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Preview on the Mac can save a file to TIFF, but with JPEG compression:

enter image description here

Is this lossy? I'm confused because TIFF is usually lossless, but JPEG is lossy.

Maybe it is lossy, since the file size is 4MB with JPEG compression, as opposed to 16MB or more with any other compression format (LZW, ZIP or Packbits)?

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    Yes; It's lossy; use a different compression if you want lossless.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Apr 29, 2017 at 6:16

1 Answer 1

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TIFF files can be compressed OR uncompressed.

Using JPEG compression on a TIFF is certainly lossy.

However if you have the option to use LZW compression on a TIFF, that is lossless. As of course is saving it without any compression.

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  • @McDonald's - Good idea, done
    – mayersdesign
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 6:18
  • TIFF files with compression 7 (newer jpeg compression) and e.g. CMYK for PhotometricInterpretation (5), must be a lossless Huffman JPEG - not lossy.
    – Sha
    Commented May 29, 2023 at 12:23

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