TIF to JPG Converter
A .tif file is usually a scan: a document, an old print, a slide or a page from an archive. Convert it to JPG when you need a copy that emails, uploads and previews on a phone, and keep the TIF as your master.
Image Converter
or drop JPG, JPEG, JPE … 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.
85 keeps photos visually identical to the original. Lower it only when you need a smaller file.
JPG, BMP and EPS have no transparency. Transparent pixels are filled with this color.
Hex color used behind transparent pixels, e.g. #FFFFFF.
This format holds a single image. Choose GIF or WebP output if you want to keep the animation.
A multi-size icon contains several resolutions in one file; browsers and operating systems pick the one they need.
Keep the original dimensions, or enter one side and the aspect ratio is kept.
Pixels for the side you chose above.
Percentage of the original dimensions.
sRGB is right for screens and the web. Keep the original for print workflows; grayscale discards color.
Metadata only, 0 keeps the original value. Printers and some portals read this number; it does not change pixel dimensions.
How to use this tool
- 1
Add the .tif files
Drop scans straight from the scanner folder or an archive export. Twenty files per batch, each up to 95 MB.
- 2
Leave quality at 90
Scans of text and fine paper grain hold up better at 90 than at the usual 85. Under Advanced settings, Color space is set to sRGB so CMYK or wide-gamut scans look right on screens.
- 3
Press Convert to JPG
Download each JPG separately or take one ZIP. The original TIF on your disk is not touched.
TIF is the format archives and scanners keep. JPG is the copy you send. Converting shrinks an uncompressed scan to a fraction of its size with no visible change at quality 90.
Why scanners and archives still write .tif with three letters
Aldus published the Tagged Image File Format in 1986 so desktop scanners had a common file type. MS-DOS and early Windows allowed eight characters, a dot and three more, so the extension became .tif. Windows 95 lifted that limit and .tiff spread on the Mac and Unix, but scanner drivers and document systems kept the short form. Both spellings open identically.
Archives chose TIFF because it stores pixels without lossy compression, at up to 16 bits per channel, under a specification stable since TIFF 6.0 in 1992. The Library of Congress names TIFF among its preferred formats for digitized still images, so a library or records office will hand you a .tif when you order a scan, often far larger than any upload form accepts. JPG cannot replace that master, but it opens in every mail client, phone gallery and form.
1986
TIFF 1.0
Aldus releases the format so scanners and page-layout programs can exchange images.
1992
TIFF 6.0
The revision most software still reads, adding CMYK and JPEG compression inside TIFF.
1994
Adobe takes over
Adobe acquires Aldus and becomes the owner of the TIFF specification.
Scan sizes in pixels before you convert TIF to JPG
| Size | Pixels | cm | in | DPI | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letter page | 2550 × 3300 | 21.6 × 27.9 | 8.5 × 11 | 300 | About 25 MB as an uncompressed 24-bit TIF; a few MB as JPG. |
| A4 page | 2480 × 3508 | 21 × 29.7 | 8.27 × 11.69 | 300 | Standard for document archives and OCR. |
| 4 × 6 print | 2400 × 3600 | 10.2 × 15.2 | 4 × 6 | 600 | Enough to reprint the photo at twice its size. |
| 35 mm slide | 5669 × 3780 | 3.6 × 2.4 | 1.42 × 0.94 | 4000 | Film scanner territory; over 60 MB as an 8-bit TIF. |
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)
JPG
JPEG image
JPEG (or JPG) is the most widely used photo format, standardised by the Joint Photographic Experts Group in 1992. It uses lossy compression that discards fine detail the eye is unlikely to notice, which keeps photos small enough for the web, email and phone storage. It handles smooth gradients and natural scenes well, but sharp text, line art and flat colours pick up visible blocky or fuzzy artefacts. JPEG has no transparency and no animation, and every re-save loses a little more quality. Every browser, phone, camera and image editor can open it.
- Compression
- Lossy
- Transparency
- No
- Animation
- No
- Introduced
- 1992 · Joint Photographic Experts Group
A .tif usually comes out of a scanner or an archive download as a large master file; people convert it to JPG to get a small access copy for email, web forms and phones while the TIF stays in storage.
Keep the TIF master, share the JPG access copy
Archivists keep a preservation master and an access copy, and the split works for a shoebox of family prints too. Scan once to TIF at the highest resolution you will need, store it, and make JPGs for everything else. Pixel dimensions stay the same unless you resize, so the JPG of a 600 dpi scan still prints at full size.
Three things change. Bit depth drops to 8 bits per channel. CMYK and Adobe RGB scans are mapped to sRGB; switch Color space to Keep original only for a print shop that asked for the profile. And the file shrinks: a letter page at 300 dpi weighs around 25 MB uncompressed, while the JPG at quality 90 is typically a few megabytes.
If a portal still says the file is too large, run the JPG through Compress image to 500 KB, or use TIF to PNG for line drawings where JPG artifacts would blur thin strokes.
TIF to JPG questions
Does the one-letter difference between .tif and .tiff matter?
No. Both mark the same Tagged Image File Format and every reader treats them alike. The short form survives from systems that limited extensions to three characters.
Why did my scanner save a TIF instead of a JPG?
Scanning software often defaults to TIFF because it stores the scan without lossy compression, which archives and OCR programs prefer. Most drivers can switch to JPEG in their output settings.
What happens to 16-bit or CMYK TIF scans?
JPG stores 8 bits per channel, so 16-bit scans are reduced to 8 bits, which is all a screen shows anyway. CMYK files are converted to sRGB by default so colors do not turn dull or inverted in browsers.
Can I convert a multi-page TIF document?
A JPG holds one image. For a scanned contract or fax with several pages, TIFF to PDF keeps the pages together in one file that portals accept.
My TIF is bigger than 95 MB. What can I do?
Large scans are usually uncompressed or 16-bit. Re-export at 300 dpi or with LZW compression, which is lossless, and the file drops well under the limit.
Should I delete the TIF after converting?
Keep it if the scan is the only copy of a print or document. The TIF is the master for printing, cropping or OCR; the JPG is a lossy copy.