.tiff
Use cautionTagged Image File Format
The workhorse of print and scanning. Supports uncompressed, LZW, and JPEG-compressed payloads and can hold multiple pages per file.
MIME types
- image/tiff
Category
image
Aliases
.tif
What opens this file
- Preview
- Photoshop
- GIMP
- ImageMagick
- IrfanView
How to open by OS
Windows
- Photos, Paint, IrfanView.
Mac
- Preview.
Linux
- GIMP, ImageMagick.
Ios
- Photos and Files (basic support).
Android
- Gallery (device-dependent).
Safety notes
- TIFF's complexity keeps LibTIFF CVEs coming. Treat unknown TIFFs from scanning pipelines with the same care as any other input.
Common mistakes
- Don't serve TIFF on the web — convert to PNG / JPEG / WebP first.
- Multi-page TIFFs often hide pages past the first in certain viewers; verify with a TIFF-aware tool.