What is a TIFF and minimum compression JPEG?
TIFF stands for Tagged Image File format and describes (typically) image data gathered from scanners, frame grabbers and paint- and photo-retouching programs. TIFF is not a printer language or page description language. The purpose of TIFF is to describe and store raster image data. TIFF has a number of features that make it ideal for scanned images. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. It is a commonly used standard method of lossy compression for photographic images. What this means is that image data is intentionally removed (i.e., data loss) in order to reduce overall image size. However, the “loss” is done in a way that best maintains the images overall integrity. In general, most people can’t tell the difference between a minimum compression JPEG or TIFF except to notice that the JPEG file is vastly smaller.
