diff --git a/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml b/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
index db3adb4e1..ad97b9694 100644
--- a/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
+++ b/src/documentation/content/xdocs/status.xml
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 
     <changes>
         <release version="3.8-beta3" date="2011-??-??">
+           <action dev="poi-developers" type="add">51172 - Add XWPF support for GIF pictures</action>
            <action dev="poi-developers" type="add">NPOIFS Mini Streams now support extending the underlying big block stream to fit more data</action>
            <action dev="poi-developers" type="fix">51148 - XWPFDocument now properly tracks paragraphs and tables when adding/removing them</action>
            <action dev="poi-developers" type="fix">51153 - Correct sizing of LbsDataSubRecord with unused padding fields</action>
diff --git a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/Document.java b/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/Document.java
index 2c3d4f732..cf051e451 100644
--- a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/Document.java
+++ b/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/Document.java
@@ -34,5 +34,8 @@ public interface Document {
 
     /** Device independent bitmap */
     public static final int PICTURE_TYPE_DIB = 7;
+
+    /** GIF image format */
+    public static final int PICTURE_TYPE_GIF = 8;
 	
 }
diff --git a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFPictureData.java b/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFPictureData.java
index ecae82b3f..aee464e0e 100644
--- a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFPictureData.java
+++ b/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFPictureData.java
@@ -41,13 +41,14 @@ public class XWPFPictureData extends POIXMLDocumentPart {
      */
     protected static final POIXMLRelation[] RELATIONS;
     static {
-        RELATIONS = new POIXMLRelation[8];
+        RELATIONS = new POIXMLRelation[9];
         RELATIONS[Document.PICTURE_TYPE_EMF] =  XWPFRelation.IMAGE_EMF;
         RELATIONS[Document.PICTURE_TYPE_WMF] =  XWPFRelation.IMAGE_WMF;
         RELATIONS[Document.PICTURE_TYPE_PICT] = XWPFRelation.IMAGE_PICT;
         RELATIONS[Document.PICTURE_TYPE_JPEG] = XWPFRelation.IMAGE_JPEG;
         RELATIONS[Document.PICTURE_TYPE_PNG] =  XWPFRelation.IMAGE_PNG;
         RELATIONS[Document.PICTURE_TYPE_DIB] =  XWPFRelation.IMAGE_DIB;
+        RELATIONS[Document.PICTURE_TYPE_GIF] =  XWPFRelation.IMAGE_GIF;
     }
     /**
      * Create a new XWPFGraphicData node
diff --git a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFRelation.java b/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFRelation.java
index 83d228209..14783d62f 100644
--- a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFRelation.java
+++ b/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xwpf/usermodel/XWPFRelation.java
@@ -162,7 +162,12 @@ public final class XWPFRelation extends POIXMLRelation {
 		"/word/media/image#.dib",
 		XWPFPictureData.class
 	);
-    
+	public static final XWPFRelation IMAGE_GIF = new XWPFRelation(
+	      "image/gif",
+	      "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/image",
+	      "/word/media/image#.gif",
+	      XWPFPictureData.class
+	);
     public static final XWPFRelation IMAGES = new XWPFRelation(
     		null,
     		"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/image",