Tagged Image File Format (abbreviated TIFF) is a file format for storing images, popular

among Apple Macintosh owners, graphic artists, the publishing industry,[1] and both amateur and
professional photographers in general. As of 2009, it is under the control of Adobe Systems.
Originally created by the company Aldus[2] for use with what was then called "desktop
publishing", the TIFF format is widely supported by image-manipulation applications, by
publishing and page layout applications, by scanning, faxing, word processing, optical character
recognition and other applications.[3] Adobe Systems, which acquired Aldus, now holds the
copyright to the TIFF specification. TIFF has not had a major update since 1992, though several
Aldus/Adobe technical notes have been published with minor extensions to the format, and
several specifications, including TIFF/EP (ISO 12234-2) and TIFF/IT (ISO 12639)[4][5] have been
based on the TIFF 6.0 specification.

Contents
[hide]

 1 History
 2 Flexible options
 3 In document imaging
 4 In scientific imaging
 5 Private tags
 6 See also
 7 Notes
 8 External links

[edit] History
The phrases "Tagged Image File Format" and "Tag Image File Format" were used as the subtitle
to some early versions of the TIFF specification; the 1992 specification, TIFF 6.0, does not use
either subtitle phrase, but is simply "TIFF".

TIFF was originally created as an attempt to get desktop scanner vendors of the mid-1980s to
agree on a common scanned image file format, rather than have each company promote its own
proprietary format. In the beginning, TIFF was only a binary image format (only two possible
values for each pixel), since that was all that desktop scanners could handle. As scanners became
more powerful, and as desktop computer disk space became more plentiful, TIFF grew to
accommodate grayscale images, then color images. Today, TIFF is a popular format for high
color-depth images, along with JPEG and PNG.

The first version of the TIFF specification was published by Aldus Corporation in the autumn of
1986 after two major earlier draft releases. It can be labeled as Revision 3.0. It was published
after a series of meetings with various scanner manufacturers and software developers. In April
1987 Revision 4.0 was released and it contained mostly minor enhancements. In October 1988
Revision 5.0 was released and it added support for palette color images and LZW compression.[6]
[edit] Flexible options
TIFF is a flexible, adaptable file format for handling images and data within a single file, by
including the header tags (size, definition, image-data arrangement, applied image compression)
defining the image's geometry. For example, a TIFF file can be a container holding compressed
(lossy) JPEG and (lossless) PackBits compressed images. A TIFF file also can include a vector-
based clipping path (outlines, croppings, image frames). The ability to store image data in a
lossless format makes a TIFF file a useful image archive, because, unlike standard JPEG files, a
TIFF file using lossless compression (or none) may be edited and re-saved without losing image
quality. This is not the case when using the TIFF as a container holding compressed JPEG. Other
TIFF options are layers and pages.

TIFF offers the option of using LZW compression, a lossless data-compression technique for
reducing a file's size. Until 2004, use of this option was limited because the LZW technique was
under several patents. However, these patents have expired.

When TIFF was introduced, its extensibility provoked compatibility problems. Every TIFF
reader was required to read Baseline TIFF, but Baseline TIFF did not include layers, or
compression with JPEG or LZW. Baseline TIFF does include PackBits compression, a form of
run-length encoding. Many TIFF readers supported tags additional to those in Baseline TIFF, but
not every reader supported every extension. As a consequence, TIFF became the lowest common
denominator image format, with most the preponderance of TIFF images containing
uncompressed 32-bit CMYK or 24-bit RGB images[citation needed].

Every TIFF begins with a 2-byte indicator of byte order: "II" for little endian and "MM" for big
endian byte ordering. The next 2 bytes represent the number 42, selected because this is the
binary pattern 101010 and "for its deep philosophical significance".[7] The 42-reading depends
upon the byte order indicated by the 2-byte indicator. All words, double words, etc., in the TIFF
file are read based per the indicated byte order. The TIFF 6.0 specification says that compliant
TIFF readers must support both byte orders (II and MM), however, TIFF writers may choose the
byte order convenient for their image.[8] This gave rise to the image-processing community's joke
that TIFF is an acronym for Thousands of Incompatible File Formats.[9]

A classic TIFF file format uses 32-bit offsets and, as such, file size is limited to 4 GiB
(4,294,967,296 bytes). BigTIFF is a TIFF variant file format, which can contain more than 4GiB
of data by using 64-bit offsets.[10] Support for BigTIFF file formats among applications is limited
since the file format specification was only recently implemented (2007) in LibTIFF version 4.0,
which is currently in beta development.

