TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a lossless image format that has been the industry standard for document archiving, legal records, medical imaging, and professional printing since its introduction by Aldus Corporation in 1986. Unlike JPEG, which uses lossy compression that degrades image quality with each save, TIFF preserves every pixel of the original document exactly. TIFF also supports multi-page files within a single container, making it ideal for representing multi-page documents as a single file. Legal and government agencies frequently require TIFF format for official submissions, court filings, and Freedom of Information Act requests. Many fax systems and document management platforms accept only TIFF input.

This tool renders PDF pages to TIFF entirely within your browser using Mozilla's pdf.js library and the HTML5 Canvas API. When you upload a PDF, pdf.js parses the document structure -- fonts, vector graphics, images, and text -- and renders each page to an off-screen canvas element at the specified DPI (dots per inch). The canvas pixel data is then encoded into a valid TIFF file with Deflate compression to keep file sizes manageable. Because all processing happens client-side in JavaScript, your documents never leave your device. No data is uploaded to any server, which makes this tool suitable for sensitive, confidential, or legally privileged documents.

DPI settings significantly affect both output quality and file size. Screen display typically uses 72 DPI, which produces small files but blurry prints. Standard office printing requires 150-200 DPI for readable text and clean graphics. Professional printing and archival standards demand 300 DPI, which produces crisp output at the cost of substantially larger files (roughly 4x the pixel count compared to 150 DPI). The grayscale color mode reduces file size further by converting each pixel to a single luminance channel instead of three RGB channels, which is typically sufficient for text-heavy documents like contracts, forms, and correspondence.

Common use cases include converting contracts to TIFF for legal document management systems, preparing documents for fax transmission (which natively uses TIFF Group 4 compression), creating archival copies of important records, and generating print-ready files for commercial printers that require TIFF input. If your output file seems too large, try reducing the DPI to 150 for screen-quality documents or switching to grayscale mode for text-only content.