GIF to TIFF Converter

Encoding: the GIF uses lossless LZW over a palette of at most 256 colours; TIFF uses none, LZW, PackBits, Deflate or JPEG, chosen per file, and the download is an uncompressed 8-bit RGBA TIFF with the resolution recorded.

Bit depth: 8 bits per pixel, as indexes into a palette in the GIF; TIFF allows 1 to 16 bits per channel, or 32-bit floating point, and the TIFF written here has 8 bits per channel.

Colour: an indexed palette of up to 256 colours per frame in the GIF; TIFF supports RGB, CMYK, Lab, greyscale or palette, often with an ICC profile, written here as 8-bit sRGB.

Transparency: the GIF stores it as one palette entry marked transparent, so each pixel is either fully shown or fully hidden; the TIFF keeps it as an extra sample declared in the ExtraSamples tag.

Animation: image blocks with their own delay and disposal method, looped by the NETSCAPE2.0 extension; the TIFF holds one image, so only the first frame is converted.

Metadata: the GIF can carry comment and application extension blocks, but no EXIF; TIFF can carry EXIF, XMP, IPTC and ICC, all stored as tags, but nothing is copied across.

GIF is the classic animated image format. It is limited to 256 colours per frame and 1-bit transparency, so photos look grainy and files are large, but it plays everywhere.

A GIF starts with 'GIF89a' (or the older 87a), a logical screen descriptor and an optional global colour table, then image blocks, each preceded by a graphic control extension that sets its delay and transparent colour.

GIF files usually come from reaction clips, memes, old websites and screen recordings.

TIFF is the professional archive and print format. It can hold multiple pages, high bit depths and lossless data, and is common in scanning, publishing and GIS.

A TIFF begins with 'II' or 'MM' for the byte order and the number 42, then an offset to the first image file directory (IFD): a table of tags giving the size, compression, colour model and the location of the strips or tiles of pixels. Each further page is another IFD.

TIFF is the better choice for printing, scanning and archival masters, while GIF suits short animations and reactions that must play everywhere.

TIFF strengths: Lossless and print-ready; Multiple pages in one file; Preferred by print shops and archives. Drawbacks to weigh: Very large files; Browsers cannot display it; Many variants and compression schemes.