How to write out TIFF images in Java

In this article, I will walk you through how to write out TIFF images from BufferedImage using ImageIO/JAI and JDeli I will also show you how to write out Multiple TIFF images onto a file.

We previously used ImageIO to write TIFF files, but over time became increasingly dissatisfied as we discovered more and more issues. Eventually we wrote our own TIFF Encoder which fixes those issues and is now available as part of JDeli.

What is TIFF?

TIFF stands for "Tag Image File Format". It is a file format for storing raster graphic images. It is widely used in printing and publication industries. They can be compressed and uncompressed using lossless compression. It is also capable of storing multiple layered images in a single file and can have a bit depth of either 8 or 16 bits per channel.

The file name extension for TIFF files is: .tiff

Example Java code to write TIFF images in Java:

Here are some code examples using Image IO, JAI and JDeli to save a BufferedImage to a TIFF format.

Using Image IO

Javadoc and included in JDK

File myNewTIFF_File =  new File("ImageAsTIFF.tiff");
 
ImageIO.write(bufferedImage, "TIFF", myNewTIFF_File);

Using JAI

Javadoc and Download

//Write Image
 
TIFFEncodeParam params = new TIFFEncodeParam();
 
FileOutputStream os = new FileOutputStream("myNewTIFF_File.tiff");
 
javax.media.jai.JAI.create("encode", bufferedImage, os, "TIFF", params);

Using JDeli

Javadoc and Download

You can easily replace ImageIO (and get much better support for TIFF files) by just changing ImageIO.write to JDeli.write.

//Write Image (can also be OutputStream)
File myNewTiffFile=new File("ImageAsTiff.tiff");
JDeli.write(myBufferedImage, "tiff", myNewTiffFile);

Or you can use the JDeli TiffEncoder directly:

OutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("myNewTIFF_File.tiff"));
 
TiffEncoder tiffEncoder = new TiffEncoder();
 
tiffEncoder.setCompressed(true);
 
tiffEncoder.write(bufferedImage, out);

Writing Multiple Tiff’s Using JDeli

TiffEncoder tiffEncoder = new TiffEncoder();
 
tiffEncoder.setCompressed(true);
 
  for (BufferedImage image : bufferedImages) {
             tiffEncoder.append(image,"myNewMultipleTIFF_Files.tiff");
         }

The JDeli Tiff Encoder support Compression and Single or Multifile Tiff Images

Why use JDeli?

JDeli offers a range of advantages over ImageIO and alternatives, including:

• prevents heap related JVM crashes
• implements unsupported image formats
• reduce output file size
• improve read/write performance
• supports threading
• superior image scaling algorithms

Learn more about JDeli, or download to try it yourself.

This article is part of our series on reading and writing image files in Java.