[edit] In document imaging

This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (February 2010)
Adobe holds the copyright on the TIFF specification (aka TIFF 6.0) along with the two
supplements that have been published. All of these documents can be found on the Adobe TIFF
Resources page. TIFF has not been standardized by either ISO or ANSI, but variations have been
used by organizations for numerous years.

TIFF files that strictly use the basic "tag sets" as defined in TIFF 6.0 along with restricting the
compression technology to the methods identified in TIFF 6.0 and are adequately tested and
verified by multiple sources for all documents being created can be used for storing documents.
Commonly seen issues encountered in the content/document management industry associated
with the use of TIFF files arise when the structures contain proprietary headers, are not properly
documented, and/or contain "wrappers" or other containers around the TIFF datasets, and/or
include improper compression technologies, or those compression technologies are not properly
implemented.

Organizations that do not verify these aspects of the file structures being proposed by product
suppliers and/or developers should exercise caution before selecting TIFF as the format of choice
for business or official records. Since 2005, significant effort has been underway at both the
international ISO TC/171) and national standards level (ANSI/AIIM) to establish a self
contained set of file formats (ISO 19005 PDF/A and ISO 32000 PDF) that be provide
functionality identified in the content/document management industry world-wide as critical to
ensure accuracy of contained information, especially for documents that are considered to be
complex documents (i.e, word documents, XLS documents, mixed documents, that are saved in
an archivable format).

Variants of the TIFF format can be used within document imaging and content/document
management systems using CCITT Group IV 2D compression which supports black-and-white
(bitonal, monochrome) images, among other compression technologies that support color. When
storage capacity and network bandwidth was a greater issue that commonly seen in today's server
environments, high-volume storage scanning, documents were scanned in black and white (not in
color or in grayscale) to conserve storage capacity. An average A4 scanning produces 30 kB of
data at 200 PPI (pixels per inch of resolution) and 50 kB of data at 300 PPI; 300 PPI is more
common than 200 PPI. With current storage, server, and network technologies, along with the
use of the "flate" compression technology included in ISO 19005 and ISO 32000 (PDF/A and
PDF) most organizations convert into these file formats resulting smaller files sizes as compared
to color based TIFF along with providing additional functionality while utilizing an agreed upon
international and national set of file format standards.

The TIFF format can save multi-page documents to a single TIFF file rather than a series of files
for each scanned page. Multi-page support and 2D compression of bitonal images led to TIFF's
becoming the widely accepted format for facsimiles, especially on Fax Servers. Contrary to
many statements seen throughout the internet, there is no TIFF standard at either the ISO and/or
ANSI levels. Subsets of the TIFF specification have been developed such as TIFF for very
specific use cases, such as preparing documents for magazine printers. These subsets should not
be confused with TIFF-IT.
Clarification on recommendations/considerations for the use of file formats within
content/document management systems are noted in AIIM ARP 1 - 2009 (AIIM is the ANSI
accredited standard setting body for content/document management technologies).

Specifically see Section 5.4.1.4 of AIIM ARP 1-2009 as quoted below. AIIM standards and
guidelines follow a rigid development process ensuring proper ANSI/AIIM policies and
procedures are followed for all documents including formal balloting, open access to
organizations and individuals through all aspects of development, procedures for addressing
differing viewpoints and a process to ensure all documents are reviewed and approved by a
committee of recognized industry experts, end-user organizations, and/or interested individuals
along with a standards board responsible to ensure all policies are followed adhering to ANSI
rules and specifications.

5.4.1.5 Image Formats. The organization should ensure that all information being
scanned, or electronically received is stored in an industry accepted format such as
JPEG, JBIG, JPEG 2000, or PDF-A. Non-standard or proprietary file formats
should not be used. Caution should be exercised if using TIFF. While TIFF is
commonly used, there are multiple problems associated with the ability of the
application to use non-standard headers, or tags that 1) may not be documented
and/or 2) the misuse of other basic headers, or tags. Additionally, TIFF images can
be modified without user knowledge though numerous freely available editing tools.
Image formats such as PDF-A are non-modifiable through the file format structure
along with the use of "checksums" that should be stored in the document
management system as an additional method of ensuring that the file has not been
altered, modified, or deleted during the information lifecycle.

