Free online converter for converting files to TIFF64.
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| Data type | Image |
| MIME type | image/tiff |
| Developer | Aldus/Adobe (TIFF); BigTIFF extension designed within the LibTIFF community (based on an Adobe proposal) |
| Primary use cases | Very large raster images that exceed classic TIFF limits: whole-slide microscopy, large geospatial rasters (GeoTIFF), high-resolution scanning/archival masters, scientific multi-dimensional datasets stored in TIFF-like containers |
TIFF64 (BigTIFF) is a TIFF variant that uses 64-bit offsets to overcome the ~4 GB limit of classic TIFF, while keeping the same tag-based structure and TIFF features.
| Data type | Image |
| MIME type | image/tiff |
| Compression | Optional; same concept as TIFF (compression is defined by tags, varies by file/profile) |
| Color depth | Wide range via tags (BitsPerSample/SampleFormat): from 1-bit bilevel to 8/16-bit integer per channel; 32-bit integer/float and higher are also used in scientific workflows |
| Color space | Flexible via tags: grayscale, RGB/RGBA, CMYK, YCbCr, Lab, and others depending on PhotometricInterpretation and related tags |
| Transparency support | Yes |
| Animation support | No |
| EXIF / Metadata support | Yes |
| Metadata | Same tag-based metadata model as TIFF: can carry extensive technical/semantic metadata via tags (including Exif-style tags in many workflows), as well as profiles/standards built on TIFF such as GeoTIFF (tool-dependent). BigTIFF primarily changes offset/counter sizes, not the metadata concept. |
| Structure type | Header + one or more IFDs (pages) + image data (strips/tiles) + tag value data; uses 64-bit offsets/counts where applicable |
| Standard / Specification | TIFF 6.0 (1992) + BigTIFF design/specification (LibTIFF / BigTIFF documentation) |
| Typical file size | Often multi-gigabyte for large scans/rasters; size depends on resolution, bit depth, number of pages, and compression |
| Year introduced | 2004 |
The TIFF64 file format offers several advantages that make it suitable for common use cases.
The TIFF64 file format has certain limitations that may affect its use in specific scenarios.
TIFF64 images are widely supported and can be viewed on most devices and platforms.
Treat as untrusted input: malformed tags/offsets or crafted compressed data can exploit decoder bugs. Validate dimensions, strip/tile byte counts, and avoid unbounded allocations during parsing/decompression
Openly published specification; widely implemented in common imaging libraries (e.g., LibTIFF) and domain tools