How to Convert TIFF to PNG: Lossless Quality in a Modern Format

TIFF is the king of print. PNG is the king of screen. When you need to take a professional TIFF file and use it digitally, PNG is the natural destination.

Both formats are lossless. Both preserve every pixel. The conversion is clean and simple. No quality loss at all.

Here's when and how to make the switch.

Why Convert TIFF to PNG?

TIFF files work great in professional software. But outside of that world, they cause problems.

Browsers can't display TIFF. No browser supports TIFF images. If you put a TIFF on a website, visitors see nothing. PNG works in every browser ever made.

Many apps can't open TIFF. Windows Photo Viewer handles TIFF, but many lighter image viewers don't. Some phones can't open TIFF files. Some chat apps reject them. PNG opens everywhere.

TIFF files are often huge. An uncompressed TIFF can be 50-100 MB for a single high-resolution image. PNG with lossless compression stores the same quality in a fraction of the space.

Sharing is difficult. Email attachment limits, messaging apps, and file sharing services all struggle with large TIFF files. PNG is smaller and universally accepted.

Design tools prefer PNG for screen work. Figma, Canva, and web design tools work better with PNG than TIFF. When handing off assets for digital use, PNG is the expected format.

Does the Conversion Lose Any Quality?

No. This is one of the cleanest format conversions possible.

TIFF is lossless. PNG is lossless. Going from one to the other means zero quality loss. Every pixel in your TIFF appears identically in the PNG.

The only changes are structural. TIFF-specific features that PNG doesn't support (like CMYK color space or multiple pages) get dropped or converted. But the visual content of the image stays perfect.

If your TIFF has 16-bit color depth, the PNG can preserve that too. PNG supports both 8-bit and 16-bit color. For most practical uses, 8-bit is more than enough.

How Do You Convert TIFF to PNG?

ConvertIMG converts TIFF to PNG in your browser. Drop your files in, choose PNG, and download. That's it.

Since both formats are lossless, there's no quality slider to adjust. The output is a perfect copy of the TIFF's visual content. You just get a smaller file that works in more places.

Batch conversion is supported. If you have a stack of TIFFs from a scanner or photographer, drop them all in at once.

File size comparison:

TIFF size	PNG size (typical)	Savings
10 MB (compressed TIFF)	8-12 MB	Similar
30 MB (uncompressed TIFF)	8-15 MB	50-70% smaller
50 MB (uncompressed, high-res)	15-25 MB	50-60% smaller

Compressed TIFFs and PNGs are often similar in size. Uncompressed TIFFs shrink significantly when converted to PNG because PNG always applies lossless compression.

What About Transparency and Layers?

Transparency transfers cleanly from TIFF to PNG. Both formats support full alpha channel transparency. Transparent backgrounds, semi-transparent overlays, and smooth edges all carry over.

Layers do not transfer. TIFF can store multiple layers (common when exported from Photoshop). PNG flattens everything into a single layer. If you need to keep layers, save as a PSD or keep the TIFF.

Multiple pages are lost. TIFF supports multi-page documents (like a scanned PDF alternative). PNG is a single-image format. Each page would need to be converted separately.

CMYK color gets converted to RGB. TIFF can store images in CMYK color space (used for print). PNG only supports RGB. The colors will be converted, which means slight shifts. If you're going back to print later, keep the CMYK TIFF.

When Is PNG the Wrong Choice?

PNG isn't always the best destination for TIFF conversions.

If you need small files for the web, convert to WebP or AVIF instead. Both produce much smaller files than PNG. A TIFF that becomes a 10 MB PNG might be only 800 KB as WebP.

If you need maximum compatibility for sharing, JPG is simpler. Everyone can open JPG. It's smaller than PNG for photos. And the quality difference is invisible at 85%+ compression.

If the image is a photo with no transparency, JPG or WebP are better choices. PNG's lossless precision is wasted on photos where lossy compression would be invisible.

Use PNG when you need lossless quality, transparency, or pixel-perfect reproduction. For everything else, there's probably a smaller format that works just as well.

For a complete breakdown of when to use each format, see our image format guide.

Ready to Convert TIFF to PNG?

Get web-ready PNGs from your TIFF files. ConvertIMG converts them in seconds. Lossless quality, batch support, completely free. Drop your files in and download.