TIFF

Tagged Image File Format (abbreviated as TIFF) is a flexible, adaptable raster file format designed to process and store images with considerable color depth. The format is supported by almost all computer programs. The original version of it was published by Aldus in 1986, since 2009 it is under constant control of Adobe Systems. Created as a publishing, TIFF format widely supports applications for layout, faxing, scanning, image processing, text, etc. It saves Alpha channels, sending outlines and other advanced options.

Since 1992, no major updates have been made to the TIFF. During this time, only minor format extensions and several specifications have been made, such as: EP (ISO 12234-2),  IT (ISO 12639), F (RFC 2306) and FX (RFC 3949).

The TIFF format saves multi-page documents to a single file, rather than to a set of files for each separately scanned page.

It provides the ability to use source data compression techniques to reduce the file size without loss. This is relevant for creating an archive of images.

The format supports several types of compression: ZIP, JPEG and the most frequently used one – LZW. Since there is no defect in compression in TIFF format, it can be used to store intermediate files that will later be edited.

Basic TIFF has three compression schemes:
– Without compression
– CCITT Grоup 3 1-dimensional modified Huffman RLE
– PackBits compression – a form of coding long series