Tiff Files doesn't work

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Level 1

17 points

Tiff Files doesn't work

Dear Apple Community,

I have an issue with .tiff files. I think that I have it for a year or two now. To be honest, I can't remember if I was ever able to open .tiff file on my mac. I have Catalina 10.15.6. The issue is that the files can't be opened with Preview or with Adobe Acrobat. I receive following messages:

Preview - File may be corrupted or in a format that is not recognized by Preview
Adobe - Can't open file because its format can't be recognized or the file is corrupted

Now, the funny thing, I have installed (long time ago) Parallels (in coherent mode) and Win 10 on it. When I run same .tiff file in Win 10 everything works under Windows (not under iOS). So files can't be corrupted.

Although I can access .tiff files, I'd like to access them via iOS (not Windows). I mean, it should work, right?

Am I missing some libraries, is it a matter of settings?

Recently I have to work with lots of .tiff files (didn't have to before) and it's super time consuming to go thorough Win 10 and back for each file.

Do you think that you can help me solving this unusual situation?

Thank you in advance!

Best Regards

Marcin

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 31, 2020 6:10 AM

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Answer 1

marcin168 Author

Level 1

17 points

Jul 31, 2020 12:48 PM in response to dialabrain

Thank you All!

Your answers put additional light on understanding Tiffs for me.

I found this topic quite interesting. I was trying to find additional data on this subject and I found only that it shouldn't affect new computers/systems. Article was dated 2010... However it looks like it is what it is and Tiffs created for IBM/PC can't be opened on iOS.

I don't want to invest any money - only 1 month project, so it's not worth it. The solution I found to be most useful for me is as follow:

move all the tiffs to one folder
print them to pdf (select all and print) under windows
when ready work on iOS

Maybe with time it'll be solved, for now I have to deal with it.

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Answer 2

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Jul 31, 2020 7:27 AM in response to marcin168

Yes so if they are being processed in Photoshop and then you go to Save As after you have selected the destination for the saved file you will see this dialogue.

In the Byte Order section if the operator has selected IBM PC the tiffs will only open in Windows machines,

if they select Macintosh the tiffs will be usable on both Macs and Windows machines.

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

136,103 points

Jul 31, 2020 6:47 AM in response to marcin168

I see. Personally I have no way to scan documents or images in Windows as tiffs and transfer them into Dropbox. Perhaps someone else will have an idea. Something about how they are being formatted seems to be the issue. Tiffs themselves open just fine in macOS otherwise.

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Answer 4

Jul 31, 2020 6:46 AM in response to marcin168

.tiffs are really more of a container format, they can have multiple compression and encoding schemes. It looks like your Mac can't handle your flavor of Tiff. I would try Graphic Converter.

From the wikipedia page:

TIFF is a flexible, adaptable file format for handling images and

data within a single file, by including the header tags (size,

definition, image-data arrangement, applied image compression) defining the image's geometry. A TIFF file, for example, can be a container holding JPEG (lossy) and PackBits (lossless) compressed images. A TIFF file also can include a vector-based clipping path (outlines, croppings, image frames). The ability to store image data in a lossless

format makes a TIFF file a useful image archive, because, unlike

standard JPEG files, a TIFF file using lossless compression (or none)

may be edited and re-saved without losing image quality. This is not the

case when using the TIFF as a container holding compressed JPEG. Other

TIFF options are layers and pages.

TIFF offers the option of using LZW

compression, a lossless data-compression technique for reducing a

file's size. Use of this option was limited by patents on the LZW

technique until their expiration in 2004.

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Answer 5

marcin168 Author

Level 1

17 points

Jul 31, 2020 6:56 AM in response to Keith Barkley

@dialabrain

@Keith Barkley

Thank you for your comments. As far as I understand - the issue may be related with coding during scan, correct? Are there any patches or so to install and make it work on iOS? Like pdfs or jpgs, I have no issues with opening them, no matter on which system they were created. Why there's an issue with tiff?

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Answer 6

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Jul 31, 2020 7:12 AM in response to marcin168

Can you ask the person scanning these files if they are processing them in Photoshop.

When saving tiff in Photoshop a dialogue pops up and asks how you want to save the

files for use and one of the options is so they can be read on macs and windows machines.

I will get back to you with clarification on this.

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Answer 7

dialabrain

Level 10

136,103 points

Jul 31, 2020 6:33 AM in response to marcin168

What is the source of the .tiffs? I have no problem opening them in Preview in Catalina 10.15.6, or any other version of macOS.

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Answer 8

marcin168 Author

Level 1

17 points

Jul 31, 2020 6:37 AM in response to dialabrain

I receive them via DropBox. Hard copies are scanned and saved in a folder on DropBox in .tiff format. All that is being performed under Windows.

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Answer 9

dialabrain

Level 10

136,103 points

Jul 31, 2020 7:14 AM in response to marcin168

You're welcome. I have nothing further I can add.

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Answer 10

marcin168 Author

Level 1

17 points

Jul 31, 2020 10:10 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Thank you, they're using different software (really old one) and nobody cares if it's easy or not for me to open them. At least now I know what's the reason although I can't make existing files work.

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Answer 11

dialabrain

Level 10

136,103 points

Jul 31, 2020 10:46 AM in response to marcin168

I would try Keith's suggestion. It's posssible GraphicConverter will open them. They have a free trial.

https://www.lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter/

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Tiff Files doesn't work

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