TIFF vs PNG
Both are lossless. TIFF is the print and scanning format, with support for layers, CMYK and multiple pages. PNG is the screen format, smaller for most images and supported everywhere. For anything shown on a screen, use PNG.
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Choose TIFF when
- Print production, especially CMYK.
- Scanning archives and multi-page documents.
- Professional photo workflows that expect it.
Choose PNG when
- Websites, documents and anything on a screen.
- Screenshots, graphics and images with transparency.
- Smaller files for the same lossless picture in most cases.
What TIFF actually is
TIFF is less a single format than a container that can hold almost anything: uncompressed pixels, lossless compression, several pages in one file, sixteen bits per channel, and colour profiles for print. That flexibility is why it survives in scanning, publishing and archival work.
Because TIFF can contain many different compressions, a file that one program writes is occasionally one another program cannot read. Converting it to PNG settles the argument.
What PNG actually is
PNG stores every pixel exactly as it was, using a compression method that throws nothing away. It carries a full alpha channel, so a pixel can be any degree of transparent rather than simply on or off, and it handles up to 16 bits per colour channel.
People save photographs as PNG and wonder why an email bounces. A photo that is 400 KB as a JPG is routinely 4 MB as a PNG, because lossless compression cannot do much with the noise in a real photograph.
TIFF and PNG side by side
| TIFF | PNG | |
|---|---|---|
| Extension | .tiff | .png |
| Media type | image/tiff | image/png |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossless |
| Transparency | Yes | Yes |
| Animation | No | No |
| Quality setting | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| We can write it | Yes | Yes |
Questions
Is TIFF better quality than PNG?
For an ordinary RGB image they are identical: both lossless. TIFF supports more professional features, not more quality.