What Is a TIFF File?
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) was created by Aldus in 1986 for desktop publishing, and Adobe has maintained the specification since buying Aldus in 1994. It is the format that scanners, fax software, Photoshop and film-scanning or RAW-editing software use when quality matters more than file size: it can store images without any compression, at 16 bits per channel, in CMYK for print, and it can hold several pages in a single file.
That last part is why TIFF files turn up in inboxes. Windows Fax and Scan, multifunction printers with a document feeder, and some fax-to-email services bundle a whole document into one .tif. It is also why they are awkward to use anywhere else. Apart from Safari, no browser displays a TIFF, many upload forms reject it, and the Windows Photos app shows only the first page of a multi-page file. Converting to JPG turns the file into something every phone, browser and upload form understands.
Multi-Page TIFFs: One JPG Per Page
A JPG holds exactly one image, so a multi-page TIFF can’t become a single JPG. This converter takes every page and writes a separate file for each one. Drop invoice.tif with four pages and you get invoice-p1.jpg through invoice-p4.jpg, listed in order. Click Download all as ZIP to grab the whole set at once.
Single-page files keep their original name, so a plain photo.tif simply becomes photo.jpg. Up to 100 pages per file are converted; if you need the whole document in one file rather than one image per page, JPG to PDF can combine the converted pages into a single PDF afterwards.
What Is Kept and What Changes
Every common compression works. LZW, ZIP, PackBits, JPEG-compressed and CCITT Group 3/4 fax TIFFs are all decoded the same way, so you don’t need to know how the file was saved. The exceptions are rare schemes such as JPEG 2000 and ZSTD, which mostly appear in GIS and satellite imagery; those files are not supported, and the converter reports an error rather than producing a blank image.
16-bit becomes 8-bit. JPG stores 8 bits per channel. A 16-bit TIFF from a film scanner or a RAW editor keeps the top 8 bits of each channel, which is all an ordinary screen can show. Keep the TIFF if you plan to edit it heavily later.
CMYK becomes RGB. Print-ready CMYK TIFFs are converted with a standard formula, not with the ICC profile a print workflow would use. Colors are close, but a soft-proofed Photoshop view can look slightly different. For exact print color, export from the application that made the file.
Transparency is flattened. JPG has no alpha channel, so any transparent area is placed on white. Choose TIFF to PNG if the transparency needs to survive.
Orientation is applied. Some cameras and scanners record the image sideways and mark the correct orientation in a tag. The JPG comes out upright.
Floating-point TIFFs are refused. 32-bit HDR files (rare, mostly from 3D renderers and scientific tools) can’t be converted accurately, so the converter reports an error instead of producing wrong colors.
How This Converter Works
Chrome and Firefox have no built-in TIFF decoder, which is why an ordinary web page can’t even preview one. pixconv.io ships a small decoder that runs inside your browser:
- The file is read locally and its pages are identified.
- Each page is decoded into raw pixels, including LZW, ZIP or fax decompression and any 16-bit or CMYK conversion.
- The pixels are encoded as a JPG at the quality you chose.
- The JPGs are handed to you as downloads from your own machine.
Nothing is sent to a server, so there is no upload wait, no daily limit and no server-side size cap. The limits that do exist are your device’s: files up to 100 MB each, images up to 256 megapixels, and 100 files (or 500 MB) per batch. The decoder is fetched only when a TIFF is actually dropped, so every other conversion stays as light as it is.
Because the work happens on your device, a large scan takes a moment. A 300-dpi Letter page is about 8 megapixels and takes roughly a second on a recent laptop; a 100-page fax takes correspondingly longer, and the list updates page by page as it goes.
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Add your TIFF files.
Drag and drop .tif or .tiff files into the drop zone, or click “browse files”. Up to 100 files fit in one batch.
Step 2: Set the quality (optional). The slider defaults to 90, which keeps scans and photos visually indistinguishable from the original at normal viewing size, at a fraction of the file size. Go higher for text-heavy documents, lower for email attachments with a size limit.
Step 3: Download.
Click Download next to each JPG, or Download all as ZIP. Pages of a multi-page file appear as separate entries with -p1, -p2 and so on in the name.
TIFF vs JPG: A Quick Comparison
| TIFF | JPG | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Optional: none, lossless (LZW, ZIP, PackBits, CCITT) or lossy (JPEG) | Always lossy |
| Bits per channel | 1 (fax), 8 or 16 | 8 |
| Color modes | RGB, grayscale, CMYK, palette | RGB, grayscale (CMYK only as an Adobe extension; this converter writes RGB) |
| Transparency | Yes | No |
| Pages per file | Many | One |
| Typical size, 2400×3000 scan | ~21.6 MB uncompressed | Around a tenth of that |
| Opens in a browser | Safari only | Every browser |
| Accepted by web forms and email | Often rejected | Universally |
Keep the TIFF as your archive copy. It holds everything the scanner captured, and a JPG can always be made from it again. Use the JPG for everything else.
Converting Without a Converter
If you have a single file and would rather stay in the tools you already have:
- Windows 11 / 10: open the file in the Photos app, choose Save as from the ”…” menu, and pick JPG. Photos shows only the first page of a multi-page TIFF, so that is the page you get.
- Mac: open the file in Preview, choose File > Export, and set Format to JPEG.
Both routes work one file and one page at a time. The converter above exists for the other case: a folder of scans, or a fax with a dozen pages.
Privacy and Security
TIFFs are often sensitive files: scanned contracts, tax documents, ID cards, medical imaging exports. Converting them here means:
- Nothing is uploaded to any server
- Nothing about your files is stored, cached or logged
- No account is needed
- No watermark is added
Close the tab and no trace of the file remains anywhere but on your own device.
Tips for Best Results
- Check page 2 before you send. If a fax or scan looked like one page in Windows Photos, it may have had more. The file list here shows every page.
- Text scans: quality 90 or higher. Fine print is where JPG artifacts show first.
- Photos for the web: quality 75–85. The size drop is large and the difference is hard to spot at screen resolution.
- One file instead of one per page: convert here, then combine the JPGs at JPG to PDF.
- Transparency or lossless output: use TIFF to PNG instead.