(registered by RFC2302, updated by RFC3302)

MIME media type name: image

MIME subtype name: tiff

Required parameters: none

Optional parameters: application

   There is no format specified for the value of this parameter
   in addition to that specified by [MIME1].  Various
   applications of TIFF may define values as required as hints
   to the receiver.  There is no default value for application,
   as the absence of the application parameter indicates that
   the encoded TIFF image is Baseline TIFF or that it is not
   necessary to identify the application.  It is up to the
   implementation to determine the application (if necessary)
   and render the image to the user.

Encoding considerations:

   This media type consists of binary data.  The base64 encoding
   should be used on transports that cannot accommodate binary
   data directly.

Security considerations:

   TIFF utilizes a structure which can store image data and
   attributes of this image data.  The fields defined in the TIFF
   specification are of a descriptive nature and provide
   information that is useful to facilitate the viewing and
   rendering of images by a recipient.  As such, the fields
   currently defined in the TIFF specification do not in
   themselves create additional security risks, since the fields
   are not used to induce any particular behavior by the
   recipient application.

   TIFF has an extensible structure, so that it is theoretically
   possible that fields could be defined in the future which
   could be used to induce particular actions on the part of the
   recipient, thus presenting additional security risks, but
   this type of capability is not supported in the referenced
   TIFF specification.  Indeed, the definition of fields which
   would include such processing instructions is inconsistent
   with the goals and spirit of the TIFF specification as
   defined to date.

Interoperability considerations:

   The ability of implementations to handle all the defined
   applications (or profiles within applications) of TIFF may
   not be ubiquitous.  As a result, implementations may decode
   and attempt to display the encoded TIFF image data only to
   determine that the image cannot be rendered.  The presence of
   the application parameter may aid in allowing this
   determination before dispatching for rendering.  However, it
   should be noted that the parameter value is not intended to
   convey levels of capabilities for a particular application.

Published specification:

   TIFF (Tag Image File Format) is defined in:
       TIFF (TM) Revision 6.0 - Final  June 3, 1992

   Adobe Developers Association
   Adobe Systems Incorporated
   345 Park Avenue
   San Jose, CA 95110-2704

   Phone: +1-408-536-6000
   Fax:   +1-408-537-6000

   A copy of this specification can be found in:
   http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/pdfs/tn/TIFF6.pdf

Applications which use this media type:

   Imaging, fax, messaging and multi-media

Additional information:

   Magic number(s):
        II (little-endian):  49 49 2A 00 hex
        MM (big-endian):     4D 4D 00 2A hex
   File extension(s): .TIF
   Macintosh File Type Code(s): TIFF

Person & email address to contact for further information:

   Glenn W. Parsons
   gparsons&nortelnetworks.com

   James Rafferty
   jraff&brooktrout.com

Intended usage: COMMON

Change controller: James Rafferty