What Is a TIFF File and How Do You Open It?
TIFF files come from scanners and printers and won't open in most browsers or phones. Here's what TIFF is and how to convert it to JPG, PNG or PDF free.
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format, extensions .tif and .tiff) is one of the oldest image formats still in everyday use. You'll usually meet it when a scanner, fax service, printer or photographer sends you a file.
Why use TIFF at all?
- Lossless quality: TIFF can store images uncompressed or with lossless compression, ideal for archiving and printing.
- Multiple pages: one TIFF can hold a whole multi-page scan.
- Professional workflows: publishers, print shops and archives standardised on it decades ago.
Why can't I open it?
Chrome, Edge and Firefox don't display TIFF, nor do most Android phones, social networks or upload forms. TIFFs are also huge: a single A4 scan can be 25MB.
Convert TIFF to JPG, PNG or PDF
- TIFF to JPG: smallest files, best for sharing photos and scans.
- TIFF to PNG: lossless, best for diagrams and text.
- TIFF to PDF: best for documents you need to email or submit.
FileStripe decodes TIFF in your browser (uncompressed, LZW, Deflate and PackBits TIFFs are supported), so nothing is uploaded. For multi-page TIFFs it uses the largest image in the file.
Need to make a TIFF?
Some printers and publishers require TIFF. Use JPG to TIFF or PNG to TIFF to create one.