Restart a gif animation without reloading the file

I've had similar requirement.

var img = document.createElement("img"),
    imageUrl = "http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/charma13/love240.gif";
img.src = imageUrl;
document.body.appendChild(img);

window.restartAnim = function () {
    img.src = "";
    img.src = imageUrl;
}

for example on facebook - animated emoticons are not .gifs but a set of static frames on png file with dynamically set background offset. This way you have full control over your animation from javascript - you can even pause/unpause it or change its speed.

It's possible to split your .gif file into separate frames and generate a .png file on server side dynamically.

This looks like a good weekend project for me ;)

restartGif(imgElement){ 
  let element = document.getElementById(imgElement);
  if (element) {
     var imgSrc = element.src;
     element.src = imgSrc; 
  }
}

// Example:

restartGif("gif_box")