Free TIFF sample files
A flexible, usually lossless image format used in scanning, printing, publishing and mapping. Download valid TIFF test files in 4 exact sizes, from 10 KB to 5 MB, each with a checksum.
- Extension
- .tiff
- MIME type
- image/tiff
- Kind
- Binary
- Category
- Images
TIFF files by size
Every file below is a valid Tagged Image File Format file of exactly the stated size. Open a file's page for its checksum and contents. TIFF files cannot be displayed by a browser, so their pages show the file's details instead of a preview.
| File | Size | Contents | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 KB TIFF samplesample-tiff-10kb.tiff | 10 KB10,240 bytes | 66 × 50 px | Download TIFF |
| 100 KB TIFF samplesample-tiff-100kb.tiff | 100 KB102,400 bytes | 213 × 158 px | Download TIFF |
| 1 MB TIFF samplesample-tiff-1mb.tiff | 1 MB1,048,576 bytes | 683 × 510 px | Download TIFF |
| 5 MB TIFF samplesample-tiff-5mb.tiff | 5 MB5,242,880 bytes | 1,526 × 1,145 px | Download TIFF |
What is a TIFF file?
TIFF stores an image as a directory of numbered tags, such as width, height, bits per sample and compression, which point at the pixel data. The design dates from 1986 and the current revision, 6.0, from 1992; it is still the standard output of scanners and the working format of print production.
One file can hold several images, each in its own directory, which is how multi-page faxes and scans are stored. Pixel data may be uncompressed or packed with LZW, Deflate, PackBits, JPEG or the fax codings, so two TIFF files can have very little in common beyond their header.
How to recognise a TIFF file
Software recognises a TIFF file by its file signature: fixed bytes at the start of the file, also called magic bytes or a magic number.
| Extension | .tiff |
|---|---|
| MIME type | image/tiff |
| Specification | TIFF Revision 6.0 (Adobe, 1992) |
| Extensions | .tiff and .tif |
| Byte order | Either; declared in the first two bytes |
| Size limit | 4 GB, because offsets are 32-bit; BigTIFF lifts it |
What to test for
These are the behaviours that most often go wrong when software handles TIFF files.
- Chrome, Firefox and Edge do not display TIFF. An upload feature that previews images in the browser needs to convert TIFF on the server or show a placeholder.
- A TIFF may hold many pages. Code that reads only the first directory silently drops the rest of a scanned document.
- Support for the compression schemes varies between libraries, so a file that opens in one tool can fail in another. The samples here are uncompressed, which every reader accepts.
Strengths of TIFF
- Lossless, with high bit depths, many colour models and optional compression.
- Holds many pages in one file, which suits scanning and fax workflows.
Limitations of TIFF
- Not displayed by Chrome, Firefox or Edge.
- So many variants exist that no reader supports every valid file.
Typical uses of TIFF test files
- Testing uploads from scanners and document-capture systems
- Checking conversion to JPEG, PNG or PDF for display
- Testing image libraries with large uncompressed input
- Verifying handling of both byte orders
Software that opens TIFF
- Adobe Photoshop and GIMP
- Windows Photos and Apple Preview
- ImageMagick, libtiff and Pillow
- QGIS and GDAL, for GeoTIFF
- Safari, the only major browser that displays TIFF
Specifications
Related
TIFF sample files: questions
- Are the TIFF samples compressed?
- No. They hold 8-bit RGB pixels with no compression, in a single strip, in little-endian byte order. That is the baseline form of the format.
- Why can the TIFF samples not be previewed on this site?
- Because most browsers cannot draw TIFF images. Safari can; Chrome, Firefox and Edge cannot. Download the file and open it in an image viewer.
- What is the MIME type of a TIFF file?
- The MIME type is image/tiff. The file extension is .tiff.
- Is a sample TIFF file the same as a dummy or example TIFF file?
- Yes. Sample, test, dummy and example TIFF files are different names for the same thing: a TIFF file with known contents that stands in for a real one. Any file on this page will do wherever a tutorial or a test plan asks for a dummy TIFF file.