How to write TIFF images in Java (Tutorial)

Why do TIFF Images cause problems for Java Developers?

ImageIO does not fully support TIFF images. Some TIFF functionality was also removed in the move from Java 8 to Java 11 (so images which worked in Java 8 may no longer work with later releases).

Java does have some support for TIFF files in ImageIO. There are also Open Source and Commercial options available, including Java wrappers on non-Java solutions.

There is a free, open source Image library called Apache Imaging which can write TIFF (and other image formats).

We recommend JDeli because it is a pure, complete Java implementation with no known security issues. It can be used with existing ImageIO code and has an API to write new code so we will document that in this article. JDeli can read, write and convert TIFF files and supports several other complex Image formats such as AVIF, HEIC and WEBP.

How to write an image as a TIFF file in ImageIO

1. Create a File (or OutputStream) object for the TIFF output.
2. Pass image, TIFF type, and File (or OutputStream) object into write method

and the Java code to write TIFF in ImageIO…

File file = new File("/path/to/outputFile.tif");
ImageIO.write(bufferedImage, "TIFF", file);

By default, our JDeli ImageIO plugin will not be used for TIFF writing. You can choose to enable it and this code will then use JDeli for TIFF output:

• Download the JDeli trial jar with our ImageIO plugin
• Follow the support documentation to install

How to write an image as a TIFF file with JDeli

1. Add JDeli to your class or module path. (download link to the trial jar).
2. Create a File (or OutputStream) object
3. Pass image, TIFF type, and File (or OutputStream) object into write method

and the Java code to write TIFF in JDeli…

File file = new File("/path/to/image.tif"));
JDeli.write(bufferedImage, "tiff", file);

//In JDeli you can also use a typesafe version
JDeli.write(bufferedImage, OutputFormat.TIFF, file);

//or pass in a TiffEncoderOptions object for more control
TiffEncoderOptions options = new TiffEncoderOptions();
JDeli.write(bufferedImage, options, file);

Other useful TIFF links

• Related articles on our support site.
• How to read TIFF files in Java.
• How to convert TIFF to JPG in bulk (Tutorial)

How can JDeli help?

JDeli is the best enterprise-level Java image library for image manipulation. You can use JDeli to read, write and convert your images as it has TIFF support. Visit our documentation to learn more about JDeli’s TIFF support.