Here is an article about the TIFF file format.

What Is a TIFF File? The High-Quality 'Container' Format Explained

If you've ever worked in professional photography, graphic design, or desktop publishing, you've almost certainly encountered a TIFF file. Standing for Tagged Image File Format (and pronounced "tif"), this format is a heavyweight champion in the world of digital images. Unlike formats like JPEG, which sacrifice quality for a small file size, TIFF is all about preserving maximum image data, quality, and flexibility

First introduced by the Aldus Corporation (later acquired by Adobe) in the mid-1980s, TIFF was created to solve a problem in the early days of desktop publishing. Scanners, printers, and computers from different manufacturers all used their own proprietary file types, making it a nightmare to move an image from one program to another. TIFF was designed to be a universal, high-quality standard that everyone could support

Today, it remains a go-to format for professionals who need to maintain the absolute best image quality for printing and archival purposes.

The Key Features of a TIFF File

The main reason for TIFF's longevity is its incredible flexibility. It's less a single file type and more of a flexible container that can hold image data in a variety of ways. This is all defined by "tags" within the file, which tell the software how to read the data.

• Lossless Quality: This is TIFF's most famous feature. While it can use lossy compression (like JPEG), its most common forms (LZW and ZIP) are lossless. This means you can save, open, and re-save the file repeatedly without ever losing a single pixel of image data or quality, which is crucial for professional editing.

• High Color Depth: While JPEGs are almost always 8-bit (16.7 million colors), TIFF files can handle 8-bit, 16-bit, or even 32-bit per channel color. This 16-bit and 32-bit support allows for storing a vastly expanded range of colors and tonal detail, which is essential for high-end photo retouching and print work.

• Layer and Transparency Support: A TIFF file can save layers, just like a Photoshop (PSD) file. This makes it a fantastic format for master files, as you can save your entire editing workflow—layers, masks, and transparency—in a single, non-proprietary file that can be opened by various design applications.

• Versatile Color Spaces: TIFF isn't locked into one color model. It can handle web-standard RGB, print-standard CMYK, grayscale, and even spot colors, making it the ideal bridge between a digital camera (RGB) and a printing press (CMYK).

• Multi-Page Documents: A single TIFF file can contain multiple pages. This feature made it the standard for fax machines (using simple black-and-white compression) and is still widely used for scanning multi-page documents into a single, manageable file.

   

   

   

   

     

Where Is TIFF Used?

Because of its large file sizes, you'll almost never see a TIFF on a website. Instead, it's used "behind the scenes" in professional and technical workflows.

• Professional Photography & Printing: This is the most common use. Photographers often deliver final, high-resolution edited images as 16-bit TIFFs. The print industry relies on CMYK TIFFs to ensure the colors seen on-screen are accurately reproduced on paper.

• Document Scanning and Archiving: The format's multi-page and lossless compression (specifically CCITT G4 for monochrome) make it perfect for creating high-fidelity digital copies of physical documents for archival purposes.

• Medical Imaging: While the DICOM format is the standard for complex medical data (like MRIs), TIFF is often used as a more common and accessible format for exporting and sharing simpler medical images, like microscope slides or scans.

• Geospatial and Scientific Imaging: A special variation called GeoTIFF is a global standard in cartography and satellite imaging. It's a normal TIFF file that includes extra metadata tags for coordinate systems, map projections, and datums, allowing GIS software to know exactly where on Earth the image is located.

   

   

   

Compression: The Choice Is Yours

A common misconception is that TIFFs are always uncompressed. While that's an option (resulting in massive files), TIFF's container format supports several compression methods:

• None: Uncompressed. Offers the fastest saving and opening speed but the largest possible file size.

• LZW or ZIP (Deflate): These are the most popular lossless options. They shrink the file size (often by 20-40%) without discarding any image data.

• JPEG: You can choose to use JPEG's lossy compression inside a TIFF wrapper. This creates a much smaller file but permanently sacrifices image quality.

• CCITT Group 3/4: A very efficient, lossless compression designed specifically for black-and-white (1-bit) images, like faxes or scanned text.

Ultimately, TIFF's greatest strength is its versatility. It's the file format you use when quality is non-negotiable and you need a reliable, flexible master file that preserves all your hard work.