How to Convert PDF to TIFF (Free, for Print, Archiving & Fax)

Nobody wakes up wanting a TIFF. You convert PDF to TIFF because something on the other end demands it: a print shop whose prepress workflow takes raster images, a document management or archiving system that ingests TIFF (common in legal, medical and government records), or a fax service that only accepts image formats. TIFF has been the safe, boring choice in professional imaging since the late 1980s, and that's exactly why those systems still require it — it's lossless, it handles multi-page documents, and every scanner, RIP and fax gateway on earth can read it.

Here's how to get from a PDF to a TIFF in under a minute, what settings matter, and the free local alternatives if you'd rather not upload anything.

How to convert PDF to TIFF — step by step

🔒 pdfty.com/en/tools/pdf-to-tiff

What actually happens to your pages

Be clear about one thing before you convert: TIFF is a raster format. Your PDF's text, vector logos and crisp lines all get rendered into a grid of pixels, exactly like taking a high-quality photograph of each page. That has three practical consequences:

• Text is no longer selectable or searchable. If the recipient needs to search the document later, they'll have to run OCR on it — see our guide to the best free OCR for PDF.
• Resolution is locked in at conversion time. A 150 DPI TIFF printed at full size will look soft. You can't add sharpness afterwards, so pick the right DPI now.
• Fonts stop being a problem. Since everything becomes pixels, there are no font embedding or substitution issues on the receiving end — one reason imaging systems love TIFF.

TIFF vs PNG vs JPG — picking the right image format

If nobody specifically asked for TIFF, one of the other image exports might serve you better:

And if you ever need to go the other way — say the archive sends TIFFs back — TIFF to PDF reverses the trip.

Free local alternatives

Uploading isn't the only route. If your file is sensitive or enormous, these work entirely on your machine:

Ghostscript (Windows, macOS, Linux — free). The workhorse behind many converters. One command renders every page at 300 DPI into a single multi-page TIFF:

gs -sDEVICE=tiff24nc -r300 -o output.tiff input.pdf

Swap tiff24nc for tiffg4 to get the compact black-and-white Group 4 TIFFs fax systems use. Full control, no upload — but it's a command-line tool, and you have to install it.

pdftoppm (poppler-utils — free). On Linux and macOS (via Homebrew), pdftoppm -tiff -r 300 input.pdf page writes one TIFF per page. Simple and scriptable, though you get separate files rather than one multi-page TIFF.

macOS Preview. Open the PDF, then File → Export and choose TIFF. Quick for a one-page document, but it exports the current page — for a 20-page file you'd be repeating yourself 20 times.

The trade-off is the usual one: local tools mean installing software and, for Ghostscript, learning flags. The browser route is upload → download.

Practical gotchas

• File size. A 300 DPI color TIFF of a Letter page runs tens of megabytes uncompressed. Multi-page documents get big fast. If the destination only needs black and white (fax, text-only archives), bilevel Group 4 TIFF is dramatically smaller. Running Grayscale on the PDF first also helps when color carries no information.
• The 20 MB input limit covers most office PDFs, but a heavily scanned source file might exceed it. Compress it first — our guide on how to make a PDF smaller walks through it.
• Don't archive the TIFF instead of the PDF if you can keep both. For long-term archiving of text documents, PDF/A preserves searchable text; TIFF is the right call only when the receiving system demands images.
• Check page order on arrival. Multi-page deliveries should land in document order, but prepress and fax queues occasionally renumber files — a 10-second check saves a reprint.

Frequently asked questions

Does PDF to TIFF keep the text searchable?

No. TIFF is an image format, so text becomes pixels. If searchability matters, keep the original PDF, or run the TIFF back through OCR to rebuild a text layer.

Do I get one TIFF or one per page?

Every page of your PDF is converted, in order. TIFF supports multi-page files, and that's what archive and fax systems typically expect to receive.

What resolution should I use for a print shop?

300 DPI is the near-universal answer, and what most shops will tell you if you ask. Going higher rarely improves printed output for documents and balloons the file size.

Why is my TIFF so much bigger than the PDF?

A PDF stores text as compact font-and-coordinate instructions; a TIFF stores every pixel. A 200 KB text PDF can easily become a multi-megabyte TIFF at 300 DPI. That's expected, not a bug.

Can I convert just some pages?

Split the PDF first with Split or Remove pages, then convert the part you need.

Is this safe for confidential documents?

Files upload over HTTPS and are auto-deleted after 1 hour, and there's no account tying files to you. For material you can't upload at all, use the Ghostscript route above — it never leaves your machine.

What are the free limits?

20 MB per file, 50 pages, 10 operations per day — no sign-up, no watermark. Pro ($9/mo) removes the limits.

My TIFF won't open in my image viewer — why?

Some basic viewers only show the first page of a multi-page TIFF, or balk at certain compression types. Try a document-oriented viewer (Windows Photos handles multi-page TIFFs; on macOS, Preview does). The file itself is fine.