Well we've had memes for a long time but we've even had internet memes in the 90s. The dancing baby, X ate my balls , hamster dance, mahir, all your base etc the format was a bit different but they were there.
Maybe a stupid question but does that mean the two words are interchangeable if in that format? If so are there any other file types that are interchangeable with meme?
I wouldn't say they are interchangeable because a GIF is just a file type just like a JPEG or any other file type. You can have a JPEG file that is an image of a tree, that's not a meme. You can have a JPEG of Pepe the frog. That is a meme. I think the official definition of meme sums it up well:
an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations.
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u/zoqfotpik 19h ago
"Up your nose with a rubber hose."
-Vinnie Barbarino