TIFF file format
TIFF is less a format than a filing cabinet: multiple pages, several compression schemes, high bit depths and layers, which is why scanners and print shops standardised on it.
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What is TIFF?
Aldus published TIFF in 1986 for desktop scanners, and Adobe has maintained it since acquiring the company. Its architecture is a directory of tags — each file describes itself by declaring its dimensions, colour space, bit depth, compression and dozens of optional attributes. That extensibility is why TIFF absorbed everything from CMYK separations to satellite imagery without ever breaking its own structure.
Compression is a choice, not a property. A TIFF can be uncompressed, LZW or Deflate compressed with no loss, packed with CCITT Group 4 for black-and-white fax pages, or even carry JPEG data internally. So "is TIFF lossless?" has no single answer — it depends on what the writer selected, and it is why two TIFFs of the same scan can differ tenfold in size.
The feature people actually reach for is multi-page. One TIFF can hold a hundred scanned sheets in order, which is why document scanners, fax servers and archives emit it by default. Combined with 16-bit-per-channel colour and support for CMYK, it stays the master format in print and photography workflows — with PDF or JPEG generated from it for distribution.
| Extension | .tiff |
|---|---|
| Category | Image |
| MIME type | image/tiff |
| Released | 1986 |
| Developed by | Aldus (Adobe) |
| Compression | Lossy or lossless |
| Transparency | Yes |
| Animation | No |
TIFF: frequently asked questions
- Is TIFF lossless?
- Usually, but not necessarily. Uncompressed, LZW and Deflate TIFFs preserve every pixel, while a TIFF using internal JPEG compression is lossy. The format is a container that permits several schemes, so the answer depends on how the specific file was written.
- Why will my browser not display a TIFF?
- No major browser decodes TIFF natively — the format predates the web and is aimed at print and scanning rather than delivery. Convert to JPEG for photographs, PNG for graphics, or PDF when the multi-page structure matters.
- Can a TIFF hold multiple pages?
- Yes, and it is the main reason the format survives. One file can carry an entire scanned document in order, each page with its own resolution and compression. Document scanners, fax servers and archival systems all rely on this.
- TIFF or PDF for scanned documents?
- TIFF as the archival master, since it stores raw image data with no page-description layer on top. PDF for anything you send or publish: it is universally viewable, supports an OCR text layer for search, and is far smaller once the images are compressed for delivery.
- Why is my TIFF file hundreds of megabytes?
- Most likely it is uncompressed, scanned at a very high DPI, or stored at 16 bits per channel — sometimes all three. Switching to LZW or Deflate compression is free of quality cost, and scanning at 300 DPI instead of 1200 shrinks the file by a factor of sixteen.
- Does TIFF support layers and transparency?
- It supports an alpha channel, and Photoshop can store layers inside a TIFF using private tags. Those layers are readable only in software that understands the extension — everything else sees the flattened composite, so do not treat a layered TIFF as a portable working file.