Date First Published: 7th January 2024
Topic: Computer Systems
Subtopic: Computer Software
Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions
Difficulty: MediumDifficulty Level: 6/10
Learn about what TIFF is in this article.
Stands for Tagged Image File Format. TIFF is an image file format used to store raster graphics. They allow users to tag up extra information and data, and support layers, transparency, and multi-image files. Since the TIFF image file format has been used since the 1980s, the TIFF image format is widely supported by operating systems, scanning, fax, and word processing. TIFF is popular across a range of industries, including photography, graphic design, and desktop publishing.
A TIFF file has the file extension .tiff or .tif.
TIFF is ideal for retaining lots of detailed image data because it uses lossless compression, making it a good choice for professional photographers and editors. The detailed high-quality stored in a TIFF means that they are ideal for scanned images and high-resolution documents.
Since TIFF files contain multiple images, this enables each image in a file to have its own separate properties. For example, several low-resolution JPEGs could be stored within one TIFF to email a selection of photos to someone.
However, the high amount of detail and resolution can lead to large files, which can take up valuable space on the hard drive and slow down a website's loading speed. This makes them less suitable for sharing on the web. Lighter image formats, like JPEGs are more suitable for online images as the loss of quality and lower resolutions are hardly visible online and accepted in favour of the file size. To be used on websites, slides, and other marketing materials, it is likely that it will be converted to another format.
The first version of the TIFF specification was released by the Aldus Corporation in Autumn 1986 after two major earlier draft releases. It was published after several meetings with different scanner manufacturers and software developers. TIFFs were originally limited to print publications before they expanded into digital content. Later, Aldus Corporation was acquired by Adobe, which has since been responsible for the copyright of the file format.
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