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I'm trying to write 10,12 bit RGB TIFF files with LibTIFF.

The pixel data is saved locally in an unsigned short buffer (16bits)

1) If I set TIFFTAG_BITSPERSAMPLE to 10 or 12, not enough bits are being read from the buffer, and the output is incorrect. (I understand that it is just reading 10 or 12 bits per component, instead of 16 and this is the problem)

2) I tried packing the bits in the buffer, so that it is really 12-R, 12-G, 12-B. In this case, I think the file is being written correctly but no viewer I could find could display this image properly.

3) If I set TIFFTAG_BITSPERSAMPLE to 16, viewers can display the TIFF image, but then I have a problem that I don't know if the image was originally 10 or 12 bits (If I want to later read it with LibTIFF). Also, the viewer expects the dynamic range to be 16 bits and not 10 or 12, also resulting in a bad view.

4) The most annoying part is that I couldn't find one 10, 12, or 14 bit TIFF image on the web to see what the header is supposed to look like.

So finally, what is the proper way to write 10 or 12 bit Image data to a TIFF file ?????

Itsik
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  • I asked the same question some time ago, no results, it looks like tiff format doesn't have such tag. I hope I am wrong... – Alex F Aug 15 '11 at 17:25

2 Answers2

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The TIFF specification does not specify a way to store 10, 12 or 14 bits per channel in an image. Depending on the encoder and decoder, it may still be possible to work with such images, but it is effectively an implementation detail, as they are not required to do this.

If you want more than 8 bits of precision in a TIFF, your only choice is 16 (or floating point, but that's a different story).

I'm not aware of any image format with specific support for these bitdepths, so viewers will likely be a problem anyway if you must store the image with that specific bitdepth. The simplest workaround I can think of would be to just store as 16 bits per pixel and put the original bitdepth as metadata (e.g. in an ImageDescription tag), but it all depends on what the images will be used for and why you need this information.

Michael Madsen
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  • Actually I also would recommend this as a solution, since exotic bit depths will give you nothing good. – Petr Abdulin Aug 15 '11 at 18:18
  • I used 16 bits per sample and encoded the actual bitdepth as metadata. Thanks – Itsik Aug 16 '11 at 10:16
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    I want to point to TIFF tags MAXSAMPLEVALUE and MINSAMPLEVALUE, that can be set (with tifflib at least) and give a range of possible values that is interpreted by some viewers (ImageJ for example). –  Nov 27 '19 at 14:40
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You can store the image as a multi-image file. For example, with a 12 bit source, one image would be an RGB(8) image using the upper 8 bits and a second 16bit gray scale that was a combination of the low four bits and four bits of padding. This gives a TIFF that can be viewed with on a monitor with standard programs and the extra precision can be retrieved with custom software.

I disagree that 'exotic' bit depths are not good. This format would reduce the image size by 5/6. You could even just store the 2nd image as a re-scaled version that would have the 4 bits tightly packed without padding for a 3/4 size reduction. This savings can be significant with very large data sets, where compression is not an option due to the nature of the data. Ie, many scientific and machine vision applications may want the un-adultered bits. The ability to convert from the multi-image tiff to a 16-bit tiff would allow the use of standard programs and image libraries.

artless noise
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