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WHAT IS A TIFF? TIFF = Tag Image File Format: This file format is used in digital cameras to provide a better quality image, compared with the common JPEG - a compressed file that makes file size smaller. The word “tag” refers to the information in the 'header' of the TIFF file. Tags are not part of the actual image. The tag or tags in the header define how the data (the image) is presented. The TIFF file has the extension: .TIF TIFF is a BIT-MAP: Early digital images (before color) appeared in black and white. The tiny elements that composed digital images were either black or white. These two 'colors' corresponded to 1 and 0 (called BITS or BI-nary digi-TS ). Thus, a map made up of 1's and 0's was referred to as a bit-map. That was the early digital image, just black and white. TODAY'S BIT-MAPS: Today we have BMP (Windows bit-map) files. You may have a BMP image on your desktop as wallpaper (it is probably a color image). Another similar bit-map file is a TIFF (Tag Image File Format - file extension .TIF). STRUCTURE OF BIT-MAPS: All bit-map images are a rectangle or square. Today, the elements are called pixels (Picture Elements - see article What is a Pixel). The illustration below shows a crude circle bitmap in a 20 x 20 bit square.(illustration only - not real size). The white area of the image is filled with white pixel squares. Note for a color bitmap, there are three color bytes so that Red, Green and Blue can create all the colors.
NOTE: This description is very basic, and applies to the use of TIFF files with digital cameras. A complete technical description can be found at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagged_Image_File_Format © 2004 Fred Hall |
