What is a TIF file?
TIF (Tagged Image Format) or TIFF falls in the raster image category. Discovered in 1986 by Aldus Corporation, its original purpose was to provide a usable file format that can be used by various scanner vendors. With time, it started evolving, and its support grew. Later, Adobe Systems acquired Aldus Corp in 1994 and is since managing the file format.
It offers a lot of versatility to the users. You can choose to save it in the lossless format or otherwise. You can even store it using the LZW compression, which decreases the size but keeps up the quality at the same time.
Each TIF file starts with an 8-byte header, and its maximum size is 2**32 bytes. The file header pertains to an IFD which contains the data about the image and its pointers.
How to Open TIF Files
How to Make TIF Files
Exact steps for creating TIF files will vary by program and operating system. Download one of the above listed programs and you should be able to follow typical procedure for opening files or creating files from the File menu. Typically you will select File > Open or File > New and continue through the prompts. Some programs may follow a different procedure for either creation or opening of files.