< file format , graphics > (TIFF) A file format used for still-image bitmaps , stored in tagged fields. Application programs can use the tags to accept or ignore fields, depending on their capabilities.
While TIFF was designed to be extensible, it lacked a core of useful functionality, so that most useful functions (e.g. lossless 24-bit colour) requires nonstandard, often redundant, extensions. The incompatibility of extensions has led some to expand "TIFF" as "Thousands of Incompatible File Formats".
Compare GIF , PNG , JPEG .
(1997-10-11)