Mp4 requiring you to hit play is a &#x2F;feature&#x2F; in my book. The fact that animated gifs automatically play has caused more problems, like annoying banner ads, than it&#x27;s created.<p>Were this fifteen years ago, I&#x27;d recommend that the makers of this format create a proper plugin to handle this format in the interim, but because browser makers are terrified of extra functionality, especially on mobiles, we can&#x27;t do that anymore.