TIFF Converter
TIFF is the archival and print format: lossless, colour-managed, and readable by essentially every professional imaging and document system. The files are large by design, which is the point when the copy has to outlast the software that made it.
TIFF at a glance
| Full name | Tagged Image File Format |
|---|---|
| Extension | .tiff |
| MIME type | image/tiff |
| Compression | Lossy and lossless |
| Transparency | Yes |
| Animation | No |
| Colours | 16.7M+ (up to 48-bit) |
| Browser support | No browser support (desktop apps only) |
| Typical use | Print, archival, professional photography, scanning |
| Introduced | 1986 |
Convert TIFF to another format
Create TIFF from another format
More about TIFF
Still stuck? Try the help centre or the FAQ.
Already have TIFF files that are too large? Compress TIFF instead of converting.
TIFF questions
Why are TIFF files so large?
Because they are meant to be. TIFF stores full-resolution pixels with lossless compression at most, often 16 bits per channel, plus layers, paths and an embedded colour profile. That is the point for print and archival work, and the reason it is wrong for the web.
Do browsers display TIFF images?
No current browser does, which is why a TIFF on a web page shows as a broken image or triggers a download. Desktop imaging, scanning and document software reads it universally; the web simply never adopted it.
What is the difference between LZW and ZIP compression in TIFF?
Both are lossless. LZW is older and more widely readable; ZIP, which is Deflate, usually produces smaller files on photographic content. If a TIFF has to open in ageing software, LZW is the safer of the two.
Can a TIFF hold multiple pages?
Yes — multi-page TIFF is common in scanning and fax workflows, and each page is a full image inside one file. Software support is inconsistent, which is why PDF has largely taken over for multi-page documents.