| Filename extension |
.tiff, .tif |
|---|---|
| Internet media type | image/tiff |
| Developed by | International Organization for Standardization |
| Initial release | 2001 |
| Latest release | ISO 12234-2:2001 2001 |
| Type of format | Image file formats |
| Container for | Metadata |
| Extended from | TIFF and Exif |
| Extended to | Digital Negative Specification |
| Standard | ISO 12234-2 |
Tag Image File Format/Electronic Photography (TIFF/EP) is a digital image file format standard – ISO 12234-2, titled "Electronic still-picture imaging – Removable memory – Part 2: TIFF/EP image data format". This is different from the Tag Image File Format, which is a standard administered by Adobe currently called "TIFF, Revision 6.0 Final – June 3, 1992".
The TIFF/EP standard is based on a subset of the Adobe TIFF standard, and a subset of the JEITA Exif standard, with some differences and extensions.
One of the uses of TIFF/EP is as a raw image format. A characteristic of most digital cameras (but excluding those using the Foveon X3 sensor or similar, hence especially Sigma cameras) is that they use a color filter array (CFA). Software processing a raw image format for such a camera needs information about the configuration of the color filter array, so that the raw image can identify separate data from the individual sites of the sensor. Ideally this information is held within the raw image file itself, and TIFF/EP uses the tags that begin "CFA", CFARepeatPatternDim and CFAPattern, which are only relevant for raw images.
This standard has not been adopted by most camera manufacturers – Exif/DCF is the current industry standard file organisation system which uses the Exchangeable image file format. However, TIFF/EP provided a basis for the raw image formats of a number of cameras. One example is Nikon's NEF raw file format, which uses the tag TIFF/EPStandardID (with value 1.0.0.0).[1] Adobe's DNG (Digital Negative) raw file format was based on TIFF/EP, and the DNG specification states "DNG... is compatible with the TIFF-EP standard".[2] Several cameras use DNG as their raw file format, so in that limited sense they use TIFF/EP too.[3]