TIF

TIF, often written as .tif or .tiff, most commonly refers to the Tagged Image File Format, a flexible raster image format used in professional imaging. Developed in the 1980s by Aldus Corporation and later maintained by the TIFF committee and Adobe, TIFF aims to preserve image quality across platforms. The format supports lossless compression (such as LZW and Deflate) and can accommodate various color spaces, bit depths, and metadata. A TIFF file may contain a single image or multiple pages (multi-page TIFF) and can store extensive metadata via EXIF, IPTC, or XMP. It also supports tiling or stripping and can handle very large files through the BigTIFF extension. Its versatility makes TIFF common in scanning, publishing, medical imaging, and archival work.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a public financing mechanism used by municipalities to promote redevelopment. A TIF district is established and property tax revenue is measured against a base value; any increases generated within the district—from rising property values or new construction—are pledged to fund improvements, typically through debt issuance or developer reimbursements. Proponents argue that TIF can unlock investment in blighted or underdeveloped areas, while critics warn that it can divert funds from other public services and rely on optimistic growth. Practices and rules vary by jurisdiction.

Beyond these meanings, the acronym TIF may stand for other terms in different sectors, but TIFF and Tax Increment Financing are its principal references.