Definition: One of the most commonly used and versatile graphics formats in desktop publishing, TIFF or Tagged Image File Format is a bitmap graphics format that is ideal for high resolution printing to PostScript printers and imagesetters. Originally created as a scanning format, TIFF offers great flexibility for use in page layout applications in part due to multiple color modes, multiple compression types, and cross-platform compatibility. TIFF images support both embedded paths and alpha channels which can be used to create transparent backgrounds for images in a page layout application.
Bitmap graphics software such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Photo-Paint can create and edit TIFF images.
Pronunciation: generally pronounced as a word -- tif -- rather than sounding out a letter at a time as in t-i-f-f
Alternate Spellings: TIF
