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IETF RFC 2302
Tag Image File Format (TIFF) - image/tiff MIME Sub-type Registration
Last modified on Friday, April 10th, 1998
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Network Working Group G. Parsons
Request for Comments: 2302 Northern Telecom
Category: Standards Track J. Rafferty
Human Communications
S. Zilles
Adobe Systems, Inc.
March 1998
Tag Image File Format (TIFF) - image/tiff
MIME Sub-type Registration
 Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright © The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.
Overview
This document describes the registration of the MIME sub-type
image/tiff. The baseline encoding is defined by [TIFF].
Internet Fax Working Group
This document is a product of the IETF Internet Fax Working Group.
All comments on this document should be forwarded to the email
distribution list at <ietf-fax@imc.org>.
1. Abstract
This document describes the registration of the MIME sub-type
image/tiff. The baseline encoding is defined by [TIFF]. This
document refines an earlier sub-type registration in RFC 1528
[TPC.INT].
2. TIFF Definition
TIFF (Tag Image File Format) Revision 6.0 is defined in detail by
Adobe in [TIFF]. The documentation can be obtained from Adobe at:
Parsons, et. al. Standards Track PAGE 1 
RFC 2302 TIFF March 1998
Adobe Developers Association
Adobe Systems Incorporated
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110-2704
Phone: +1-408-536-6000
Fax: +1-408-537-6000
A copy of this specification can also be found in:
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/devrelations/devtechnotes/pdffiles/
tiff6.pdf
While a brief scope and feature description is provided in this
section as background information, the reader is directed to the
original TIFF specification [TIFF] to obtain complete feature and
technical details.
2.1 TIFF Scope
TIFF describes image data that typically comes from scanners, frame
grabbers, and paint- and photo-retouching programs. TIFF is not a
printer language or page description language. The purpose of TIFF is
to describe and store raster image data. A primary goal of TIFF is
to provide a rich environment within which applications can exchange
image data. This richness is required to take advantage of the
varying capabilities of scanners and other imaging devices. Though
TIFF is a rich format, it can easily be used for simple scanners and
applications as well because the number of required fields is small.
2.2 TIFF Features
Some of the features of TIFF (from [TIFF]) are:
- TIFF is capable of describing bilevel, grayscale, palette-color,
and full-color image data in several color spaces.
- TIFF includes a number of compression schemes that allow
developers to choose the best space or time tradeoff for their
applications.
- TIFF is designed to be extensible and to evolve gracefully as new
needs arise.
- TIFF allows the inclusion of an unlimited amount of private or
special-purpose information.
Parsons, et. al. Standards Track PAGE 2
RFC 2302 TIFF March 1998
3. MIME Definition
3.1 image/tiff
The image/tiff content-type was previously defined in RFC 1528 as
containing TIFF 6.0 encoded image data, with specific reference made
to a subset known as TIFF Class F. This document re-defines the
original image/tiff definition to refer to all of the profiles and
extensions that build on TIFF 6.0 [TIFF] encoded image data,
consistent with existing practice for TIFF aware Internet
applications. This definition is further enhanced by introducing the
new "application parameter" (section 3.2) to enable identification of
a specific subset of TIFF and TIFF extensions for the encoded image
data.
3.2 Application parameter
There are cases where it may be useful to identify the application
applicable to the content of an image/tiff body. Typically, this
would be used to assist the recipient in dispatching a suitable
rendering package to handle the display or processing of the image
file. As a result, an optional "application" parameter is defined
for image/tiff to identify a particular application's subset of TIFF
and TIFF extensions for the encoded image data, if it is known. No
values are defined in this document.
Example using a fictional value 'foo':
Content-type: image/tiff; application=foo
There is no default value for application, as the absence of the
application parameter indicates that the encoded TIFF image is
Baseline TIFF or that it is not necessary to identify the
application. It is up to the recipient's implementation to
determine the application (if necessary) and render the image to the
user.
4. IANA Registration
To: ietf-types@iana.org
Subject: Registration of Standard MIME media type image/tiff
MIME media type name: image
MIME subtype name: tiff
Required parameters: none
Parsons, et. al. Standards Track PAGE 3
RFC 2302 TIFF March 1998
Optional parameters: application
There is no format specified for the value of this parameter
in addition to that specified by [MIME1]. Various
applications of TIFF may define values as required. New
values should be defined in standards track RFCs and the
values should be registered with IANA, using the
registration form included in Appendix A. There is no
default value for application, as the absence of the
application parameter indicates that the encoded TIFF image
is Baseline TIFF or that it is not necessary to identify the
application. It is up to the implementation to determine
the application (if necessary) and render the image to the
user.
Encoding considerations: Binary or Base-64 generally preferred
Security considerations:
TIFF utilizes a structure which can store image data and
attributes of this image data. The fields defined in the
TIFF specification are of a descriptive nature and provide
information that is useful to facilitate viewing and
rendering of images by a recipient. As such, the fields
currently defined in the TIFF specification do not in
themselves create additional security risks, since the
fields are not used to induce any particular behavior by
the recipient application.
