Ask Luis – TIFF vs. JPEG

Feb 22, 2022 | Q+A

What is the actual size of a tiff scan and why does it cost that much more?

The “image” size of a file is measured in pixels (pixel count). The “file” size is the amount of data contained in the file when fully opened (such as in photoshop).

JPEG vs. TIFF – an 8×10 digital file is about 3,000 pixels on the long side and contains approximately 20MB of data. If I save this file to a TIFF format, all 20MB of data will be copied to my hard drive, uncompressed. If I save this file to a JPEG format, the file will be compressed and take up about 120KB of space on the hard drive. Both of these files have the same size image, but because the TIFF remains uncompressed it takes up more disk space. TIFFs cost more than JPEGs because these files take longer to transfer from one device to another.

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