TIFF (Tagged Image File Format, files ending .tif or .tiff) is an image format built for quality rather than small files. It dates from 1986 and is still the standard for scanners, printers, archives and professional photo editing. Its weakness is everyday use: TIFF files are large, and most web browsers can’t show them.
Where TIFF files come from
- Scanners and multi-function printers, especially when scanning documents. One TIFF can hold every page.
- Fax software, which stores black-and-white pages as TIFF.
- Printing and publishing, where TIFF supports CMYK colour and is accepted by nearly every print workflow.
- Professional photography and editing, where TIFF stores 16 bits per colour for extra headroom when editing.
- Archives and libraries, because TIFF is lossless, well documented and has been readable for decades.
- Maps and satellite images, as GeoTIFF.
What makes TIFF different
| Feature | TIFF | JPG | PNG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | Lossless (or uncompressed) | Lossy | Lossless |
| File size | Large | Small | Medium |
| Several pages in one file | Yes | No | No |
| 16 bits per colour | Yes | No | Yes |
| CMYK for printing | Yes | Rarely | No |
| Opens in web browsers | Safari only | Everywhere | Everywhere |
TIFF is really a container: inside, the pixels can be uncompressed or packed with lossless methods such as LZW, Deflate (ZIP) or PackBits, with fax compression for black-and-white pages, or even with JPEG compression. That’s why two TIFFs of the same picture can differ wildly in size. An uncompressed 12-megapixel photo is about 36 MB as a TIFF, against 3 MB or so as a good JPG.
How to open a TIFF
- Windows: the Photos app opens TIFFs.
- Mac: Preview opens them, and shows each page in the sidebar.
- iPhone and iPad: the Files app previews them.
- In a browser: Safari can show a TIFF; Chrome, Edge and Firefox can’t, which is why uploading one to a website often fails.
Converting a TIFF
Which format to choose depends on what you’ll do with it:
- To share, email or upload a photo: convert to JPG with TIFF to JPG. The file becomes a fraction of the size, and at 90% quality looks the same.
- To edit further, or for screenshots and graphics: convert to PNG with TIFF to PNG. PNG is lossless like TIFF, so nothing is lost, and it opens everywhere.
- For a multi-page scan or fax: convert to PDF with TIFF to PDF, which keeps every page in order in a file anyone can open.
All three run in your browser, and the files never leave your device. TIFF to JPG and TIFF to PNG convert the first page of a multi-page TIFF and tell you how many pages there are.
Two things are lost in conversion, by design: 16-bit colour becomes 8-bit, which looks the same on screen and in normal printing, and CMYK becomes RGB. If a print shop specifically asks for a TIFF, send them the original rather than a converted copy.
When to keep the TIFF
Keep the original TIFF as your master copy if it’s a scan you may need again, a photo you’ll keep editing, or a file a printer has asked for. Convert a copy for everyday use; the converters show each file’s pixel size as they go.