RFC 3302 (rfc3302) - Page 2 of 8

Tag Image File Format (TIFF) - image/tiff MIME Sub-type Registration

RFC 3302                       image/tiff                 September 2002


4.  TIFF Definition

   TIFF (Tag Image File Format) Revision 6.0 is defined in detail by
   Adobe in [TIFF].  The documentation can be obtained from Adobe at:

      Adobe Developers Association
      Adobe Systems Incorporated
      345 Park Avenue
      San Jose, CA 95110-2704

      Phone: +1-408-536-6000
      Fax:   +1-408-537-6000

   A copy of this specification can also be found in:
   http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/PDFS/TN/TIFF6.pdf

   While a brief scope and feature description is provided in this
   section as background information, the reader is directed to the
   original TIFF specification [TIFF] to obtain complete feature and
   technical details.

4.1  TIFF Scope

   TIFF describes image data that typically comes from scanners, frame
   grabbers, and paint- and photo-retouching programs.  TIFF is not a
   printer language or page description language.  The purpose of TIFF
   is to describe and store raster image data.  A primary goal of TIFF
   is to provide a rich environment within which applications can
   exchange image data.  This richness is required to take advantage of
   the varying capabilities of scanners and other imaging devices.
   Though TIFF is a rich format, it can easily be used for simple
   scanners and applications as well because the number of required
   fields is small.

4.2  TIFF Features

   Some of the features of TIFF (from [TIFF]) are:

      -  TIFF is capable of describing bilevel, grayscale, palette-
         color, and full-color image data in several color spaces.

      -  TIFF includes a number of compression schemes that allow
         developers to choose the best space or time tradeoff for their
         applications.

      -  TIFF is designed to be extensible and to evolve gracefully as
         new needs arise.




Parsons & Rafferty          Standards Track