What happens when you convert TIFF to GIF
- The image is decoded and written as a GIF with an optimised 256-colour palette.
- GIF transparency is all or nothing, so soft or semi-transparent edges become hard edges.
- GIF allows 256 colours, so photos pick up some banding. Graphics with flat colours convert cleanly.
- A small TIFF decoder is fetched when you press Convert. For multi-page TIFF files, the first page is converted.
How to convert TIFF to GIF online
- Press "Choose TIFF files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. You can add files of any size your device can hold in memory.
- Adjust the settings if you need to. The output is lossless, so there is no quality setting to worry about.
- Press "Convert to GIF". Images convert in a second or two each.
- Save each GIF with its download button. Close the tab and every trace of the files is gone from memory.
Why convert TIFF to GIF?
TIFF files usually come from print production, scanning, archiving and medical imaging. People convert them to GIF because a GIF loops silently in any chat app, email or forum post without a play button.
In short, TIFF is good at what it was made for, and GIF is the more practical choice when the file has to open, upload or print somewhere else. Safari shows TIFF; Chrome, Edge and Firefox download it instead of displaying it, while GIF opens and animates in every browser.
How to convert TIFF to GIF on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your TIFF files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each GIF is saved to your Downloads folder. Paint can also re-save an image as GIF with Save as, provided Windows can open the TIFF in the first place.
On a Mac
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the TIFF files from Finder onto the drop zone and the GIF files land in Downloads.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the page in Safari and tap Choose TIFF files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted GIF 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 TIFF files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The GIF is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.
Best settings for TIFF to GIF
Width and frame rate decide the size of a GIF far more than anything else. 480 pixels at 12 frames per second is a good balance for reaction clips; 320 pixels suits chat apps with small previews; 640 pixels at 15 frames per second looks smooth but grows quickly.
Every extra second adds frames, so trim the source to the moment you need before converting. A 3 second clip at the default settings is usually well under 2 MB.
TIFF vs GIF: the differences
| TIFF | GIF | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Tagged Image File Format | Graphics Interchange Format |
| Type | image | image |
| Created by | Aldus Corporation | CompuServe |
| First released | 1986 | 1987 |
| Compression | Lossy or lossless | Lossless |
| Transparency | Yes | Yes |
| Animation | No | Yes |
| Vector or raster | Raster | Raster |
| Colour | up to 32 bits per channel, including CMYK | 256 colours per frame from a palette |
| In a browser | Safari shows it; Chrome, Edge and Firefox download it instead of displaying it | opens and animates in every browser |
| Common uses | print production, scanning, archiving and medical imaging | short looping animations, reactions and simple graphics |
| MIME type | image/tiff | image/gif |
About TIFF and GIF files
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.
What is a GIF file?
GIF stores each frame with a palette of at most 256 colours, so photos turn grainy and animations get large fast. Transparency is on or off per pixel, with no soft edges.
TIFF to GIF not working? Common problems
- Colours look slightly different. Browsers convert images to the standard sRGB colour space when they decode them, so wide-gamut and CMYK images can shift a little.
- A phone photo comes out upright even though it looked sideways elsewhere. That is correct: the rotation stored in the photo is applied during conversion, so the GIF is always the right way up.
- The file is bigger than expected. The GIF is usually larger, because it stores every pixel without compression losses, while the TIFF was compressed lossily.
Convert TIFF to GIF from the command line
If you work in a terminal, ImageMagick converts TIFF to GIF in one line:
magick input.tiff output.gifTo convert every TIFF in a folder at once, use magick mogrify -format gif *.tiff. The converter on this page does the same job without installing anything.
TIFF to GIF converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting TIFF to GIF?
Photos lose some colour accuracy, because GIF is limited to 256 colours. Logos and flat graphics look the same.
Why is the GIF a different size from the TIFF?
The GIF is usually larger, because it stores every pixel without compression losses, while the TIFF was compressed lossily.
Are my TIFF files uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion runs inside this browser tab using your browser's own image decoder, so your files stay on your device. You can disconnect from the internet after the page has loaded and it still works.
Can I convert several TIFF files to GIF 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 GIF file?
GIF opens and animates in every browser. GIF is common for short looping animations, reactions and simple graphics.
Is this TIFF to GIF converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on how many files you convert. The site is paid for by advertising, and because conversions run on your device there is no server cost per file.
Can I convert TIFF to GIF on my phone?
Yes. The converter works in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android. Converted files are saved to the Downloads folder.