If you are using a consumer-quality digital camera, likely you have used JPEG as your standard file format. JPEG is supported by most imaging software and offers compression (allowing for smaller file sizes) expediting the users ability to manipulate, upload, post, or email photos.

JPEG uses lossy compression, meaning some image data is lost when the file is compressed and then uncompressed. The amount of compression can vary, with more compression meaning more data loss but resulting in a smaller file.

Uncompressed (lossless) TIFF is the standard for most commercial digital photo printing needs. TIFF is an excellent choice when file size is not a consideration as uncompressed TIFF files are larger than JPEGs.

In other words, archive your original digital photos as a TIFF and you will maintain all the photo’s digital information.