BMP vs TIFF — Differences, File Size & When to Use Each

BMP vs TIFF

A detailed comparison of BMP Image and TIFF Image — file size, quality, compatibility, and which format to choose for your workflow.

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BMP

BMP Image

Raster & Vector Images

BMP is an uncompressed raster image format native to Windows. Files are large but preserve exact pixel data with no compression artifacts. Rarely used on the web due to file size.

About BMP files

TIFF

TIFF Image

Raster & Vector Images

TIFF is a flexible, high-quality image format widely used in publishing, printing, and professional photography. It supports multiple compression methods and color spaces including CMYK.

About TIFF files

Strengths Comparison

BMP Strengths

Dead-simple format — trivially easy to read and write.
Lossless and uncompressed — perfect bit-exact pixel storage.
Universally supported in Windows applications since 1985.
Supports 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 32-bit color depths.

TIFF Strengths

Lossless by default — no generation loss on successive edits and saves.
Supports any bit depth (1 to 32 bits per channel), any color model, any number of channels.
Extensible tag system means vendor-specific data survives alongside standard tags.
Multi-page containers are perfect for scanned documents, faxes, and DICOM-like stacks.
Industry-standard for archival, museums, scientific imaging, and high-end print prepress.

Limitations

BMP Limitations

Enormous file sizes — no meaningful compression in typical use.
Not a web format — browsers support it but nobody serves BMPs over HTTP.
No metadata support (no EXIF, no ICC profile in practice).
Multiple header versions mean "a BMP" is ambiguous — parsers must handle several variants.

TIFF Limitations

File sizes are huge compared to JPEG/WebP/AVIF — often 10-30× larger.
Not a web format — no browser displays TIFF natively.
Ambiguous spec areas mean some TIFFs only open correctly in the tool that created them.
Weak animation support — designed for still imagery.

Technical Specifications

Specification	BMP	TIFF
MIME type	image/bmp	image/tiff
Extensions	.bmp, .dib	.tif, .tiff
Compression	None (typical); RLE 4/8 bit (rare)	—
Color depths	1, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32 bits per pixel	—
Byte order	Little-endian	—
Standard	—	TIFF 6.0 (1992); BigTIFF extension for 64-bit offsets
Max file size	—	4 GB (TIFF); 2^64 bytes (BigTIFF)
Compression options	—	None, LZW, Deflate, JPEG, CCITT G3/G4, PackBits, JBIG

Typical File Sizes

BMP

Small icon (32×32) 4 KB
Screenshot (1920×1080) ~6 MB
4K image (3840×2160) ~25 MB
Scanned A4 at 300 dpi ~25 MB

TIFF

Scanned A4 page (300 dpi, B&W) 100-300 KB
Scanned A4 page (600 dpi, color) 15-40 MB
Print-quality magazine photo 30-150 MB
Satellite GeoTIFF tile 50 MB - 5 GB

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Frequently Asked Questions

BMP (Bitmap) is a raster image format developed by Microsoft for Windows. It stores images with no compression by default, resulting in large file sizes but pixel-perfect quality. It has been part of Windows since version 1.0.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a flexible raster image format developed by Aldus Corporation in 1986. It supports lossless compression, multiple pages, layers, and high color depths, making it the standard for professional printing and scanning.

BMP files open in Windows Paint, Photos, macOS Preview, GIMP, Photoshop, and virtually any image viewer. All Windows applications support BMP natively.

TIFF files open in Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Windows Photos, macOS Preview, and IrfanView. Multi-page TIFFs may require specialized viewers or Adobe Acrobat.

PNG is better than BMP in almost every scenario since it provides lossless compression (smaller files), transparency support, and wider cross-platform use. BMP is mainly relevant for legacy Windows applications.

Use TIFF for professional print workflows, scanning, and archival where multi-page support and CMYK color spaces are needed. Use PNG for web graphics and screen display where smaller file sizes and transparency are priorities.