SUN to GIF87 Converter
FileFlip converts SUN to GIF87 entirely inside your browser, using ImageMagick compiled to WebAssembly. The file is never uploaded to a server: it is read off your disk, converted on your own machine, and saved back by the browser. That means no file-size limit, no queue and no account.
How do I convert a SUN file to GIF87?#
- Drop your SUN file onto the converter at the top of this page, or click it to pick one from your computer. You can add as many as you like.
- Leave the target set to GIF87 and the conversion starts on its own. FileFlip downloads 14.1 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, then runs ImageMagick on your own machine.
- Save the GIF87 file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting SUN to GIF87 lose quality?#
No. Converting SUN to GIF87 writes the data out again without discarding any of it, so nothing that was in the SUN file is lost on the way. What changes is the size of the file, not what is inside it.
Is it safe to convert SUN files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts SUN files inside the browser tab you already have open, using WebAssembly builds of the same engines a desktop converter would install. Your file is read from your own disk into the page's memory, and no request carrying it is ever made.
You do not have to take that on trust. Open your browser's network panel, run a conversion, and you will see the engine come down and your file go nowhere. There is no upload, no server-side copy, no retention window, and no account tied to what you converted.
How FileFlip works lists every engine, its version and its download size, and shows how to check for yourself that nothing leaves your machine.
What SUN to GIF87 actually does to the file#
Converting SUN to GIF87 runs on ImageMagick, downloads 14.1 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, writes the data out again without discarding any of it.
| Engine | ImageMagick |
|---|---|
| Conversion path | One step: SUN → GIF87 |
| Downloaded to your browser | 14.1 MB, once, then cached by your browser |
| Quality | Lossless |
| You get back | One file |
| Where it runs | In a background worker, so the page stays responsive |
Worth knowing before you start:
- the target holds at most 256 colours, so a full-colour image is quantised to a palette
What is a SUN file?#
A SUN file is a Sun Raster bitmap, the same raw framebuffer image format Sun Microsystems shipped on SunOS workstations, saved under the alternate .sun extension some raster-image tools use in place of the identical .ras.
Recognise a .sun file as a Sun Raster image if it turns up alongside .ras files from the same legacy Solaris export or archive.
Convert SUN to PNG or TIFF for any modern use, since the .sun extension gets even less software recognition than .ras.
What is a GIF87 file?#
A GIF87 file follows the original 1987 Graphics Interchange Format specification that CompuServe published two years before GIF89a added transparency and animation, so it stores a single, fully opaque image using the same LZW compression and 256-color palette as any other GIF.
There's essentially no reason to target GIF87 today; write a plain GIF, which is GIF89a, instead unless a specific tool or test needs the older header.
Convert to GIF89a or PNG when the image needs transparency or animation, since GIF87 supports neither.
SUN to GIF87 questions people ask#
What is a SUN file?
A SUN file is a Sun Raster bitmap, the simple framebuffer image format Sun Microsystems used on SunOS and Solaris workstations, identified by a fixed magic number at the start of the file rather than by its extension.
Is SUN the same format as RAS?
Yes, a SUN file and a RAS file are the identical Sun Raster format. The two extensions exist because different tools over the years registered the format under different names, not because the files differ in any way.
Can I just rename a .sun file to .ras?
Renaming a .sun file to .ras works, because the two extensions point at the same byte-for-byte format and most decoders identify a Sun Raster file by its magic number rather than its extension. Some tools that only recognise .ras will open the renamed file without issue.
What is a GIF87 file?
A GIF87 file follows the original 1987 Graphics Interchange Format specification that CompuServe published before adding transparency and animation in 1989's GIF89a. It stores a single, fully opaque static image.