GD vs ImageMagick

[brother7]

If a host has both available, which should one choose? Is one preferred over the other, based on performance and/or features?

[Michael P]

I prefer GD2 because it doesn't require an external system call to execute a command. If you only have GD1, then I'd use IM.

[TheOptimist]

Is it better not to use GIF images... (GD2 doesn't support GIF)

Also, I don't "need" both GD2 and ImageMagick so does it hurt to have both installed... will they interfere with each other if both are on there?

Do you have any thoughts on this? I just want optimal server performance as my website grows full of images and bulletin board posts...

[Chuck S]

I prefer ImageMagick for quality but as Michael said GD2 does not use an external call

You have no issues having both installed and the only difference really is GD does not handle GIF images

[Michael P]

I believe the latest version of GD2 now includes GIF support.

[Chuck S]

Yes it does like version 2.0.28 or something like that

However I have yet to see a host that has anything higher than 2.0.23 installed so for informative purposes GD2 does not have gif support yet