PDF to TIFF Converter
Document management, fax and records systems that predate PDF often still ingest TIFF. This page renders every PDF page at 300 DPI and, by default, stacks the pages into one multi-page TIFF so the document stays a single file.
PDF to Image
or drop PDF files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
Page numbers or ranges separated by commas, e.g. 1-3, 5.
85 keeps text crisp. Lower it only if the images are too large to upload.
Black & white produces pure black and white pixels, which suits scanned text and keeps files very small.
Each page becomes its own image. A ZIP keeps them together and numbered in page order.
How to use this tool
- 1
Add the PDF
Drop one PDF or up to 20 at once, each up to 95 MB.
- 2
Check resolution and color
Resolution starts at 300 DPI. Pick Black & white under Color for typed letters and forms that will be faxed or archived, and keep Color for pages with stamps, photos or highlighted text.
- 3
Convert to TIFF
Press Convert to TIFF. With Multi-page TIFF on you get one .tiff per PDF; turn it off to get a ZIP with one TIFF per page.
What is the best way to convert a PDF to TIFF?
Render the pages at 300 DPI and pack them into one multi-page TIFF. Use Black & white for text-only documents and Color only when the page needs it.
Convert PDF to multi-page TIFF for fax and archive systems
TIFF was published by Aldus in 1986 as a common format for desktop scanners, and Adobe has held the specification since it bought Aldus in 1994. The current baseline, TIFF 6.0, dates from 1992. Imaging archives and fax servers built in the 1990s and 2000s were designed around it, and many still do not accept PDF.
What those systems usually expect is a multi-page TIFF, one file holding every page of a document as a separate image. That is the default here. If the receiving software instead wants one image per page switch Multi-page TIFF off and the pages arrive in a ZIP numbered in order.
TIFF is a container, not a single compression method. LZW and ZIP (Deflate) are lossless options for color and grayscale pages, and 1-bit black and white pages are traditionally compressed with CCITT Group 4, the scheme developed for fax. The Library of Congress lists TIFF among its preferred formats for still images in its Recommended Formats Statement, which is why it remains a safe choice for long-term copies.
PDF to TIFF at 300 DPI or 600 DPI: pixel sizes
| Size | Pixels | cm | in | DPI | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A4 · 200 | 1654 × 2339 | 21 × 29.7 | 8.27 × 11.69 | 200 | Readable typed text, small files |
| A4 · 300 | 2480 × 3508 | 21 × 29.7 | 8.27 × 11.69 | 300 | Common baseline for records and OCR |
| A4 · 600 | 4961 × 7016 | 21 × 29.7 | 8.27 × 11.69 | 600 | Fine print, signatures, carbon copies |
| Letter · 300 | 2550 × 3300 | 21.6 × 27.9 | 8.5 × 11 | 300 | US office documents and forms |
| Letter · 600 | 5100 × 6600 | 21.6 × 27.9 | 8.5 × 11 | 600 | Highest resolution this tool renders |
- Multi-page TIFFmultipage TIFF · multi-frame TIFF
- A single .tif or .tiff file that stores several images, called frames or directories, one after another. Each PDF page becomes one frame.
Portable Document Format
PDF was created by Adobe in 1993 and became the open ISO 32000 standard in 2008. It fixes text, fonts, images and layout so a document looks the same on every screen and printer. PDFs can contain forms, signatures, links, attachments and searchable text, and the PDF/A variant is used for long-term archiving. The fixed layout makes PDFs hard to edit, and scanned PDFs contain only images unless OCR is applied. Every browser and operating system can open them.
- Compression
- –
- Transparency
- Yes
- Animation
- No
- Introduced
- 1993 · Adobe
TIFF
Tagged Image File Format
TIFF was created by Aldus in 1986 and is now maintained by Adobe. It is a flexible container that can store images uncompressed, with lossless LZW or ZIP compression, or with lossy JPEG compression, and it supports layers, multiple pages, high bit depths and transparency. Printers, publishers, scanners and archives rely on it because it preserves full quality and colour information. The downside is very large files and inconsistent support for some of its options between programs. Browsers do not display TIFF, but most image editors and operating system viewers do.
- Compression
- Lossy or lossless
- Transparency
- Yes
- Animation
- No
- Introduced
- 1986 · Aldus (now Adobe)
PDFs get converted to TIFF when a fax gateway, an imaging archive or a court, insurance or hospital records system only ingests TIFF images, often as one multi-page file per document.
Keeping a PDF to TIFF file small enough to send
The arithmetic explains most size surprises. An A4 page at 300 DPI is 2480 × 3508 px, about 8.7 million pixels. Stored as 24-bit color with no compression that is roughly 26 MB per page; the same page in 1-bit black and white is about 1.1 MB before any compression, and far less after it, because a typed page is mostly white.
So Color matters more than anything else. Typed letters and forms belong in Black & white, pages with pencil notes or faint stamps in Grayscale, and only documents where color carries meaning, such as highlighted contracts, in Color.
If you only need part of the file, set Pages to Selected pages and enter something like 2-5. For splitting a long scan into separate documents first, our guide to splitting PDF files walks through the options. When the archive accepts PNG instead, PDF to PNG gives lossless pages that open in more apps.
PDF to TIFF questions
How do I convert a PDF into a single multi-page TIFF?
Leave Multi-page TIFF switched on, which is the default on this page, and press Convert to TIFF. Each PDF you upload becomes one .tiff file holding all of its pages in order. Windows Photos and macOS Preview show the pages in sequence.
What DPI should a TIFF for document archiving use?
300 DPI is the usual baseline for typed records and is what most OCR engines are tuned for. Go to 400 or 600 DPI for small print, footnotes, carbon copies or handwritten signatures you may need to examine later.
Should I choose black and white or grayscale for a fax?
Classic fax is a 1-bit medium, so Black & white matches what the receiving machine will print and gives the smallest file. Choose Grayscale only if the page has photos or light pencil marks that would vanish at a hard threshold.
Why is my TIFF larger than the original PDF?
A digital PDF stores text as font instructions, which take almost no space. The TIFF stores every pixel of every page. Black and white output shrinks it a great deal.
Can a multi-page TIFF be turned back into a PDF?
Yes. Upload the TIFF to TIFF to PDF and each frame becomes a page. The result is an image-only PDF, so run OCR on it afterwards if you need selectable text again.
Does the TIFF keep the PDF's text, links and bookmarks?
No. TIFF is a raster format, so text becomes pixels and links, bookmarks, form fields and digital signatures are dropped. Keep the original PDF as the master copy.
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