TIFF has an extensible structure, so that it is
theoretically possible that fields could be defined in the
future which could be used to induce particular actions on
the part of the recipient, thus presenting additional
security risks, but this type of capability is not
supported in the referenced TIFF specification. Indeed, the
definition of fields which would include such processing
instructions is inconsistent with the goals and spirit of
the TIFF specification.
Interoperability considerations:
The ability of implementations to handle all the defined
applications (or profiles within applications) of TIFF may
not be ubiquitous. As a result, implementations may decode
and attempt to display the encoded TIFF image data only to
determine that the image cannot be rendered. The presence
of the application parameter may aid in allowing this
determination before dispatching for rendering. However, it
Parsons, et. al. Standards Track PAGE 4
RFC 2302 TIFF March 1998
should be noted that the parameter value is not intended to
convey levels of capabilities for a particular application.
Published specification:
TIFF (Tag Image File Format) is defined in:
TIFF (TM) Revision 6.0 - Final - June 3, 1992
Adobe Developers Association
Adobe Systems Incorporated
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110-2704
Phone: +1-408-536-6000
Fax: +1-408-537-6000
A copy of this specification can be found in:
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/devrelations/devtechnotes/pdff
iles/tiff6.pdf
Applications which use this media type:
Imaging, fax, messaging and multi-media
Additional information:
Magic number(s):
II (little-endian): 49 49 42 00 hex
MM (big-endian): 4D 4D 00 42 hex
File extension(s): .TIF
Macintosh File Type Code(s): TIFF
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Glenn W. Parsons
Glenn.Parsons@Nortel.ca
James Rafferty
Jrafferty@worldnet.att.net
Stephen Zilles
szilles@adobe.com
Intended usage: COMMON
Change controller: Stephen Zilles
Parsons, et. al. Standards Track PAGE 5
RFC 2302 TIFF March 1998
5. Authors' Addresses
Glenn W. Parsons
Northern Telecom
P.O. Box 3511, Station C
Ottawa, ON K1Y 4H7
Canada
Phone: +1-613-763-7582
Fax: +1-613-763-2697
Email: Glenn.Parsons@Nortel.ca
James Rafferty
Human Communications
12 Kevin Drive
Danbury, CT 06811-2901
USA
Phone: +1-203-746-4367
Fax: +1-203-746-4367
Email: Jrafferty@worldnet.att.net
Stephen Zilles
Adobe Systems Inc.
Mailstop W14
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110-2704
USA
Voice: +1-408-536-4766
Fax: +1-408-536-4042
Email: szilles@adobe.com
6. References
[MIME1] Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies",
RFC 2045, November 1996.
[MIME4] Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures", RFC 2048,
November 1996.
[TIFF] Adobe Developers Association, TIFF (TM) Revision 6.0 - Final,
June 3, 1992.
[TPC.INT] Malamud, C. and M. Rose, "Principles of Operation for the
TPC.INT Subdomain: Remote Printing -- Technical Procedures",
RFC 1528, October 1993.
[TIFFPLUS] McIntyre, L., Zilles, S., Buckley, R., Venable, D.,
Parsons, G., and J. Rafferty, "File Format for Internet Fax",
RFC 2301, March 1998.
[TIFF] Parsons, G., and J. Rafferty, "Tag Image File Format
TIFF) -- R Profile for Facsimile, RFC 2306, March 1998.
Parsons, et. al. Standards Track PAGE 6
RFC 2302 TIFF March 1998
Appendix A: IANA Registration form for new values of Application
Parameter
To: IANA@isi.edu Subject: Registration of new values for the
Application parameter
of image/tiff
MIME type name:
image/tiff
Optional Parameter:
Application
New Value(s):
Application=foo
Description of Use:
foo - ("foo" is a fictional new value used in this message as an
example, it is to be replaced with the new value being
registered. Include a short description of the use of the
new value here. This must include reference to a standards
track RFC for the complete description; the use of the
value must be defined completely enough for independent
implementation. )
Security Considerations:
(Any additional security considerations that may be introduced by use
of the new parameter should be defined here or in the referenced
standards track RFC.)
Person & email address to contact for further information:
(fill in contact information)
INFORMATION TO THE SUBMITTER:
The accepted registrations will be listed in the "Assigned Numbers"
series of RFCs. The information in the registration form is freely
distributable.
Parsons, et. al. Standards Track PAGE 7
RFC 2302 TIFF March 1998
Full Copyright Statement
Copyright © The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
English.
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Parsons, et. al. Standards Track PAGE 8
Tag Image File Format (TIFF) - image/tiff MIME Sub-type Registration
RFC TOTAL SIZE: 14375 bytes
PUBLICATION DATE: Friday, April 10th, 1998
LEGAL RIGHTS: The IETF Trust (see BCP 78)
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