TIFF to PNG Converter

PNG keeps everything the TIFF had, except the metadata

Both formats store pixel data without discarding it, so a TIFF to PNG conversion makes no quality decision at all. Every pixel in the output is identical to the input. What does not carry across is everything else the TIFF held: the colour profile, the resolution in DPI, layers and channels, and any embedded preview. For an image that is going to be edited again, or archived and reopened later, that lossless property is the reason to choose PNG, and the discarded metadata is usually not what the image was being kept for.

NotePixels are kept exactly. The profile and DPI metadata are not, and that matters for print.

The file size trade, which is significant

A PNG will be substantially larger than the TIFF it came from in some cases, and much larger in others, because a TIFF is sometimes lightly compressed and a PNG is always efficiently lossless. A lightly compressed 40 MB TIFF may become a 25 MB PNG, while a heavily LZW compressed TIFF may become a larger PNG because PNG handles the compression differently. Either way, this is a working and archival format rather than a delivery one, and using it for sharing means resizing or converting afterwards.

• PNG is lossless and may be larger or smaller than the TIFF.
• Compression method differences make the direction unpredictable.
• It is a working and archival format, not a delivery format.
• Export a smaller delivery file from the PNG when you are finished.

NotePNG is a working master, not a delivery file. Convert again for sharing.

When JPG is the better output instead

If the reason for converting is that the TIFF is too large to email, attach, or upload, PNG does not solve that problem, because a PNG of a large scan is still large. JPG is the right answer in that case, and the quality loss is acceptable for an image being viewed rather than edited. PNG is the right answer when the image will be edited again, when the losslessness matters, or when the image is a graphic with hard edges and text. Deciding between the two is a question about what happens to the file next, not about which format is better.

• Too big to send: JPG. That is the actual problem being solved.
• Will be edited again: PNG, so no further loss accumulates.
• Archiving for future use: PNG keeps the pixels exact.
• Text and hard edges: PNG preserves them cleanly.

Keeping the TIFF regardless

The TIFF is the master and the conversion is a derivative, in exactly the same way a RAW file sits beside a JPG. Keeping it matters most for the metadata, since a print supplier may need the profile and the intended physical size, and a PNG cannot supply either. It also means a change of mind later requires no rework of the source. The workflow that avoids the problem is to keep the TIFF, work on a PNG, and export a small delivery file at the end.

• Keep the TIFF as the master, in the same way you would keep a RAW.
• Send the TIFF, not the PNG, to any print supplier.
• Work on the PNG, then export a small delivery file.
• A change of mind later needs no rework of the source.