CONVERT
TIFF → PNG
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Convert TIFF images to PNG format while preserving lossless quality.
TIFF files accumulate on workflows that prioritize archival fidelity over portability: scanner software, digital cameras shooting raw+TIFF, prepress pipelines, and professional photo editors all produce multi-megabyte TIFF files that most browsers, content management systems, and web platforms simply refuse to open. Converting to PNG solves the portability problem without introducing compression artifacts, because PNG uses DEFLATE — a lossless algorithm — just as TIFF commonly stores its pixel data uncompressed or with lossless LZW. The key technical difference is the container: TIFF is a highly flexible, multi-page, multi-strip container format that can embed SubIFDs, EXIF blocks, IPTC records, XMP sidecars, multiple resolution layers (thumbnail IFD), and even CMYK or LAB color spaces, none of which survive the trip to PNG intact. PNG is a single-image, RGB-or-RGBA, sRGB-anchored raster format designed for web delivery and lossless round-trips within that scope. If your TIFF came from a flatbed scan of a document, an 8-bit or 16-bit camera export, or a design tool like Photoshop or GIMP, and you need to post it online, share it without specialized software requirements, or use it in a web build pipeline, PNG is the correct target.
TIFF Image
Source formatTIFF 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.
PNG Image
Target formatPNG is a lossless image format that supports transparency. It is ideal for graphics, logos, screenshots, and any image where preserving exact pixel data is important.
Why convert TIFF to PNG
Web browsers — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge — all render PNG natively, whereas TIFF support was dropped from browsers years ago and is not part of any HTML image specification. Email clients, Slack, Notion, Google Docs, GitHub, and virtually every CMS reject TIFF uploads or silently ignore them. PNG also compresses scanner output and solid-color illustrations far more efficiently than an uncompressed TIFF: a 3000x2400 uncompressed 8-bit TIFF around 20 MB typically compresses to 2–6 MB as PNG with no pixel change. For UI assets and web graphics with hard edges, transparency, or text, PNG is the practical standard.
HOW TO CONVERT
TIFF → PNG
Drop the TIFF file
Drag and drop or click to upload your TIFF. The image is transferred securely over HTTPS and queued for conversion.
Re-encode with ImageMagick
ImageMagick decodes every pixel of the TIFF and writes a matching PNG with sensible default quality settings.
Download the PNG
The converted PNG is ready to download as a single file; both files delete automatically within two hours.
Common Use Cases
Share across platforms
Send PNG files to anyone without worrying about whether they have the right software for TIFF.
Embed in documents
Drop PNG output into Word, Google Docs, PowerPoint, Notion or a website without conversion warnings.
Optimize size
PNG often produces smaller files than TIFF for web, email and storage.
Archive & future-proof
Store in a widely-supported format that will still open on future operating systems without legacy plugins.
TIFF vs PNG — Strengths and limitations
What each format does best, and where it falls short.
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
- 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.
PNG Strengths
- Lossless compression — every save preserves the original pixels perfectly.
- Full 8-bit alpha channel for smooth transparency.
- Excellent for text, UI screenshots, logos, and line art.
- Royalty-free and an ISO standard (ISO/IEC 15948).
- Supports 16-bit color depth for high-fidelity work.
Limitations
- Much larger than JPEG for photographs (no perceptual compression).
- No native animation in most software (APNG support is inconsistent).
- No CMYK support — web and screen only, not print.
TIFF vs PNG — Technical specifications
Side-by-side comparison of the technical details.
