TIFF

TIFF, which stands for Tagged Image File Format, refers to a type of file that stores a photographic or illustrated image. Other file formats include JPEG, GIF and PNG. Originally produced by Aldus and Microsoft, TIFF files can be uploaded, downloaded and sent through the Internet. Similarly, TIFF files can be edited using computer software, such as Photoshop. Adobe Systems currently regulate the TIFF standards.

During the 1980s, the TIFF format was produced as a standard way to scan files, eliminating the incompatibility possible with files from different sources. TIFF can accommodate both greyscale and color images.

TIFF is a form of lossless compression. This means that when an image file is TIFF formatted, none of the original information is lost. Consequently, exact replicas of the original can be made from TIFF files. However, this means that TIFF files take up more of a computer’s memory space.

On the other hand, JPEG and PNG files represent lossy compression in which some of the original information is deleted in order to save memory space. As a result, these files can’t produce exact copies of the original image.