TIF File

What are TIF files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a TIF file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your TIF files.

What is a TIF file?

TIF files have multiple uses, and Tagged Image File Format Bitmap is one of them. Read more about the other uses further down the page.

Tagged Image File Format Bitmap

TIF stands for Tagged Image File. These files are also known as TIFF files, or "Tagged Image File Format" files. The files that contain the .tif file extension contain high-quality graphic images. These files are commonly used to store color images, such as digital photographs, but the TIF file format is also used to store digital faxes and other scanned documents.

TIF files can be saved in their original, uncompressed lossless TIF format or they can be saved in the compressed LZW file format. This format does reduce the size of the TIF file but also results in a loss of image quality.

TIF files can also be converted to the JPEG file format, which also compresses the size of the TIF file, but also has an effect on the quality of the image that the file contains.

How to open TIF files

We have identified six TIF openers that are compatible with this specific type of TIF file.

Programs that open Tagged Image File Format Bitmap files

Last updated: January 24, 2024

All known file formats using extension .TIF

While Tagged Image File Format Bitmap is a popular type of TIF-file, we know of 3 different uses of the .TIF file extension. Different software may use files with the same extension for different types of data.

BigTIFF bitmap

BigTIFF files are simply TIFF files capable of storing images greater than 4 Gigabyte in size, which is the file size limit of ordinary TIF/TIFF files.

While we have not verified the apps ourselves yet, our users have suggested ten different TIF openers which you will find listed below.

OME-TIFF bitmap

The OME-TIFF format is a bitmap format that is part of the Open Microscopy Environment data model and file format for microscopy image collections.

In OME-TIFF files, the image planes are stored within one multi-page TIFF file, or across multiple TIFF files - whichever is preferred.

An OME-XML metadata block describing the dataset is embedded in each TIFF file's header. This means that you always keep images and metadata together.

Special software compatible with these images is needed to display the meta-data embedded in the images. This is often software specialized for hospital or clinical use.

Various apps that use files with this extension

These apps are known to open certain types of TIF files. Remember, different programs may use TIF files for different purposes, so you may need to try out a few of them to be able to open your specific file.

Help us help others

File.org helps thousands of users every day, and we would love to hear from you if you have additional information about TIF file formats, example files, or compatible programs. Please use the links below or email us at submit@file.org to discuss further.