TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is the dominant format for scanned documents, medical imaging (DICOM workflows often export TIFF), and archival photography. It is a lossless raster format that supports multiple colour spaces, multiple pages per file, and a wide range of compression schemes. Converting a TIFF file to PDF produces a document that is easier to share, email, and display on any device.
Multi-page TIFF files
A TIFF file can contain multiple images in sequence — this is widely used for scanned multi-page documents and fax archives. A scanner scanning a ten-page contract might produce a single TIFF file with ten pages. When converting this to PDF, the multi-page structure should be preserved: the resulting PDF should have the same number of pages as the TIFF, in the same order.
Not all TIFF-to-PDF converters handle multi-page TIFFs correctly. Some extract only the first page; others produce a separate PDF for each page. LibreOffice Draw processes the full multi-page TIFF and exports all pages to a single PDF.
TIFF compression and compatibility
TIFF supports multiple compression algorithms, each suited to a different use case. Uncompressed TIFF: no compression applied, largest file size. LZW: lossless compression for continuous-tone images. PackBits: fast byte-level run-length encoding used by older scanners. CCITT Group 3 and Group 4: specifically designed for black-and-white scanned documents; still common in fax archives and legal document systems.
LibreOffice handles all standard TIFF compression types including CCITT Fax formats, which are common in legal and government archives. Non-standard or proprietary compressions (some medical imaging software uses vendor-specific TIFF variants) may not be supported.
Using Filum's TIFF to PDF tool
Filum's TIFF to PDF tool uploads the TIFF file to a LibreOffice server, which opens it using LibreOffice Draw and exports it as a PDF. The file is sent over an encrypted connection, converted, and immediately deleted. No account is required, and the file is never stored permanently.
Web browsers do not support TIFF natively — Chrome, Firefox, and Safari cannot display TIFF files without a plugin. This is why the conversion requires a server-side tool: LibreOffice has full TIFF support built in and is the correct engine for this conversion.
Conversion time depends on the file size. A ten-page scanned document at 300 DPI (roughly 5–10 MB uncompressed per page) typically converts in 10–20 seconds. Very large uncompressed TIFFs take longer because LibreOffice must decode the full raster data before exporting.
TIFF vs other image formats for PDF conversion
TIFF is lossless, so the image quality in the output PDF matches the original exactly. JPEG-to-PDF conversion introduces JPEG's compression artefacts from the original file. PNG is lossless and supported in browsers natively, making it a better choice for client-side conversion tools. If you have a choice of format for your source image, TIFF and PNG produce equivalent quality in PDF; JPEG does not.