# TIFF TIFF format

Extensions: `.tif`, `.tiff`, `.stk`, `.lsm`

Provides support for a wide range of Tiff images.

Images that contain multiple pages can be read using `imageio.mimread()` to read the individual pages, or `imageio.volread()` to obtain a single (higher dimensional) array.

## Parameters for reading

offset : int
  Optional start position of embedded file. By default this is the current file position.
size : int
  Optional size of embedded file. By default this is the number of bytes from the ‘offset’ to the end of the file.
multifile : bool
  If True (default), series may include pages from multiple files. Currently applies to OME-TIFF only.
multifile_close : bool
  If True (default), keep the handles of other files in multifile series closed. This is inefficient when few files refer to many pages. If False, the C runtime may run out of resources.

## Parameters for saving

bigtiff : bool
  If True, the BigTIFF format is used.
byteorder : {‘<’, ‘>’}
  The endianness of the data in the file. By default this is the system’s native byte order.
software : str
  Name of the software used to create the image. Saved with the first page only.

## Metadata for reading

planar_configuration : {‘contig’, ‘planar’}
  Specifies if samples are stored contiguous or in separate planes. By default this setting is inferred from the data shape. ‘contig’: last dimension contains samples. ‘planar’: third last dimension contains samples.
resolution_unit : (float, float) or ((int, int), (int, int))
  X and Y resolution in dots per inch as float or rational numbers.
compression : int
  Values from 0 to 9 indicating the level of zlib compression. If 0, data is uncompressed.
orientation : {‘top_left’, ‘bottom_right’, …}
  Oriented of image array.
is_rgb : bool
  True if page contains a RGB image.
is_contig : bool
  True if page contains a contiguous image.
is_tiled : bool
  True if page contains tiled image.
is_palette : bool
  True if page contains a palette-colored image and not OME or STK.
is_reduced : bool
  True if page is a reduced image of another image.
is_shaped : bool
  True if page contains shape in image_description tag.
is_fluoview : bool
  True if page contains FluoView MM_STAMP tag.
is_nih : bool
  True if page contains NIH image header.
is_micromanager : bool
  True if page contains Micro-Manager metadata.
is_ome : bool
  True if page contains OME-XML in image_description tag.
is_sgi : bool
  True if page contains SGI image and tile depth tags.
is_stk : bool
  True if page contains UIC2Tag tag.
is_mdgel : bool
  True if page contains md_file_tag tag.
is_mediacy : bool
  True if page contains Media Cybernetics Id tag.
is_stk : bool
  True if page contains UIC2Tag tag.
is_lsm : bool
  True if page contains LSM CZ_LSM_INFO tag.
description : str
  Image description
description1 : str
  Additional description
is_imagej : None or str
  ImageJ metadata
software : str
  Software used to create the TIFF file
datetime : datetime.datetime
  Creation date and time

## Metadata for writing

photometric : {‘minisblack’, ‘miniswhite’, ‘rgb’}
  The color space of the image data. By default this setting is inferred from the data shape.
planarconfig : {‘contig’, ‘planar’}
  Specifies if samples are stored contiguous or in separate planes. By default this setting is inferred from the data shape. ‘contig’: last dimension contains samples. ‘planar’: third last dimension contains samples.
resolution : (float, float) or ((int, int), (int, int))
  X and Y resolution in dots per inch as float or rational numbers.
description : str
  The subject of the image. Saved with the first page only.
compress : int
  Values from 0 to 9 controlling the level of zlib compression. If 0, data are written uncompressed (default).
volume : bool
  If True, volume data are stored in one tile (if applicable) using the SGI image_depth and tile_depth tags. Image width and depth must be multiple of 16. Few software can read this format, e.g. MeVisLab.
writeshape : bool
  If True, write the data shape to the image_description tag if necessary and no other description is given.
extratags: sequence of tuples

  Additional tags as [(code, dtype, count, value, writeonce)].

  code : int
    The TIFF tag Id.
  dtype : str
    Data type of items in ‘value’ in Python struct format. One of B, s, H, I, 2I, b, h, i, f, d, Q, or q.
  count : int
    Number of data values. Not used for string values.
  value : sequence
    ‘Count’ values compatible with ‘dtype’.
  writeonce : bool
    If True, the tag is written to the first page only.