Everybody has an opinion on the pronunciation of GIF. Is it gif or jif?. When the GIF's creator, Steve Wilhite, won a lifetime achievement award at the Webby Awards on Tuesday night, he finally put the issue to rest by accepting his award with a GIF that said IT'S PRONOUNCED 'JIF' NOT 'GIF.'. Well, he tried to put the issue to rest, but his announcement actually just sparked more debate.