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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Tiff Vs. Pdf
asafarad - Oct 21, 2005 - 11:50 am
Hi there..
I dont know if this is the right place to ask such a question, but since the techs on this sight have always been so helpful, I figured I might as well give it a try.
I was recently asked what the difference between TIFF and PDF files are, and what is the better choice when saving photos (images)... usually from photoshop for viewing and eventual printing.
If you could clarify this for me, I would be most grateful.
Thanks
Asaf
I dont know if this is the right place to ask such a question, but since the techs on this sight have always been so helpful, I figured I might as well give it a try.
I was recently asked what the difference between TIFF and PDF files are, and what is the better choice when saving photos (images)... usually from photoshop for viewing and eventual printing.
If you could clarify this for me, I would be most grateful.
Thanks
Asaf
CaptainQuark - Oct 21, 2005 - 12:19 pm
Hi Asaf,
TIFF = Tagged Image File Format.
This is a good format to use for saving bitmap images. There is no loss of image quality when you save the file, but you get a fairly large file.
Depending on the software you use, you can save a TIFF file with LZW compression, which will give you a slightly smaller file, but as LZW is not a "lossy" format, you will not get the kind of saving you get with a JPEG, which throws away a fair amount of data, resulting in a loss of image quality. Not all image-processing software can handle LZW-compressed TIFFs – some of the cheap tin-pot PC applications, for example. Printing an LZW-compressed TIFF is much slower than printing a normal TIFF, as it must decompress on the fly as it is printing.
You can also save TIFFs with layers, just as you can with Photoshop's PSD format. Those layers can contain text, although when printing a layered TIFF containing fonts, the text is sent to the printer as bitmap data, not as an outline font to be processed by the printer. Again, not all image-handling software can open these files.
PDF=Portable Document Format
This is a file format developed by Adobe. The whole point is that it is application- and platform-independent, so someone using, for example, a full professional setup on the Mac with QuarkXPress, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc can send detailed, high-quality digital proofs to a PS-user who knows nothing of graphic design and has only, for example, MS Office installed.
PDFs do contain font outline information. The fonts are embedded in the PDF file.
The disadvantage with PDFs is that they use JPEG image compression (unless yo have a full installation of Adobe Acrobat and can change the compression settings of your PDFs).
So to sum it up, if you want to send a proof to client in a "Hey, what about this one?' kinda context, then use PDF because anyone can access it. If you want to send a high-quality image to a colleague, the use TIFF.
You can find more information about the TIFF format here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~ritter/tiff/
Look here for more info on PDF:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...n&q=define:PDF
Hope that helps!
CQ
--------
CaptainQuark to the rescue! ;-)
TIFF = Tagged Image File Format.
This is a good format to use for saving bitmap images. There is no loss of image quality when you save the file, but you get a fairly large file.
Depending on the software you use, you can save a TIFF file with LZW compression, which will give you a slightly smaller file, but as LZW is not a "lossy" format, you will not get the kind of saving you get with a JPEG, which throws away a fair amount of data, resulting in a loss of image quality. Not all image-processing software can handle LZW-compressed TIFFs – some of the cheap tin-pot PC applications, for example. Printing an LZW-compressed TIFF is much slower than printing a normal TIFF, as it must decompress on the fly as it is printing.
You can also save TIFFs with layers, just as you can with Photoshop's PSD format. Those layers can contain text, although when printing a layered TIFF containing fonts, the text is sent to the printer as bitmap data, not as an outline font to be processed by the printer. Again, not all image-handling software can open these files.
PDF=Portable Document Format
This is a file format developed by Adobe. The whole point is that it is application- and platform-independent, so someone using, for example, a full professional setup on the Mac with QuarkXPress, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc can send detailed, high-quality digital proofs to a PS-user who knows nothing of graphic design and has only, for example, MS Office installed.
PDFs do contain font outline information. The fonts are embedded in the PDF file.
The disadvantage with PDFs is that they use JPEG image compression (unless yo have a full installation of Adobe Acrobat and can change the compression settings of your PDFs).
So to sum it up, if you want to send a proof to client in a "Hey, what about this one?' kinda context, then use PDF because anyone can access it. If you want to send a high-quality image to a colleague, the use TIFF.
You can find more information about the TIFF format here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~ritter/tiff/
Look here for more info on PDF:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...n&q=define:PDF
Hope that helps!
CQ
--------
CaptainQuark to the rescue! ;-)
asafarad - Oct 21, 2005 - 1:40 pm
yes thank you....
that helps... thank you again for the quick response...
that helps... thank you again for the quick response...
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