Non-standard or proprietary formats include any formats used by a single

vendor/source and not accepted as a standard file format at either a national or
international standards level. Proprietary file formats include but is not limited to:

 File formatting that utilizes "file-wrappers" to encapsulate standard file

formats within a nonstandard structure,
 TIFF formats that are not fully documented by the vendor and independently
verified by the organization to ensure proprietary information is not
contained in any of the headers.
 Non-standard file formats not used by multiple vendors/integrators, etc.

It is important to note that the industry has found that using PDF-A as the output
format for any hardcopy conversion to electronic format eliminates many of the
commonly seen problems found with TIFF formatted information including:
prevents alteration, incorporates the concept of checksums, all information is fully
contained, and the PDF-A format is fully standardized and supported by almost
every EDMS solution provider, including all the major document imaging solutions
currently available (with the exception of smaller solutions that still rely on
proprietary methods and concepts)
 [edit] In scientific imaging
The inclusion of the SampleFormat tag in TIFF 6.0 allows TIFF files to handle advanced pixel
data types, including integer images with more than 8 bits per channel and floating point images.
This tag made TIFF 6.0 a viable format for scientific image processing where extended precision
is required. An example would be the use of TIFF to store images acquired using scientific CCD
cameras that provide up to 16 bits per photosite of intensity resolution. Storing a sequence of
images in a single TIFF file is also possible, and is allowed under TIFF 6.0, provided the rules
for multi-page images are followed.

In most cases TIFF has now been superseded by FITS files for scientific applications.

[edit] Private tags

Developers can apply for a block of "private tags" to enable them to include their own
proprietary information inside a TIFF file without causing problems for file interchange. TIFF
readers are required to ignore tags that they do not recognize, and a developer's private tags are
guaranteed not to clash with anyone else's tags or with the standard set of tags defined in the
specification.

TIFF, Tag Image File Format, FAQ

Index
estion 1. What's in the name 'Tag Image File Format'? What makes TIFF different from other image file formats?

estion 2. As a user as well as a programmer, how do I convert a PNG image to TIFF? TIFF to PNG? Image in format X into
format Y? How to crop/resize/do something else with the image?

estion 3. How about an informal introduction to the highest level TIFF structures?

estion 4. Where can I download the full TIFF specification?

estion 5. Is the TIFF specification being maintained and updated?

estion 6. Do I need a license from Adobe or anyone else to use TIFF?

estion 7. Can I not stream TIFF? Why does my library need seeking forward and backward in my TIFF file?

estion 8. What is the maximum size of a TIFF file?

estion 9a. So what are the defined tags exactly? Where can I find information on any specific tag?

estion 9b. How can I register my own private tags?

estion 10. When should I use what color space and compression scheme?

estion 11. What libraries support TIFF?

estion 12. Where can I find this LibTiff, and how do I use it in my program?

estion 13. Aren't you going to mention GeoTIFF?

Question 1. What's in the name 'Tag Image File Format'? What makes TIFF different
from other image file formats?

Flexible tagsets

Many image file formats have an image header with fixed fields containing information such as
image dimensions, color space specification, etc. The TIFF file format is different in that it
allows for a flexible set of information fields. There exists a specification for many of these
information fields, called 'tags', ranging from the most fundamental, like image dimensions, over
the most luxurious like copyright information, up to so-called 'private tags' or 'custom tags' that
you can define to hold your own application specific information. The TIFF specification defines
a framework for an image header called 'IFD' (Image File Directory) that is essentially a flexible
set of specifically those tags that the TIFF writer software wishes to specify.

The clear benefit of this scheme is that almost any information can accompany an image, while
little information is absolutely needed, and image headers remain as lean as possible. There is
little overhead, and enough flexibility to suit any need.

Flexible combination of colorspace, bitdepth/datatype, and compression scheme

Another major difference between most other image file formats and TIFF, is that TIFF allows
for a wide range of different compression schemes and color spaces. These are specified in
dedicated tags. Where other file formats are often designed to suit a single compression method,
TIFF allows for JPEG or JBIG compression, the infamous LZW or the free-as-a-bird deflate
compression, amongst many others. The same goes for color spaces. Theoretically, you could
even use any compression method and color space of your own, though it goes without saying
this would result in crippled portability.
Unless restricted by the nature of the chosen compression algorithm, any color space and any
bitdepth can be combined with any compression scheme.

And the same goes for bitdepths and datatypes, too. One of the powerful TIFF features is support
for a wide range of data types. You can store signed or unsigned integers, floating point values
and even complex data in the TIFF file. Combined with the possibility to store an arbitrary
number of image channels, this makes TIFF a very useful format to store scientific data.

