What is a .tiff file?
Tagged Image File Format · Image · Aldus / Adobe · 1986
TIFF is a flexible, high-quality image format favoured in photography, publishing and scanning. It can store lossless images, multiple pages and rich metadata, which makes it a common master and archive format even though the files are large.
What is a .tiff file used for?
TIFF is a container that can hold uncompressed or losslessly compressed images, layers, multiple pages and extensive metadata. Print shops, museums and document scanners rely on it as a high-fidelity master.
Because it favours quality over size, TIFF files are large and not meant for the web. You export smaller JPG or PNG copies for sharing.
Its flexibility is also a quirk: two TIFFs can use very different internal compression, so an odd file may need a specific viewer.
What opens a .tiff file?
The .tiff format opens in the following apps, grouped by operating system. If one app does not work, try another from the same list.
Windows
- Photos
- IrfanView
- Photoshop
- Windows Photo Viewer
macOS
- Preview
- Photos
- Photoshop
Linux
- GIMP
- Image Viewer
- ImageMagick
Web
- Not natively in most browsers, convert first
Open a .tiff file step by step
- Confirm the file really is a .tiff. Drop it into the WhatFileType identifier, which reads its signature in your browser without uploading anything.
- On Windows, open it with Photos or IrfanView.
- On Mac, use Preview or Photos.
- On Linux, try GIMP or Image Viewer.
- Still stuck? Convert the .tiff to PNG, which opens more widely.
Why can't I open my .tiff file?
Almost always because no installed app understands TIFF. Install one of the apps above, or convert the file to a format your existing software already reads. If double-clicking opens the wrong program instead of nothing at all, the file association is set to the wrong app rather than the file being broken.
The other possibility is that the file is not really a .tiff at all. Drop it into the file identifier to check it by its bytes instead of its name. Nothing is uploaded.
How to convert a .tiff file
You can convert a .tiff file to PNG, JPG, PDF.
IrfanView on Windows and Preview on a Mac both export TIFF to PNG or JPG. A multi-page TIFF collapses to a single page unless you export to PDF, which is usually what you actually want.
Convert images free: ImageConvert
What is the .tiff file signature (magic bytes)?
A .tiff file starts with the hex bytes 49 49 2A 00, which read as II*. in ASCII. Other formats open with the same bytes, so they narrow a file down without proving it is TIFF. Programs confirm the format from the tags and structure that follow the header, not from these bytes alone.
These are the documented signatures for TIFF. For a full breakdown, see the TIFF file signature page.
| Hex signature | Offset | ASCII | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 49 49 2A 00 | 0 | II*. | little-endian (Intel) |
| 4D 4D 00 2A | 0 | MM.* | big-endian (Motorola) |
See the full magic-numbers reference for every format.
Frequently asked questions
What is a .tiff file?
TIFF is a flexible, high-quality image format favoured in photography, publishing and scanning. It can store lossless images, multiple pages and rich metadata, which makes it a common master and archive format even though the files are large.
Why won't my TIFF open in the browser?
Most browsers do not display TIFF. Open it in Preview, Photos or an editor, or convert it to PNG or JPG.