TIFF
A flexible high-quality raster format standard in print and publishing. Supports lossless compression for archival use.
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) was created by Aldus (now Adobe) in 1986 as a highly flexible raster image format. With its tag-based extensible structure, it is used in fields such as print, publishing, medical imaging, and geographic information systems.
Internally, a TIFF file is organized as IFDs (Image File Directories) containing tags that describe how image data is arranged and interpreted. Multi-page TIFF support allows storing multiple images or document pages within a single file.
- Compression options: Uncompressed, LZW, ZIP (Deflate), and JPEG compression are all available. Lossless options guarantee pixel-perfect reproduction
- Color spaces: RGB, CMYK, Lab, grayscale, and multi-channel are supported, and ICC profiles can be embedded
- Bit depth: 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit floating point are supported, enabling HDR and scientific measurement data storage
The format's flexibility comes at the cost of specification complexity, occasionally causing compatibility issues between software implementations. Few web browsers display TIFF files natively.