Multi-page

One final important difference between TIFF and most other image file formats is that TIFF
defines support for multiple images in a single file. Such a file is then called 'multi-page' TIFF.
Thus, the TIFF format is very well suited to e.g. store the many pages of a single fax in a single
file.

Drawbacks

Theoretically, all of this makes TIFF as flexible and suitable for a variety of applications as very
advanced formats like PSD (Adobe's Photoshop® Document format). In fact, the clean
simplicity as well as openness of the format is a major plus over a format like PSD. The TIFF
format is owned by the same company that also owns PSD though, and as such, it is not very
surprising that it has been more than a bit neglected over the last decade or so. That is probably
the single most important drawback of TIFF: it lacks standardized support for advanced imaging
features that were developed over the last couple of years. For instance, there is no standardized
way to specify multi-layer relationships of different TIFF pages, even though a dedicated tag
definition would be very feasible and very suitable. Neither is there a standarized tag for vector
or text drawings.

One other drawback of TIFF, that it shares with the majority of other file formats, is its size
limitation. The format uses 32bit offsets, and as such, it is limited to 4 gigabytes. (The BigTIFF
file format is an ongoing attempt to design a next version of TIFF, specifically targeted at
breaking the 4 gigabyte boundary.)

Photoshop is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc.

Question 2. As a user as well as a programmer, how do I convert a PNG image to TIFF?

TIFF to PNG? Image in format X into format Y? How to crop/resize/do something else
with the image?

There are a bunch of free and powerful tools around to accomplish simple as well as complex
image processing tasks. Some of these are open source en can serve a programmer as a source of
inspiration as well as documentation. The most widely used are:

ImageMagick
GraphicsMagick
NetPBM
VIPS

Question 3. How about an informal introduction to the highest level TIFF structures?

Sure. Here's the file header...

Offset Datatype Value

0 Word Byte order indication

2 Word Version number (always 42)

4 Unsigned Long Offset to first IFD

The single member of this structure that is within the scope of this discussion is the third, the
offset to the first IFD (Image File Directory). This IFD can be located anywhere in the file.
Every 'page' in a multi-page TIFF is represented by exactly one IFD. Here's a more detailed view
of this IFD...

Offset Datatype Value

0 Word Number of tags in IFD

2+x*12 Tag structure Tag data

Offset to next IFD, if there is a next IFD

2+(number of tags in IFD)*12 Unsigned Long
0 otherwise

The tags in this IFD should be sorted by code. Every tag takes up exactly 12 bytes, and looks like
this...

Offset Datatype Value

0 Word Tag identifying code

2 Word Datatype of tag data

4 Unsigned Long Number of values

 x * Tag data datatype Tag data
8 or Unsigned Long offset or offset to tag data
see below see below

What has been described as 'datatype of the tag data' in the table above is the datatype of the
elementary building block of this tag data. Thus, if the tag data is an array of bytes, this datatype
would be byte. The tag data length, therefore, is the size of this datatype, multiplied by what has
been described as 'number of values'. If this data length is smaller than or equal to 4 bytes, the
actual tag data is included in the IFD, at offset 8 from the beginning of the tag structure.
Otherwise, the tag data is stored in any other location within the TIFF file, and a pointer to that
location, from the beginning of the file, is written at offset 8 from the beginning of the tag
structure.

In other words, if the tag data is smaller than or equal to 4 bytes, it fits. Otherwise, it is stored
elsewhere and pointed to.

That's it, that's all there is to the highest level TIFF structure. Except for one more thing: the
TIFF specification explicitly forbids tag data to include any offsets into the file or into any other
TIFF data block, except for the documented special cases (TileOffsets, StripOffsets,...). This
enables total relocatability of all structures and data blocks. That is a major corner stone of the
format. It means it is actually easy to, e.g. unlink an IFD or concatenate multiple single-page
TIFF to a single multi-page TIFF, or vice versa. If any tag's data could contain offsets pointing
anywhere in the file, then software doing this or otherwise relocating data blocks should be
aware of the exact nature of every tag's data in order to find all data blocks, and know what
pointers ought to be changed. That is unfeasible, on the one hand, due to the number of defined
tags and, on the other hand, it inhibits extendability and private tags.

Instead, the specification says that all tag data needs to be 'self-contained', and that only a
selected few special tags are allowed to point to other locations in the file. Thus, all blocks
become freely relocatable, can be read and written out in any order, and any software can quite
simply joggle around all this TIFF data, with only inbuilt knowledge of these highest level
structures, and of the selected few special tags.

