.tiff File — Tagged Image File Format

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a flexible and versatile raster image format widely used in professional photography, publishing, desktop publishing, and medical imaging. Developed by Aldus Corporation in 1986 (later acquired by Adobe), TIFF supports virtually every color space and bit depth, including CMYK for print production, Lab color, and 16/32-bit per channel for high dynamic range workflows. TIFF files can use various compression methods including none (uncompressed), LZW, ZIP, and JPEG, and can store multiple images (pages) in a single file. The format supports layers, transparency, clipping paths, and rich metadata through EXIF, IPTC, and XMP standards. TIFF is the preferred format for archival photography, scanning, and prepress workflows where image quality must not be compromised. The format's tag-based extensible structure allows for custom metadata fields, making it adaptable to specialized applications. GeoTIFF, a TIFF variant, includes geographic coordinate information for mapping and remote sensing applications.