Skip to content
ImageConverter

Secure server conversion

PNG to TIFF Converter

Convert a PNG into a TIFF. Both formats are lossless, so every pixel is identical — along with transparency and 16-bit depth where your PNG has them. Nothing about the image improves or degrades. The reasons to convert are practical ones, and the one worth getting right is the resolution setting a printer will read.

Deleted automatically Uploads removed within 30 minutes

Drag and drop your PNG images here

Add several at once. Each file is processed and then deleted from our server.

Up to 20 MB per file Batch ready

Step by step

How to convert PNG to TIFF in 3 steps

  1. If the TIFF is for print, set the DPI on your PNG first

    If the TIFF is for print, set the DPI on your PNG first with change image DPI. The resolution you set is carried into the TIFF.

  2. Add your PNG

  3. Download your TIFF

Format comparison

PNG vs TIFF

PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

Lossless

Stores every pixel exactly as it was saved, so nothing is lost however often the file is opened and saved.

  • Pixel-perfect: ideal for screenshots, logos and text
  • Supported everywhere, including every browser
  • Photographs make large files — often several times the JPG size

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)

Lossless

A flexible container used in scanning, printing and archiving, where quality matters more than size.

  • Lossless, with high bit depths and CMYK for print
  • Standard in publishing and scanning workflows
  • Large files, and web browsers cannot display it

Lossless to lossless

PNG and TIFF both store pixels exactly. Converting between them moves the same data into a different container, and nothing is lost or gained along the way:

  • Every pixel is identical. No compression artefacts are added.
  • Transparency comes through. The TIFF carries a full alpha channel.
  • 16-bit PNGs stay 16-bit. The extra precision survives, rather than being reduced to 8 bits as a JPG or BMP would.

So if your PNG looks soft, banded or low-resolution, the TIFF will look exactly the same.

Then why convert?

Because of what receives the file, not because of the image. TIFF has been the default interchange format of print and publishing for decades. Page-layout software, prepress systems, some print services and many archives are built around it, and a submission guideline that says "TIFF" often means precisely that — even when a PNG would contain the same picture.

File size

The TIFF uses LZW compression, which is lossless. How it compares with the PNG depends on the image. Measured:

  • A photograph: 299 KB as PNG → 256 KB as TIFF, 14% smaller.
  • A simple transparent graphic: 2.6 KB → 5.9 KB, a little over twice the size. PNG's compression is better tuned for flat colour.

Either way the difference is modest — nothing like the growth into an uncompressed format such as BMP.

Quality

Quality and file size

There is no quality setting, because nothing is compressed away.

Resolution: the setting printers actually read

A TIFF records a resolution — how many pixels should fill each printed inch. Layout and print software use it to decide how large the image appears when placed on a page. It does not change a single pixel; it is a label, but an influential one.

  • If your PNG states a resolution, the TIFF keeps it. A PNG set to 300 DPI gives a 300 DPI TIFF.
  • If your PNG states none — common for screenshots and web exports — the TIFF is written at 72 DPI, the long-standing default for "unspecified".

For print, set the resolution on the PNG before converting with change image DPI, and the TIFF will arrive with the value your printer expects.

The pixels still have to be there

Changing the DPI label does not add detail. A sharp print needs roughly 300 pixels for every inch of printed size — about 1200 × 1800 pixels for a 4 × 6 inch print, and about 2480 × 3508 for a full A4 page. A 1200-pixel-wide screenshot labelled 300 DPI simply prints four inches wide.

When PNG to TIFF makes sense

  • Print and publishing submissions that specify TIFF.
  • Page-layout and prepress workflows standardised on TIFF.
  • Archives whose preservation policy names TIFF.
  • Imaging software in scientific, medical or industrial settings that reads TIFF but not PNG.

If nothing on the receiving end asks for TIFF, there is no reason to convert: the PNG already holds exactly the same image, usually in a similar or smaller file.

What does not come across

The image, its transparency, its bit depth and its resolution all come across. Text annotations and similar PNG metadata are not carried into the TIFF. For almost every use that makes no difference, but if an archive depends on embedded descriptive text, supply that separately.

TIFF is also a colour-managed print format

TIFF can hold CMYK images for commercial printing, but this conversion keeps your PNG's RGB colour — PNG never contains CMYK to begin with. If a printer requires CMYK, that conversion needs their colour profile and is best done in print software or by the printer, who can match it to their press.

Going the other way

TIFF to PNG is the reverse, and the usual choice when a print file needs to go onto a website or into ordinary software.

What happens to your file

Browsers cannot write TIFF files, so this runs on our server. Your upload is deleted the moment conversion finishes, the result is deleted as you download it, and anything abandoned is swept automatically.

Privacy

What happens to your file

This tool runs on our server, so it works the same on every phone and computer. Your file is uploaded, and this is exactly what happens to it:

  • Stored outside the public web root under a random name, never under your file's name.
  • Processed, with the original upload deleted immediately — whether it succeeded or failed.
  • The result sits behind a signed link that only you receive, which stops working after 20 minutes, and the file is deleted the moment you download it.
  • Anything never collected is deleted automatically within 30 minutes.
  • The image itself is never logged or kept. If a conversion fails, we record the formats involved and the error — not the file.
  • Camera metadata, including any GPS coordinates recording where a photo was taken, is removed from the result. Only the rotation needed to show the image the right way up is kept.

Questions & answers

PNG to TIFF: frequently asked questions

Does converting PNG to TIFF lose quality?

No. Both formats are lossless, so every pixel is identical. Transparency comes through as a full alpha channel, and 16-bit PNGs stay 16-bit.

Will the TIFF look better than my PNG?

No — it is the same image in a different container. If the PNG is soft or low-resolution, the TIFF is too. The reason to convert is that print, publishing and archive workflows expect TIFF.

What DPI will my TIFF have?

Whatever your PNG states — a 300 DPI PNG gives a 300 DPI TIFF. A PNG that states no resolution, typical of screenshots and web exports, gives 72 DPI. For print, set the DPI on the PNG first with the change image DPI tool, then convert.

Is transparency kept?

Yes. The TIFF carries a full alpha channel, so transparent and partly transparent areas come across exactly.

Will the file be bigger?

It depends on the image, and the difference is modest. Measured, a photograph was 14% smaller as TIFF, while a simple transparent graphic was a little over twice the size — PNG's compression is better tuned for flat colour.

My printer wants CMYK. Does this do that?

No — the TIFF keeps your PNG's RGB colour. CMYK conversion depends on the printer's own colour profile and press, so it is best done in print software or by the printer.

Keep going

Related image tools

View all tools

TIFF to PNG Converter

Convert TIFF to PNG without losing a pixel. Keeps transparency and 16-bit depth, and opens where TIFF will not.

On our server

JPG to TIFF Converter

Convert JPG to lossless TIFF for printers and publishers. Read first: converting does not improve the image, and the file gets much larger.

On our server

Change Image DPI

Set an image to 300 DPI or any other value. Changes the print instruction only — your pixels are untouched. Free, no sign-up.

On our server

PNG to BMP Converter

Convert PNG to BMP. Pixels stay identical; compression, transparency and metadata go. A photo PNG grows 21% — a simple graphic can grow 278 times.

On our server