Question 4. Where can I download the full TIFF specification?

TIFF Specification, revision 6.0

TechNote2 on JPEG-in-TIFF
TIFF Specification Supplement 1
TIFF Specification Supplement 2

Some standards that build on top of TIFF are:

GeoTIFF Format Specification, Revision 1.0

RFC 2301 - File Format for Internet Fax
DNG, Digital Negative, standard for digital camera RAW files
Question 5. Is the TIFF specification being maintained and updated?

TIFF was developed by Aldus and Microsoft Corp, and the specification was owned by Aldus,
which in turn merged with Adobe Systems, Incorporated. Consequently, Adobe Systems now
holds the Copyright for the TIFF specification.

The last major update of the specification, revision 6.0, dates back 1992. (No, this page is not
outdated.) Adobe added a supplement in 1995, which is still marked 'draft'. In 2002, Adobe
absorbed a new-style JPEG-in-TIFF prepared externally in 1994 in a second supplement.

While there have been rumours of a new TIFF specification under development within Adobe
over the years, it does not appear to have a high priority. Nor is there any public process for
specification revision. It is unclear whether a new specification version will be released by
Adobe or not.

Question 6. Do I need a license from Adobe or anyone else to use TIFF?

You don't need a license from Adobe to implement software reading and writing the TIFF
format. You may need a license for use of existing TIFF libraries though libraries with minimal
licensing requirements are also available.

At one time there was a need for an LZW license from Unisys to implement LZW compression
support in TIFF, but it is our believe all patents have now expired.

Question 7. Can I not stream TIFF? Why does my library need seeking forward and
backward in my TIFF file?

TIFF is not a streamable format. It is its very nature that all data blocks can be written in any
order that is convenient for the particular application and/or TIFF encoding library. Even if a
particular writer and particular reader implementation would agree on some sort of logical data
block order, chances are that either or both need to access a certain block twice (e.g. delayed
writing of offset to next IFD) and/or not need to access certain blocks at all (e.g. when a reader is
not interested in the value of the Artist tag, or ignores SubIFDs). The possibility of reader and
writer agreeing on a logical data block order seems even more remote when there are multiple
pages or SubIFDs. And anyway, there is not just a single pair of writer and reader, instead there
are plenty of different implementations. TIFF editing further obscures the issue as most
implementations agree it implies appending at least those modifications that are longer than the
original, rather than 'inserting' them, resulting in a file that no reader could hope to read
sequentially.

There have been some attempts to build a more streamable 'sub-format' out of it, by defining
such a 'logical' data block order, but none of these has been very succesful. If you need
streaming, you probably need JPEG or PNG.

Question 8. What is the maximum size of a TIFF file?

The format uses 32bit offsets, and as such, it is limited to 4 gigabytes. Many implementations
handle these offsets using signed integers, and thus support files of up to 2 gigabytes, but the
only real limit resulting from the format specification is 4 gigabytes.

The BigTIFF file format is an ongoing attempt to design a next version of TIFF, specifically
targeted at breaking the 4 gigabyte boundary.

Question 9a. So what are the defined tags exactly? Where can I find information on any
specific tag?

The number one source on this is the TIFF specification. Note that this doesn't include any
private tags or custom tags, of course. Also, please note that the JPEG-in-TIFF section is
overridden by TechNote2, absorbed in TIFF Specification Supplement 2

Another, more informal source of tag information is the TIFF Tag Reference. It contains a list of
basic properties as well as a short description and pointers to more information on every
sufficiently known tag. Anyone interested in sharing information about any private tags is
welcome to tell us about it, and we'll make sure to include it. The free TIFF Tag Viewer for
Windows might also prove useful.

Finally, there is over ten years of TIFF and LibTiff mailing list activity that you may wish to
consult. Especially note the 'local Google' archive search. If Google's technology applied to this
vast resource doesn't yield any information, nothing will.

Question 9b. How can I register my own private tags?

TIFF tag and TIFF compression ID registration is handled by Adobe Developer Relations. This
Adobe page contains more detailed instructions.

This registration process is not related to our own unofficial TIFF Tag Reference. If you register
with Adobe to allocate your private tag codes, or have already done so in the past, we
recommend submitting the necessary information to this Tag Directory next. There's no web-
based registration scheme involved in this bit, a simple e-mail to [email protected] will do.

Question 10. When should I use what color space and compression scheme?

Due to the flexible combination of raster data with a vast amount of different compression
schemes and color spaces, TIFF can be very suitable for a wide range of applications. Here is a
sample of just the most popular or common applications.

