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HEIF vs TIFF

HEIF vs TIFF

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

Convert HEIF → TIFF
HEIF

HEIF Image

Raster & Vector Images

HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) is the container format behind HEIC. It supports advanced features like image sequences, depth maps, and HDR but has limited cross-platform support.

About HEIF 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

HEIF Strengths

  • ~50% smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality, with better detail retention.
  • Container holds multi-image bursts, depth maps, and HDR data in one file.
  • Supports 10 and 12-bit color, wide gamut, and HDR out of the box.
  • Default iPhone camera format since 2017 — billions of files in existence.

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

HEIF Limitations

  • HEVC codec inside .heic is patent-encumbered — licensing fees steered the web toward AVIF.
  • Windows, Android, and most email clients needed plugins or recent updates to open HEIC.
  • Encoding is CPU-intensive on older hardware.
  • Fragmented ecosystem — the same file extension (.heif) can hold incompatible codecs.

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 HEIF TIFF
MIME types image/heif, image/heic —
Extensions .heif, .heic, .heifs, .heics .tif, .tiff
Container ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF) —
Codecs HEVC (H.265), AV1, VVC (H.266) —
Standard ISO/IEC 23008-12 TIFF 6.0 (1992); BigTIFF extension for 64-bit offsets
MIME type — image/tiff
Max file size — 4 GB (TIFF); 2^64 bytes (BigTIFF)
Compression options — None, LZW, Deflate, JPEG, CCITT G3/G4, PackBits, JBIG

Typical File Sizes

HEIF

  • iPhone photo (12 MP) 1-3 MB
  • Portrait mode (with depth map) 2-4 MB
  • Burst of 10 shots 5-15 MB
  • 4K ProRAW-equivalent HEIF 10-30 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

HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) is a container format based on HEVC compression, standardized by MPEG in 2015. It can store still images, image sequences, and auxiliary data like depth maps. HEIC is the most common HEIF variant.

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.

HEIF files open natively on Apple devices (iOS 11+, macOS High Sierra+), Windows 10/11 with the HEIF extension installed, and modern versions of GIMP, Photoshop, and Google Photos.

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

HEIF is the container format specification, while HEIC is a specific implementation using HEVC codec for compression. In practice, iPhone photos labeled as HEIC are HEIF files. The terms are often used interchangeably for Apple device photos.

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.