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IETF RFC 3302
Tag Image File Format (TIFF) - image/tiff MIME Sub-type Registration
Last modified on Friday, September 6th, 2002
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Network Working Group G. Parsons
Request for Comments: 3302 Nortel Networks
Obsoletes: 2302 J. Rafferty
Category: Standards Track Brooktrout Technology
September 2002
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 (2002). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document describes the registration of the MIME sub-type
image/tiff. This document refines an earlier sub-type registration
in RFC 1528.
This document obsoletes RFC 2302.
1. Conventions used in this document
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [REQ].
2. Overview
This document describes the registration of the MIME sub-type
image/tiff. The baseline encoding of TIFF (Tag Image File Format) is
defined by [TIFF].
3. 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>.
Parsons & Rafferty Standards Track PAGE 1 
RFC 3302 image/tiff September 2002
4. 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:
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:
http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/PDFS/TN/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.
4.1 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.
4.2 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.
Parsons & Rafferty Standards Track PAGE 2
RFC 3302 image/tiff September 2002
- TIFF allows the inclusion of an unlimited amount of private or
special-purpose information.
5. MIME Definition
5.1 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 redefines the
original image/tiff definition to refer to 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 6.2) to enable identification of
a specific subset of TIFF and TIFF extensions for the encoded image
data.
5.2 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:
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.
New values for the image/tiff application parameter must be approved
by the IESG prior to registration. As a result, the publication of a
description of parameter values in an RFC is required.
Guidelines on writing IANA considerations for RFCs can be found in
RFC 2434.
An application parameter is a hint to the receiver. It MUST NOT be
used as a blind request to execute some arbitrary program.
Parsons & Rafferty Standards Track PAGE 3
RFC 3302 image/tiff September 2002
Instead, it should be viewed rather as an indication of what sort of
application would be able to handle the content most appropriately.
6. 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
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 as hints
to the receiver. 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:
This media type consists of binary data. The base64 encoding
should be used on transports that cannot accommodate binary
data directly.
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 the 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
Parsons & Rafferty Standards Track PAGE 4
RFC 3302 image/tiff September 2002
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 as
defined to date.
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
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:
http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/pdfs/tn/TIFF6.pdf
Applications which use this media type:
Imaging, fax, messaging and multi-media
Additional information:
Magic number(s):
II (little-endian): 49 49 2A 00 hex
MM (big-endian): 4D 4D 00 2A hex
File extension(s): .TIF
Macintosh File Type Code(s): TIFF
Parsons & Rafferty Standards Track PAGE 5
RFC 3302 image/tiff September 2002
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Glenn W. Parsons
gparsons@nortelnetworks.com
James Rafferty
jraff@brooktrout.com
Intended usage: COMMON
Change controller: James Rafferty
6. 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 the 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
as defined to date.
7. Changes from RFC 2302
* Correction of magic number
* Improvements of the security considerations
* Change of change controller
* Various editorials to improve clarity
8. References
8.1 Normative References
[REQ] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
Parsons & Rafferty Standards Track PAGE 6
RFC 3302 image/tiff September 2002
[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", BCP
13, RFC 2048, November 1996.
[TIFF] Adobe Developers Association, TIFF (TM) Revision 6.0 -
Final, June 3, 1992.
8.2 Non-Normative References
[TIFFREG] Parsons, G., Rafferty, J. and S. Zilles, "Tag Image File
Format (TIFF) -image/tiff MIME Sub-type Registration", RFC
2302, March 1998.
[TPC.INT] Malamud, C. and M. Rose, "Principles of Operation for the
TPC.INT Subdomain: Remote Printing -- Technical
Procedures", RFC 1528, October 1993.
9. Authors' Addresses
Glenn W. Parsons
Nortel Networks
P.O. Box 3511, Station C
Ottawa, ON K1Y 4H7
Canada
Phone: +1-613-763-7582
Fax: +1-613-763-2697
EMail: gparsons@nortelnetworks.com
James Rafferty
Brooktrout Technology
410 First Avenue
Needham, MA 02494
USA
Phone: +1-781-433-9462
Fax: +1-781-433-9268
EMail: jraff@brooktrout.com
Parsons & Rafferty Standards Track PAGE 7
RFC 3302 image/tiff September 2002
10. Full Copyright Statement
Copyright © The Internet Society (2002). 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.
Acknowledgement
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
Parsons & Rafferty Standards Track PAGE 8
Tag Image File Format (TIFF) - image/tiff MIME Sub-type Registration
RFC TOTAL SIZE: 15183 bytes
PUBLICATION DATE: Friday, September 6th, 2002
LEGAL RIGHTS: The IETF Trust (see BCP 78)
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