Convert AI to TIFF
This conversion is asked for far more often than it is the right answer, so the page says both things. It produces a proper lossless TIFF, LZW compressed and around 270 times smaller than the uncompressed one most tools give you — and it fixes the resolution of artwork that had none, which for a print job is usually a step backwards from /ai-to-pdf.
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Up to 50 MB. Deleted automatically after 30 minutes.
What it does
- Lossless, LZW compressed — about 270x smaller than uncompressed
- Rendered at 150 dpi, not the default 72
- Says plainly when PDF is the better choice
- No Illustrator and no Adobe account
How to use AI to TIFF
- 1
Add the AI file
Drop it in. Modern Illustrator files are PDF underneath, which is why this works without Illustrator.
- 2
Rendered, then written losslessly
Rasterized at 150 dpi, then written as TIFF with LZW compression. Nothing is discarded after the rasterization.
- 3
Check it is what you wanted
If the destination is a printer, compare against /ai-to-pdf first — that one keeps the vectors and stays sharp at any size.
How it works
Ghostscript rasterizes the artwork at 150 dpi, and the result is written as a TIFF with LZW compression. The rasterization is where information is lost; the TIFF encoding loses nothing after it.
The honest recommendation
Most people arriving at "AI to TIFF" want to give a printer a file. For that, PDF is better, and it is better for a reason that is easy to state.
An Illustrator file has no resolution. It has curves, and a curve can be drawn at any size. /ai-to-pdf preserves that: the output contains no images at all, and the same file renders 1667 by 1250 pixels at 600 dpi from a source nominally 200 by 150 points. Whoever receives it can print it at any size, and their RIP will rasterize at exactly the resolution their press needs.
A TIFF answers that question once, now, at 150 dpi, and cannot be asked again. If the job turns out to need 300 dpi at twice the size, the file cannot supply it and the artwork has to be rendered again from the source.
So: use PDF unless something in the chain refuses it. That does happen — some textile printing systems, some large-format signage software, some industrial and scientific imaging pipelines take a flat raster and nothing else — and when it happens this is the conversion you want.
Why the file is not enormous
TIFF's reputation for huge files comes from a default rather than from the format.
Both common encoders write TIFF with no compression unless told otherwise: the raw samples with a header on the front. A test drawing here came out at 2,085,394 bytes that way. With LZW it is 7,612 bytes — about two hundred and seventy times smaller, with the pixels bit-for-bit identical.
LZW rather than the marginally smaller Deflate, on purpose. Anyone asking for TIFF is usually asking for compatibility, and LZW is the compression that every print RIP and archival system reads without comment.
Keep the AI file
The TIFF is one rendering at one resolution. The Illustrator file still contains the geometry and can produce another at any size, which is the whole reason to keep working files.
Examples
A workflow that only accepts TIFF
Some textile, signage and packaging systems take a flat raster and nothing else. This is that file, without an Illustrator license.
A placement into an imaging pipeline
Scientific and industrial imaging software often reads TIFF and nothing newer. Rasterizing is the point rather than a compromise.
Frequently asked questions
Should I be using PDF instead?
For a print handoff, almost certainly. An Illustrator file is geometry with no resolution, and /ai-to-pdf transcribes that geometry — the output embeds zero images and renders 1667 by 1250 at 600 dpi from a 200 by 150 point source. A TIFF fixes one resolution forever, so enlarging it later is impossible. Use TIFF when something in the chain genuinely will not take a PDF, which does happen in textile, signage and industrial imaging.
Is the TIFF lossless?
After the rasterization, completely. LZW is a dictionary algorithm in the same family as ZIP: it stores repeated byte patterns once and reconstructs them exactly, so nothing is approximated. Verified by pixel checksum against the source. The loss in this conversion happens earlier, when infinite geometry becomes a finite grid, and no encoder can undo that.
How big will the file be?
Far smaller than you may expect from TIFF. Both common encoders default to no compression at all, which produced 2,085,394 bytes for a test drawing here; with LZW the same image is 7,612 bytes, about 270 times smaller with identical pixels. The reputation TIFF has for enormous files is a reputation earned entirely by that default.
What resolution is it rendered at?
150 dpi, so a 200 by 150 point drawing becomes 417 by 313 pixels. If your print job needs 300 dpi at final size, this is the wrong tool and the right one is /ai-to-pdf — hand the printer vectors and let their RIP rasterize at whatever the press actually needs, which is what they would prefer anyway.
Does my file leave my computer?
Yes. Rendering PostScript and PDF safely needs Ghostscript with its sandbox enabled, which runs on our server rather than in a browser. Your file and the result are both deleted within 30 minutes by a timer, and nothing is stored, indexed or kept against an account.