What happens when you convert DOCX to TIFF
- The DOCX is opened by LibreOffice, the open-source office suite, on our conversion server, laid out exactly as it would print, and each page is then drawn as an image by MuPDF at 150 dpi, the resolution most documents are printed at, and saved as a TIFF by ImageMagick.
- A one-page DOCX gives a single TIFF; a longer one comes back as a ZIP file with one TIFF per page, named page-01.tiff, page-02.tiff and so on, for up to 100 pages.
- At 150 dpi, an A4 page becomes about 1240 by 1750 pixels. The longest side is capped at 6,000 pixels.
- The TIFF files are compressed losslessly with ZIP compression, which every TIFF reader opens.
- Text, fonts, images, tables, headers and footers appear exactly where they sit on the page.
- Where the file uses a font our server does not have, a metric-compatible one is used instead: Carlito for Calibri, Caladea for Cambria and Liberation fonts for Arial, Times New Roman and Courier New, so lines break where they did. Unusual or decorative fonts may look different.
- This conversion runs on our server: the file is uploaded, converted, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result has been sent back to you. Nothing is kept. Files up to 25 MB are accepted.
How to convert DOCX to TIFF online
- Press "Choose DOCX files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. Files up to 25 MB each can be converted.
- There are no settings to choose: the converter keeps everything the target format can hold.
- Press "Convert to TIFF". The file is uploaded to our conversion server, converted in a few seconds, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result is sent back.
- Save each TIFF with its download button. Our server has already deleted both your DOCX and the TIFF by then.
Why convert DOCX to TIFF?
DOCX files usually come from letters, reports, CVs and most documents shared at work. People convert them to TIFF when an archive, a fax service or a print shop asks for page images; TIFF stores each page losslessly.
How to convert DOCX to TIFF on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your DOCX files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each TIFF is saved to your Downloads folder.
On a Mac
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the DOCX files from Finder onto the drop zone and the TIFF files land in Downloads.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the page in Safari and tap Choose DOCX files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted TIFF appears in Files, in the Downloads folder; to put it in your photo library, open it there, tap Share and choose Save Image.
On Android
Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose DOCX files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The TIFF is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.
Best settings for DOCX to TIFF
There are no settings: every page is rendered at 150 dpi, the longest side is capped at 6,000 pixels, and at most the first 100 pages are converted.
To get one page only, save just that page as its own file first, or pick the image you want out of the ZIP. For a document you will print or send, PDF keeps the text sharp at any size and selectable.
DOCX vs TIFF: the differences
| DOCX | TIFF | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Word document | Tagged Image File Format |
| Type | document | image |
| Created by | Microsoft | Aldus Corporation |
| First released | 2007 | 1986 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy or lossless |
| Transparency | n/a | Yes |
| Animation | n/a | No |
| Vector or raster | n/a | Raster |
| Colour | n/a | up to 32 bits per channel, including CMYK |
| What it holds | formatted text, images, tables and styles in a ZIP of XML files | up to 32 bits per channel, including CMYK |
| In a browser | opens in Word, Google Docs, Pages and LibreOffice Writer | Safari shows it; Chrome, Edge and Firefox download it instead of displaying it |
| Common uses | letters, reports, CVs and most documents shared at work | print production, scanning, archiving and medical imaging |
| MIME type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document | image/tiff |
About DOCX and TIFF files
What is a DOCX file?
DOCX has been Word's default format since 2007. Like XLSX it is a ZIP archive of XML files, which is how its text can be read without Word.
What is a TIFF file?
TIFF is the format printers and archives trust because it can store uncompressed or losslessly compressed pixels, CMYK colour and several pages in one file. It is also why a single scan can run to 100 MB.
DOCX to TIFF not working? Common problems
- "Files up to 25 MB can be converted." Server conversions have a size limit. Compress the images inside the file, or split it, and try again.
- "The conversion took too long and was stopped." Very long or complex files can pass the 90 second limit. Split the file and convert the parts.
- The file will not convert. It may be password protected, damaged, or saved in a newer or unusual version of the format.
Convert DOCX to TIFF from the command line
LibreOffice and Poppler do the same on your own computer: the first command makes a PDF, the second writes one image per page.
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf input.docx
pdftoppm -r 150 -png input.pdf page
magick mogrify -format tiff page-*.pngConverting on your own computer keeps the file entirely local, which is worth it for very large or very sensitive documents. For everything else, the converter on this page does it without installing anything.
DOCX to TIFF converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting DOCX to TIFF?
The images are sharp enough to read on any screen: 150 dpi is the resolution most documents are printed at. TIFF keeps every pixel exact. The text in an image can no longer be selected or searched.
Why is the TIFF a different size from the DOCX?
Each TIFF holds a full page of pixels, so the images together are usually larger than the DOCX, which stores text and drawing instructions. Lossless TIFF pages of text stay fairly small; pages full of photos grow large.
Are my DOCX files uploaded?
Yes, for this conversion. A faithful DOCX to TIFF conversion needs LibreOffice, MuPDF and ImageMagick, three open-source tools, which cannot run in a browser. The file travels over an encrypted connection, is converted in a private temporary folder, and is deleted together with the TIFF as soon as the result has been sent back to you. We do not keep, read or share it.
Can I convert several DOCX files to TIFF at once?
Yes. Select or drop as many files as you like; they are converted one after another and each gets its own download button.
How do I open a TIFF file?
Safari shows TIFF; Chrome, Edge and Firefox download it instead of displaying it. TIFF is common for print production, scanning, archiving and medical imaging.
Is this DOCX to TIFF converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no watermark. Because this conversion uses our server, there is a fair-use limit of 25 MB per file and a number of files per hour, which stops the service being overloaded.
Can I convert DOCX to TIFF on my phone?
Yes. It works in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android. The conversion happens on our server, so it is as fast on a phone as on a computer; the TIFF is saved to your Downloads folder.