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%82%2C_%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD"
    title: "Уилхайт, Стивен"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sd.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%BD%D9%8A%D9%88_%D9%88%D9%84%DA%BE%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%BD"
    title: "اسٽيو ولھائيٽ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite"
    title: "Steve Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite"
    title: "Steve Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://vo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite"
    title: "Steve Wilhite"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://zh_classical.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%AF%E8%92%82%E8%8A%AC%E5%A8%81%E7%88%BE%E6%B5%B7%E7%89%B9"
    title: "斯蒂芬威爾海特"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7614306"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump