.tiff

What is a .tiff file?

TIFF is a high-fidelity image format for professional photography, printing, and archival — lossless, multi-layer, and up to 16-bit colour depth.

Safe format
Type Image
By Aldus / Adobe
MIME image/tiff

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What is it

You received a TIFF from a print shop, a photographer, a medical imaging system, or a GIS application. TIFF lives in the professional world — it's the format that prioritises image quality above everything else, including file size and convenience.

TIFF supports lossless compression, multiple layers, 16-bit colour depth, CMYK colour spaces, and embedded ICC profiles. A single high-resolution scan can easily exceed 100 MB. This is not a bug — it's the point. Print shops need CMYK data that hasn't been approximated. Medical imaging needs full dynamic range. Archivists need a format that preserves everything without generation loss. TIFF handles all of these, which is why it's been the industry standard since the late 1980s.

Apple Preview (macOS) and Windows Photos display TIFF files. For editing, Photoshop, Affinity Photo, and GIMP all handle TIFF natively. Browsers do not display TIFF — if you need to put the image on the web, convert to JPG or PNG with fwip. For print, keep the TIFF. For screens, convert it.

Technical details
Full Name
Tagged Image File Format
MIME Type
image/tiff
Developer
Aldus / Adobe
Magic Bytes
49 49 2A 00
Safety
.tiff is a known, safe format.
What opens it
Apple Preview
FREE macOS
Windows Photos
FREE Windows
GIMP
FREE All
Adobe Photoshop
Subscription All
Affinity Photo
$70 All
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FAQ
What's the difference between TIFF and JPG?
TIFF is lossless (no quality loss, large files). JPG is lossy (smaller files, some quality loss). Use TIFF for printing and archival; JPG for web and sharing. Convert with fwip.
What's the difference between TIFF and PNG?
Both can be lossless, but TIFF supports CMYK colour, multiple pages, and layers — features PNG lacks. PNG is better for web use. TIFF is better for print and professional imaging.
Why are TIFF files so large?
TIFF stores image data with minimal or no compression to preserve every detail. A 24-megapixel photo at 16-bit colour can exceed 140 MB as TIFF. That is the point — no quality compromises.
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