How to Convert TIFF Images to PDF

TIFF is common for scans, faxes and archival images, but a PDF is often easier to share, print or attach to a form. You can usually do the conversion with tools already on your computer, combine several TIFF files into one document, and keep the image quality close to the original if you pick the right settings.

Before you start

Decide where the conversion should happen. Built-in options such as printing to PDF on Windows or exporting from Preview on macOS process the file on your own computer. Online converters upload your image to someone else's server. For contracts, IDs, medical scans or other sensitive material, prefer a local method. If you use a website, read its own statements about storage and deletion and treat them as claims you have to verify, not guarantees.

• Keep a copy of the original TIFF and work on a duplicate so every step stays reversible.
• Check whether the file is multi-page. Scanned documents and faxes often store several pages in one TIFF, and some apps show only the first page.
• Note the pixel dimensions and aspect ratio of the image so you can spot cropping or stretching later.
• Check whether the image has transparency (an alpha channel). PDF tools may flatten it onto white or black.
• Decide whether you want one PDF per image or several TIFF files combined into a single PDF, and in what page order.

Step-by-step instructions

Windows: print to PDF

• Open the TIFF in an image app that can print, such as the Photos app, or select one or more TIFF files in File Explorer, right-click and choose Print. On newer versions of Windows the Print command may sit under Show more options.
• In the print dialog, choose Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer.
• Set the paper size and orientation to match the image: portrait for tall pages, landscape for wide ones.
• Look for an option that fits the picture to the page and turn it off if it crops the edges. Labels differ between Windows versions and apps.
• Print, then choose a file name and folder for the new PDF.

Printing to PDF re-renders the image onto a paper-sized page, so the result depends on the paper size and fit settings rather than on the original pixel dimensions. When you select several files in File Explorer and print them together, they can end up in one PDF; check the page order afterwards.

macOS: Preview

• Open the TIFF in Preview. For a multi-page file, show the thumbnail sidebar to confirm that every page is visible.
• Choose File, then Export as PDF, and save the file.
• To combine several images, open them together in one Preview window, drag the thumbnails into the order you want, select them all, then use File, Print and choose Save as PDF from the PDF menu in the print dialog.
• In the print dialog, check paper size, orientation and scaling before saving, because these affect margins and cropping.

Command-line tools

If you convert files often or need more control over compression, command-line tools are useful and run locally. img2pdf is designed to place images into a PDF without re-encoding them where the format allows it, for example: img2pdf scan.tif -o scan.pdf. The libtiff package includes tiff2pdf, used as: tiff2pdf -o scan.pdf scan.tif. ImageMagick can also do it with magick scan.tif scan.pdf (older versions use the convert command), but depending on its settings it may recompress the image, so compare the result with the original. Each tool's exact options vary by version; check its own help output.

Online converters

Web-based converters work on any device, including phones, but they require uploading the image. Check the size limit, whether multi-page TIFFs and batches are supported, and what the service says about how long it keeps files. Download the result and confirm it before deleting the original.

Check the output

• Page count: the PDF should have as many pages as the multi-page TIFF or as many as the images you combined, in the right order.
• Cropping and aspect ratio: compare the edges with the original and make sure the image is not stretched, squashed or cut off by page margins.
• Sharpness: zoom in on fine text or detail. Visible blur or blocky artifacts suggest the image was downscaled or recompressed.
• Color and transparency: check that transparent areas did not turn into an unexpected solid background.
• File size: a much larger or much smaller PDF than the TIFF usually means the compression changed.
• Text: a PDF made from a scan contains a picture of the text, not selectable or searchable text.

Common problems and next steps

• Only the first page was converted: the app did not read the multi-page TIFF. Open it in Preview, or use img2pdf or tiff2pdf, which handle multi-page files.
• The PDF is very large: the tool may have stored the image uncompressed or re-encoded it. Try img2pdf or tiff2pdf, which can keep the original compression in many cases.
• The image looks blurry: avoid scaling options in the print dialog and match the paper size to the image's aspect ratio.
• Edges are missing or there are wide white margins: change the fit or scale setting, switch orientation, or pick a paper size closer to the image shape.
• Transparent areas became black or white: flatten the image onto the background you want in an image editor before converting.
• The file will not open: TIFF supports many compression types, and not every app reads all of them. Try a different viewer or one of the command-line tools.
• You need searchable text: run the finished PDF through OCR software, then check the recognized text against the original.