Tagged Image File Format
TIFF

    (TIFF) A file format used for
   still-image bitmaps, stored in tagged fields.  Application
   programs can use the tags to accept or ignore fields,
   depending on their capabilities.

   While TIFF was designed to be extensible, it lacked a core of
   useful functionality, so that most useful functions (e.g.
   lossless 24-bit colour) requires nonstandard, often
   redundant, extensions.  The incompatibility of extensions has
   led some to expand "TIFF" as "Thousands of Incompatible File
   Formats".

   Compare GIF, PNG, JPEG.

   (1997-10-11)