Sending animated GIFs using sendPhoto (telegram bot)

Question

I am trying to send an animated GIF using sendPhoto (Telegram Bot API) with this request:

https://api.telegram.org/bot<token>/sendPhoto?chat_id=<chat_id>&photo=http://i.giphy.com/13IC4LVeP5NGNi.gif 

This method works, as in, I get ok:true back, but the image in the chat window is a still picture of a moving GIF.

How can I show an animated GIF? Is there any other method I should use?

Answer 1

You must use the sendAnimation method to send GIF or H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC videos without sound.
Just use the animation parameter for your GIF file.

sendPhoto used only for still images.

Answer 2

use the sendVideo method!

 https://api.telegram.org/bot<token>/sendVideo?chat_id=<chat_id>&video=http://i.giphy.com/13IC4LVeP5NGNi.gif 

it will work

Answer 3

The sendAnimation method is by far the best option.