Developers often encounter TIFF when working with high fidelity scans, archival imagery, or print workflows. The format looks heavy for the web, yet it keeps showing up in professional pipelines.
What is a TIFF file used for? I keep receiving TIFF images from designers and scanners, but I am unsure when I should keep them as TIFF versus converting to web formats.
What are typical use cases, pros and cons, and best practices for handling multi-page TIFFs, color profiles, and compression?
TIFF stands for Tag Image File Format. It is a flexible, metadata-rich raster format designed for high quality imaging. TIFF supports lossless compression, high bit depths, multiple color spaces, and even multiple pages in one file. All of that makes it excellent for acquisition, editing, and archiving, and less ideal for direct web delivery.
- Print and publishing: supports CMYK and high bit depth, ideal for prepress and proofing.
- Scanning and archiving: lossless options like LZW or ZIP preserve detail from film, documents, or artworks.
- Professional photography and imaging: intermediate master files during editing, retouching, and compositing.
- Multi-page documents: store sequences from document scanners in a single container.
- Large file sizes compared to web formats like JPEG, WebP, or AVIF.
- Inconsistent browser and platform support, especially for multi-page or high-bit-depth variants.
- Unnecessary precision for typical web viewing scenarios.
As a rule of thumb, keep TIFF as your master and convert derivatives for web delivery. For a deeper comparison, see JPEG vs TIFF.
- Uncompressed TIFF: largest size, fastest to load in pro apps.
- LZW or ZIP: lossless compression that reduces size without quality loss.
- sb lossy compression, smaller but not ideal as a long-term master.
- BigTIFF: supports files larger than 4 GB for massive imagery.
- Color spaces: convert to sRGB for web delivery to avoid muted or oversaturated colors.
- Resolution: DPI is a print concept. For screens, pixels rule. See DPI vs pixels.
- Metadata: TIFF can store extensive IPTC and XMP. Preserve for archives, strip for smaller distribution files.
Use JPEG for photographs, PNG for transparency or UI elements, or modern formats like WebP and AVIF for better compression at similar quality.
Python with Pillow
from PIL import Image, ImageSequence
# Convert the first page of a TIFF to JPEG for the web
with Image.open("input.tif") as im:
rgb = im.convert("RGB") # ensure no alpha for JPEG
rgb.save("output.jpg", quality=85, optimize=True)
# Export all pages of a multi-page TIFF to numbered JPEGs
with Image.open("multi.tif") as im:
for idx, page in enumerate(ImageSequence.Iterator(im), start=1):
page.convert("RGB").save(f"page-{idx}.jpg", quality=85, optimize=True)Code language: PHP (php)ImageMagick CLI
# First page to a resized JPEG with sRGB
magick input.tif[0] -colorspace sRGB -resize 1600x1600> -quality 85 output.jpg
# All pages to PNGs (keeps transparency if present)
magick multi.tif -colorspace sRGB -resize 1600x1600> pages-%02d.pngCode language: CSS (css)- Treat TIFF as the source of truth, create web derivatives per channel and device.
- Convert color to sRGB for consistency across browsers and devices.
- Flatten layers for maximum compatibility, especially when exporting from editing apps.
- Automate conversions in your pipeline and store both masters and derivatives as media assets you can reuse across properties.
If you need on-the-fly delivery, Cloudinary can store TIFF masters and transform them at request time. Upload the TIFF once, then deliver optimized derivatives via URL parameters like format conversion, resizing, and quality selection.
# Upload once (Node.js example)
import { v2 as cloudinary } from "cloudinary";
cloudinary.uploader.upload("input.tif", {
resource_type: "image",
folder: "masters"
});
// On-the-fly delivery as JPEG, auto quality, responsive fit
// Replace <cloud_name> and the public ID accordingly
https://res.cloudinary.com/<cloud_name>/image/upload/f_jpg,q_auto,w_1600,c_fit/masters/input.tif
# Prefer WebP when supported
https://res.cloudinary.com/<cloud_name>/image/upload/f_webp,q_auto,w_1600,c_fit/masters/input.tifCode language: PHP (php)- Use TIFF as a high quality master for scanning, print, and archival.
- Convert TIFF to JPEG, PNG, WebP, or AVIF for web delivery to reduce size and improve compatibility.
- Ensure sRGB output and right-size pixels for your targets.
- Automate conversions locally or deliver on the fly using a media platform to streamline your pipeline.
Ready to simplify how you store masters, generate derivatives, and deliver optimized images at scale? Sign up for a free Cloudinary account and start transforming TIFFs into fast, beautiful experiences across your apps.