TIFF is a professional image format widely used in scanning, publishing, and archival workflows. Created by Aldus Corporation in 1986, TIFF supports uncompressed and lossless-compressed storage at any color depth from 1-bit black and white to 32-bit HDR. The format handles multiple pages within a single file, making it the standard output for document scanners and fax machines. TIFF files preserve every pixel without quality loss, which makes them authoritative records in legal, medical, and government contexts. Scanned contracts, tax documents, medical records, and historical archives are commonly stored as TIFF. The tradeoff is file size — a single page scanned at 300 DPI can exceed 25 MB uncompressed. Despite newer alternatives, TIFF remains entrenched in enterprise document workflows.

TIFF to text conversion serves anyone working with scanned documents. Office scanners, multi-function printers, and dedicated document scanners default to TIFF output. If your organization scans contracts, invoices, tax forms, or legal documents, those files are almost certainly TIFF. Converting them to searchable text enables full-text search, automated filing, and data extraction. For PDF versions of scanned documents, the PDF to text converter handles those seamlessly. Archivists digitizing historical documents produce TIFF files that need text extraction for cataloging. Medical records scanned for compliance retention benefit from text extraction for patient data indexing. Some legacy systems output BMP files instead of TIFF — we handle both formats natively.

ImagText converts TIFF files to a web-friendly format server-side before AI analysis. The sharp image library handles the conversion, preserving the full resolution and tonal range of the original scan. The AI vision model then processes the converted image with full fidelity. For scanned documents, the AI excels at reading slightly skewed pages, scanner artifacts like shadow edges, and the minor imperfections that come from physical documents passing through a feed tray. It handles mixed content on scanned pages — printed text alongside handwritten annotations, stamps, and signatures. The AI reads text at any rotation and corrects for mild geometric distortion common in flatbed scans. Faded documents with low contrast between text and background still produce usable extraction results.

TIFF files scanned at 300 DPI or higher produce the best text extraction results. Lower resolutions like 150 DPI work for large text but may struggle with fine print and footnotes. Black-and-white TIFF scans are excellent for text — the high contrast between ink and paper gives the AI a clear signal. Grayscale and color scans work equally well but produce larger files. For multi-page TIFF files, the tool processes the first page. If your TIFF exceeds the 10 MB upload limit, which is common for uncompressed scans, consider converting to lossless PNG first or scanning at a moderate resolution. Clean the scanner glass before scanning — dust specks and streaks can interfere with extraction on very small text. Well-maintained originals with dark ink on white paper produce the most accurate results.