The Tiff vs the PDF

In most sectors of the printing industry, Adobe's PDF file format is king. It deserves accolades, because for most applications, a PDF will reproduce art and text amazingly well while delivering a decent print-ready file in a relatively small file size. These features have made PDF a staple of the small format print industry. Although the PDF is great, BIG Images’ preferred file format for large format printing is the Tiff.

The benefits of the Tiff file format in the large format print industry are threefold:

1. Financial Savings
   • Tiff files saved with LZW compression use anywhere from 50% to 99% less disk space than competing file formats
   • The time required to open & save a Tiff is less than that of a PDF or other competing file formats
   • The time & resources needed to transfer the file to BIG Images is reduced
2. Time Savings
   • Faster processing time for both the customer and BIG Images equates to a faster turn around time
   • Smaller size is faster to open, close, and transfer via FTP or email
   • More predictable results mean fewer errors to chase, resulting in faster production time
3. Better service and product from BIG Images
   • Elimination of common errors means faster production & fewer pre-press expenses. BIG Images can produce a better, more consistent product, faster.

A summary of BIG Images file format tests:

BIG Images conducted several tests on identical 48" square files at a resolution of 150 ppi, saved in both Tiff and PDF formats. We were looking for differences in file size as well as time our servers spent ripping, or processing, the files.

…The Tiff image saved using LZW compression processed 1255% faster…[and]…used 55% less disk space than a PDF.

The first set of tests consider the best case scenario, a pure white bitmap image, which exhibits the best compression ratios and thus the smallest file sizes. The Tiff with LZW compression uses approximately the same disk space of a PDF compressed with Zip compression. However, the same Tiff ripped 11.8 times faster, saving 20 minutes.

The second set of tests consider the worst case scenario, a bitmap image of pure noise, demonstrating the worst compression ratio and thus the largest file sizes. The Tiff with LZW compression uses 64% less disk space than an uncompressed PDF, which shaved off 141mb from the uncompressed size. The same Tiff uses 45% less disk space than a PDF compressed with Zip compression, equating to 61mb of disk space savings. The Tiff also processes for printing (rips) 12.4 times faster, saving 26 minutes. As the file dimensions became larger the disk space and time savings grow.

This graph demonstrates the file size savings of a Tiff image saved using LZW compression in the worst case scenario given a 48”x48” image @ 150dpi. Here the Tiff used up to 274% less disk space than a PDF.

This graph shows the processing time (rip time), in seconds, of images 48”x48” @ 150ppi. The Tiff image saved using LZW compression processed 1255% faster, or 12.55 times faster, than the same file saved as a PDF.

Article written by Jon Beebe.