TIFF
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a flexible raster image file format that stores high-quality, often lossless, bitmap images and rich descriptive tags, widely used for archival scanning of paper records.
TIFF, or Tagged Image File Format, is a raster (bitmap) image format that stores scanned pages and photographs along with embedded “tags” carrying technical metadata such as resolution, color depth, and compression method. In recordkeeping it matters because it can hold images losslessly or with reversible compression, preserving full fidelity to the original document rather than discarding detail the way lossy formats do. This makes it a long-standing choice for the preservation masters created when paper records are digitized, and its single-file multi-page capability lets one TIFF represent an entire document.
For example, a multi-page contract scanned at 300 dpi may be retained as an uncompressed or lossless-compressed TIFF master, while a smaller derivative is generated for daily access. Distinguish TIFF from JPEG, which uses lossy compression unsuitable for masters, and from PDF/A, a container often preferred for delivery and long-term access. Whatever the format, capturing trustworthy metadata and provenance is essential to defensible imaging.