Why convert HEIC to TIFF?
HEIC is built to save space on a phone. TIFF is built to lose nothing.
They sit at opposite ends of the same trade-off, which is exactly why this conversion exists.
Converting HEIC to TIFF gives you a lossless, universally editable file — the format print shops, archives and photo editors expect.
For print
Print shops and photo labs ask for TIFF because it survives handling. Every crop, colour correction and re-save leaves the pixels intact.
Hand a printer a JPEG and each round-trip through their workflow degrades it a little further.
For editing
If you are going to work on an image across several sessions, a lossy format punishes you for saving. TIFF does not.
Edit, save, reopen, edit again — the file is identical each time.
For archiving
TIFF has been readable since 1986 and is a standard choice for long-term preservation. Libraries and museums use it precisely because it will still open in thirty years.
HEIC, by contrast, depends on a patented codec that not every platform licenses.
What is a TIFF file?
TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format. It is a container that stores raw pixel data alongside a table of tags describing how to interpret it.
That tag structure is why TIFF is so flexible — it can hold multiple pages, alpha channels, 16-bit colour and embedded colour profiles.
TIFF vs HEIC at a glance
| HEIC | TIFF | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy (HEVC) | Lossless |
| File size | Very small | Large |
| Re-saving | Degrades each time | No degradation |
| Print workflows | Rarely accepted | The standard |
| Editing software | Patchy support | Universal |
| Transparency | Yes | Yes |
How the conversion works
Your browser decodes the HEIC using a WebAssembly build of libheif, producing raw pixels. Those pixels are then written directly into a TIFF file.
There is no server involved at any point, and no quality setting to get wrong — the pixel values that come out of the decoder are the pixel values written to disk.
About the compression option
TIFF supports several compression schemes. This converter offers two:
Deflate is lossless compression, the same algorithm used inside PNG and ZIP. It shrinks the file with no change to any pixel, and is read by Photoshop, Affinity, GIMP and mainstream print software.
None writes raw uncompressed pixels. The file is considerably larger, but it will open in even the most ancient TIFF reader.
💡 Pro tip: Use Deflate unless a specific piece of software has actually rejected the file. Both options are lossless, so you are only choosing a file size.
Expect a much larger file
This surprises people, so it is worth stating plainly.
A 12-megapixel photo is roughly 36 megabytes of raw pixel data. Your HEIC squeezed that into a couple of megabytes by throwing information away.
TIFF puts all the remaining data back on disk without compressing it lossily. Deflate helps, but a TIFF will always be far larger than the HEIC it came from. That is the price of lossless.
⚠️ Watch out: Converting HEIC to TIFF does not recover detail your camera already discarded. It preserves what is left perfectly, which is a different thing.
What this converter writes, and what it doesn’t
Worth being specific, because “TIFF” covers a very wide range of files and you may be handing this to a print shop.
What you get
The output is a baseline single-strip RGB TIFF, 8 bits per channel, little-endian, with resolution tags set to 72 DPI.
That is the most widely readable form of the format. Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, Lightroom, Preview, Windows Photo Viewer and standard RIP software all open it without complaint.
An alpha channel is written only when the image actually contains transparency. A photo from a camera is fully opaque, so writing a fourth channel of solid 255 would add a quarter to the file for no information at all.
What it does not carry
EXIF metadata is not copied across. Your camera settings, timestamps and GPS coordinates do not travel into the TIFF. For some people that is a privacy win; if you needed them preserved, note it before converting. You can inspect what the original holds with the HEIC EXIF viewer.
No embedded ICC colour profile. The pixels are written as decoded. If your workflow depends on a tagged Display P3 profile surviving the trip, check the result before committing to a batch.
8-bit only, not 16. TIFF can store 16 bits per channel, and HEIC can hold more than 8. This converter writes 8-bit, which matches what the browser’s canvas gives us. For a normal photograph the difference is invisible; for heavy exposure recovery in an editor, it is a real constraint.
Why say all this
Because a TIFF that quietly drops something you needed is worse than no TIFF. Most converters do not tell you any of the above, and you find out three steps later in your editor.
When you should not use TIFF
Being honest about this saves you a lot of wasted disk space.
For the web
Browsers do not display TIFF. If the image is going on a website, use HEIC to WebP or HEIC to PNG instead.
For sharing with people
Emailing a 40 MB TIFF to somebody who wanted to see a photo is unkind. HEIC to JPG is the right answer for sharing.
For simple lossless storage
If you want lossless but not specifically TIFF, PNG is smaller and far more convenient. HEIC to PNG covers that case.
TIFF earns its size in exactly one situation: a print or editing workflow that asks for it by name.