TIFF
- MIME type
- image/tiff
- Extensions
- .tif, .tiff
- 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
PNG
- MIME type
- image/png
- Standard
- ISO/IEC 15948:2004
- Compression
- Lossless — DEFLATE (zlib)
- Color depth
- 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bits per channel
- Max dimensions
- 2^31 − 1 pixels per side (2.1 billion)
- Transparency
- Full 8-bit alpha channel
| Specification | TIFF | PNG |
|---|---|---|
| MIME type | image/tiff | image/png |
| Extensions | .tif, .tiff | — |
| Standard | TIFF 6.0 (1992); BigTIFF extension for 64-bit offsets | ISO/IEC 15948:2004 |
| Max file size | 4 GB (TIFF); 2^64 bytes (BigTIFF) | — |
| Compression options | None, LZW, Deflate, JPEG, CCITT G3/G4, PackBits, JBIG | — |
| Compression | — | Lossless — DEFLATE (zlib) |
| Color depth | — | 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bits per channel |
| Max dimensions | — | 2^31 − 1 pixels per side (2.1 billion) |
| Transparency | — | Full 8-bit alpha channel |
TIFF vs PNG — Typical file sizes
Approximate file sizes for common scenarios.
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
PNG
- Icon or small logo 2–20 KB
- UI screenshot (1920×1080) 200–800 KB
- High-res photo (12 MP) 10–30 MB
- Print-ready illustration 5–50 MB
Quality & Compatibility
If the source TIFF is 8-bit RGB or RGBA, the conversion to PNG is genuinely lossless: every pixel value is preserved exactly, because both formats represent each channel as an 8-bit unsigned integer and PNG's DEFLATE compressor is purely lossless. Alpha transparency carries over correctly provided the TIFF uses an associated (pre-multiplied) or unassociated alpha channel that the converter handles; PNG stores RGBA as four 8-bit channels. 16-bit TIFF is where precision shrinks: PNG supports 16-bit-per-channel grayscale and RGB(A), so a 16-bit TIFF can be exported as a 16-bit PNG without downsampling — but many converters default to 8-bit output, silently halving the bit depth. CMYK TIFFs (common in prepress) have no direct PNG equivalent; conversion requires a color-space transform to sRGB, which involves gamut mapping and introduces approximation — saturated cyan and spot colors will shift. EXIF metadata, IPTC records, XMP blocks, multi-page layers, and embedded ICC profiles beyond sRGB are all dropped by the PNG container, which holds only a basic cHRM/gAMA/sRGB or iCCP chunk.
Tips for Best Results
- If your TIFF was produced at 16 bits per channel — common with DSLR tethering software or high-end flatbed scanners — confirm the converter preserves 16-bit depth in the output PNG before discarding the original. Dropping to 8-bit cuts dynamic range from 65,536 to 256 levels per channel, which causes visible banding in smooth gradients like skies or skin tones.
- TIFF files from prepress or design workflows frequently embed a CMYK color space. Before converting, check the embedded ICC profile name in the file properties. If it reads something like 'U.S. Web Coated (SWOP)' or 'ISO Coated', the converter must perform a CMYK-to-sRGB transform; the resulting PNG will look correct on screen but vivid print colors — especially cyan-heavy tones — may appear duller than the original ink values.
- TIFF supports multi-page and multi-layer structures (used by fax software and some scanners for batch scans). A single TIFF file can contain dozens of pages, but PNG is a single-image format. Converting such a TIFF will either produce only the first page or generate one PNG per page depending on the tool — verify the page count of your source TIFF first so no pages are silently discarded.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the codecs involved. If both TIFF and PNG are lossy, the pixels are re-encoded and a small amount of detail is discarded — invisible at default quality settings on photographs. If PNG is lossless (PNG, TIFF, BMP) the output keeps every pixel of the decoded TIFF exactly, but cannot recover detail that TIFF had already compressed away.
Often yes, especially when PNG is lossless. TIFF tuned for efficient web delivery will usually produce smaller files than PNG's default settings. If file size matters, drop the quality in Advanced or pick a more compressed target format instead.
KaijuConverter uploads over HTTPS, processes the image in an isolated container and deletes both the source and the output within two hours. No account is required, file contents are never logged, and we do not use uploads to train any model. For confidential material, the paid plan includes a data-processing agreement.
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