Application Compression scheme and color space

Bilevel dithered or very complex colorspace black and white

imagery compression G3, G4, or perhaps JBIG
 colorspace black and white
Bilevel artificial imagery
compression G3 or G4

If compression is more important than quality

colorspace Grayscale or YCbCr(*)
compression JPEG(*)

If quality is more important than compression

Normal range grayscale or color colorspace Grayscale, RGB, or CIE L*a*b*
photographic imagery compression LZW or Deflate

If quality is of utmost importance

colorspace 16bit per channel or even floating point RGB, or
16bit per channel CIE L*a*b*
compression LZW or Deflate

If the number of colors <=256

colorspace Palette would be most suitable
compression LZW or Deflate
Normal range Grayscale or color
artificial imagery
If the number of colors >256
colorspace Grayscale, RGB, or CIE L*a*b*
compression LZW or Deflate

Dynamic range Grayscale or color colorspace floating point Grayscale or RGB

imagery compression LZW or Deflate

(*) The YCbCr color space and JPEG compression scheme are de facto related. Other than using
JPEG as compression scheme, there is in our humble opinion no good reason for using YCbCr.

Question 11. What libraries support TIFF?

The number one TIFF library is LibTiff. It was originally conceived by Sam Leffler, and has
more recently been maintained by Frank Warmerdam and Andrey Kiselev. It's free and open
source, and is properly supported in the TIFF and LibTiff mailing list.

Little cms, a free color management engine by Marti Maria, includes a small utility 'tifficc' that
links together LibTiff and the color management engine. It basically applies profile chains to
TIFF files, and can also be used for such things as converting from RGB TIFF to CMYK TIFF,
or working with other TIFF colorspaces like Lab, YCbCr,...
There are other TIFF implementations. Python Imaging Library contains a TIFF implementation
in pure Python. There are many write-only implementations; it is relatively easy to make a
program writing a particular TIFF flavor (that was one of the format design goals).

If your company has a commercial imaging product that supports TIFF properly, and you wish
for a link in this section, drop us a line.

Question 12. Where can I find this LibTiff, and how do I use it in my program?

LibTiff, a free and open source TIFF codec

Using LibTiff
LibTiff reference

There is also a good tutorial available:

Graphics programming with LibTiff, part 1

Graphics programming with LibTiff, part 2

Question 13. Aren't you going to mention GeoTIFF?

Sure, we are! GeoTIFF represents an effort by over 160 different remote sensing, GIS,
cartographic, and surveying related companies and organizations to establish a TIFF file format
based interchange format for georeferenced raster imagery.

Tagged Image File Format (abbreviated TIFF) is a file format for storing images, including
photographs and line art. As of 2009, it is under the control of Adobe Systems. ... Originally
designed as an 8 bit format for the interchange of data between graphics packages, although it
has been substantially extended since its inception. TIFF is very widely supported, but
portability problems sometimes occur when different versions of the format are expected.

It’s a format used for storing images, including photographs and line art . tiff format is widely
supported by image manipulation applications, by publication & page layout applications, by
scanning, faxing, word processing, optical character recognition & other applications.

TIFF is a flexible, adaptable file format for handling images and data within a single file, by
including the header tags (size, definition, image-data arrangement, applied image
compression) defing the image’s geometry. A TIFF file also can include a vector-based clipping
path (outlines, cropping, image frames). The ability to store image data in a lossless format
makes a TIFF file a useful image archive, because, unlike standard JPEG files, a TIFF file using
lossless compression (or none) may be edited and re-saved without losing image quality. When
TIFF was introduced, its extensibility provoked compatibility problems. As a consequences,
TIFF became the lowest common denominator image format, with most TIFF images containg
uncompressed 32-bit CMYK or 24-bit RGB images.

In tagged file format, tags are used to keep all attribute information in a standard manner. The
TIFF file format header is as shown in fig. below. In this the first two byte are Intel or Motorola
byte order. This byte order is for a 32-bit word would be ABCD. Now this ABCD, A is first byte, B
is 2nd, C is 3rd & D is 4th byte. For Motorola, where as for Intel, D is 1 st byte, C is 2nd & A is 4th
byte. The next two bytes in the header specifies version number of TIFF format specification.
The lasr for bytes of the header contains a pointer to the first image file directory.

Nos. of Bytes

0 Intel or Motorola Byte 2

order

2 Version number 2

4 Pointer to the first 4

Image File Directory

Image File Directory