TIFF vs JPG: Which Should You Use?
TIFF is the professional format for scanning, printing and archiving: lossless, flexible and very large. JPG is the everyday format for sharing photos.
TIFF vs JPG
Short answer
Use TIFF for master copies, scans and professional printing. Use JPG for everything you share, upload or view on screen.
TIFF vs JPG at a glance
| Property | TIFF | JPG |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless (exact pixels, larger files) | Lossy (small files, some detail discarded) |
| Transparency | Yes | No |
| Animation | No | No |
| Opens in | Safari only | All browsers and devices |
| Best for | Printing, scanning, archiving and professional photo work | Photos, sharing, email, social media |
Use TIFF for
- Archiving scans and master photos
- Professional printing and publishing
- Editing without quality loss
- Multi-page documents
Use JPG for
- Sharing, email and web
- Photo printing at home or online
- Saving storage
File size test
How big are the files?
We saved the same two images in both formats with our converter at default settings (quality 85 for lossy formats).
| Test image | TIFF | JPG | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1600 × 1200 photo | 2.12 MB | 175 KB | JPG 92% smaller |
| 1200 × 800 screenshot with text | 120 KB | 38 KB | JPG 68% smaller |
Key differences
File size
In our test the same photo was 2.1 MB as TIFF and 175 KB as JPG, about 12× larger.
Quality
TIFF is usually lossless and supports 16-bit color; JPG is lossy and 8-bit.
Compatibility
Professional apps handle TIFF, but browsers (except Safari) don't display it and many sites reject it.
TIFF
What is a TIFF file?
The Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) is a container format for storing raster graphics images, originally created by Aldus Corporation in 1986 and currently controlled by Adobe Systems. Ideally suited for photography and desktop publishing, TIFF supports multiple color spaces (CMYK, RGB, Lab), various compression schemes (lossless LZW, Deflate, or lossy JPEG), and data tags that define image geometry. It conforms to the TIFF 6.0 specification and can accommodate multi-page documents and extensive metadata standards like Exif, IPTC, and XMP within its header structure.
How to open a TIFF file
Due to its status as a standard industry format for high-quality imaging, TIFF files possess robust native support across major operating systems, including Microsoft Windows Photos and macOS Preview. For advanced editing and layer manipulation, professional raster graphics editors such as Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, and CorelDRAW are required. Specialized viewing software like IrfanView or XnView can also render multi-page TIFFs that standard system viewers may display incorrectly.
- Full Name
- Tagged Image File Format
- Developed By
- Aldus Corporation (now Adobe)
- Initial Release
- 1986
- MIME Type
- image/tiff
JPG
What is a JPG file?
JPG is functionally identical to the JPEG format, differing only in the file extension length, a legacy constraint from the MS-DOS 8.3 filename limit (which allowed only three characters for extensions). It implements the same ISO/IEC 10918 standard, using lossy compression based on Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Huffman coding to store photorealistic images. The file structure contains markers such as Start of Image (SOI) and End of Image (EOI) and supports color spaces like sRGB and CMYK, making it interchangeable with .jpeg files in all software contexts.
How to open a JPG file
As one of the most ubiquitous file types in computing, JPG files open natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux without external software. Default viewers like Microsoft Photos, Apple Preview, and Linux image viewers handle the format automatically. For editing or conversion, industry-standard tools including Adobe Photoshop, Paint.NET, and XnView provide extensive support. Web browsers universally render JPGs without plugins.
- Full Name
- Joint Photographic Experts Group
- Developed By
- Joint Photographic Experts Group
- Initial Release
- 1992
- MIME Type
- image/jpeg
TIFF vs JPG