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Definition
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a flexible, high-quality raster image format commonly used in photography, publishing, and print industries. It supports lossless compression, multiple layers, and high bit depths, making it a preferred archival format.
TIFF was originally developed by Aldus (later acquired by Adobe) in 1986 for desktop publishing. The format is designed for maximum flexibility — it supports multiple compression methods (LZW, ZIP, JPEG, none), color depths from 1-bit to 32-bit per channel, multiple pages in a single file, and embedded ICC color profiles.
In professional workflows, TIFF is valued for its lossless quality. Photographers use TIFF for edited images when they need to preserve every detail without compression artifacts. Print shops and publishers often require TIFF files because the format accurately preserves color information and supports CMYK color space for print reproduction.
TIFF files are not suitable for the web — browsers have limited TIFF support, and file sizes are typically very large compared to web formats. A single high-resolution TIFF photo can easily exceed 50MB. For web use, images should be converted to JPEG, WebP, or PNG. TIFF remains important in archival, medical imaging, GIS, and professional photography contexts.