What is the TIFF format, where it is used and how to open it

Despite the fact that the TIFF format is not as common as the popular JPEG and PNG, it often raises questions for those who have not encountered it before. Indeed, is it not enough to use images RAW received from cameras, BMP and "proprietary" Photoshop formats with CorelDraw (PSD and CDR) to process images ? What is the TIFF file format and where should it be used? Let's try to answer these questions together.

Mysterious abbreviation TIFF

The format for Tagged Image File Format was developed by Aldus specifically to store scanned images. It should be noted that it is used for raster graphics, i.e., pictures representing a grid of pixels. The fact that this compression algorithm is tagged means that it uses special extended and basic tags. The latter form the core of this format and are supported by all applications that are able to work with it. This type of graphic data has become very popular for sharing and storing images that have a great depth of color. TIFF-format is often used in printing, when recognizing text, sending faxes, scanning. It should be noted that the maximum weight of a document saved in this form can not exceed 4 GB. And to open a TIFF file, which is larger than 2 GB, you will most likely need to run Photoshop CS or one of its later versions, since most other applications are unlikely to be able to cope with it.

What features does the TIFF format have?

The structure of this algorithm is quite flexible, and it makes it possible to save pictures in different color modes:

• Halftone;
• Binary (black and white);
• With an indexed palette;
• CMYK;
• CIE Lab;
• YCbCr;
• RGB.

With respect to compression, the user has the option of both rejecting it and selecting one of the following algorithms:

• CCITT Group (3 or 4);
• JBIG;
• LZ77;
• PackBits (RLE);
• JPEG;
• LZ77;
• LZW.

In this format, Photoshop can store layers, transparent areas, notes and pyramid data with dynamic resolution. However, when you open such a document in another graphical application, it's likely that only the merged image will be read.

Than to open a TIFF-format of the image

It often happens that you need to quickly open such a file, and "Photoshop" is not at hand. In addition, it's no secret that this program is paid and takes up a lot of space on the disk. And if the TIFF format does not come across so often, it makes no sense to hack the resources of its computer. Alternatively, you can use TiffReader. This application is completely free and allows you to work not only with the type of data being considered, but also with the popular PDF today, as well as with the encrypted CSF format. This software can be run as an ActiveX component in the browser, or as a desktop application. Another free option is TifViewer, which also can handle several scanned pages at once, make dynamic scaling and print by choice. Cope with TIFF can and loved by many ACDSee. With it, you can edit the file, convert the document to another format, or create a slide show. And if you want to send a TIFF document by e-mail or simply create a portable copy of it, we recommend that you pay attention to the network service Converttifftopdf. You can use it simply, conveniently and absolutely free of charge.