TIFF Format

The TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a standard file format that allows storing and exchanging graphical information in the raster format from scanners, frame grabbers and programs for painting and fixing photographs. It can be used in several platforms such as the IBM-PC, the Macintosh and also UNIX work stations. The main advantages of the TIFF format are:

  • (1) its structure is known by a wild variety of applications;
  • (2) it does not depend on the computer architecture, operating system and graphical platforms;
  • (3) it can be adjusted to the scanner, monitor or printing characteristics.

It is one of the best formats for storing and exchanging data in the raster format between computers. The main disadvantages of the TIFF format is the fact that the user can give new attributes (tags) in an image, making impossible the correct interpretation of the data by other image reading system, also requiring a large computational resources for data decoding.

The TIFF file includes compression schemes that the user selects to a better adjustment of the applications. In each new release new compression schemes are included and data storage techniques, thus it is not always possible to exchange information. Today the SPRING supports compressions defined in release 6.0, using JPEG compression.

The file structure in the TIFF format is defined by a sequence of 8 bits (a byte), where the bytes are numbered from 0 to N. This file can get 232 bytes in length. It has a file header and one or more image file directory (IFD) that has the image data. The "header" has three inputs: a code that has the byte order, that is MM (Motorola Mode) where the bytes (16-32 bits) are stored in significance order (from higher to lower) or IM (Intel Mode) where the bytes are stored in the inverse order (from lower to higher significance). O code number identifying as TIFF file; and a pointer for the image file directory. The IFD has a series of pointers that indicates the beginning of the file, type and length of data.


To import or export TIFF images !



See about Importing/Exporting in the SPRING


See also:
How to IMPORT SGI data?
How to IMPORT GRIB images?