{"id":"image-tiff-fx","mimeType":"image/tiff-fx","name":"TIFF for Facsimile eXtended","shortName":"TIFF-FX","category":"Telecommunications \u0026 Fax","extensions":[".tiff",".tif"],"description":"The image/tiff-fx MIME type represents TIFF for Facsimile eXtended (TIFF-FX), a specialized profile of the Tagged Image File Format designed specifically for transmitting multi-page facsimile (fax) documents over the Internet. It defines specific profiles for black-and-white, grayscale, and color faxing, standardizing how fax data is encapsulated for email (Internet Fax) and IP network transmission.","seo":{"title":"image/tiff-fx MIME Type | Complete Developer Reference","description":"Complete reference for the image/tiff-fx MIME type: magic bytes, Internet Fax profiles, HTTP headers, developer snippets, and technical specifications.","faqs":[{"question":"What is the difference between image/tiff and image/tiff-fx?","answer":"Structurally, a TIFF-FX file is a standard TIFF file. However, image/tiff-fx guarantees that the file adheres to strict Internet Fax profiles (Profiles S, F, J, C, L, or M) defined by the IETF. This ensures compatibility with VoIP fax gateways, fax machines, and enterprise fax servers."},{"question":"What compression algorithms does TIFF-FX use?","answer":"Depending on the fax profile, TIFF-FX supports Modified Huffman (MH), Modified Read (MR), Modified Modified Read (MMR) for standard B\u0026W faxes, JBIG for high-compression B\u0026W or color, and JPEG for standard color faxes."},{"question":"Can I open a TIFF-FX file in a standard image viewer?","answer":"Yes, in most cases. Because TIFF-FX is built on the standard TIFF 6.0 structure, robust image viewers and operating system previewers can usually open and display the pages, provided they support the specific compression algorithm (like MMR or CCITT Group 4) used inside the file."}]},"index":{"compression":["MH / MR / MMR (CCITT Group 3 \u0026 4)","JBIG","JPEG"],"browserSupport":{"score":1,"label":"None"},"commonUses":["Internet Fax (T.37)","Enterprise Fax Servers","Document Archiving","Telecommunications"]},"technical":{"magicBytes":{"hex":"49 49 2A 00 (Little-Endian) / 4D 4D 00 2A (Big-Endian)","ascii":"II*\\x00 / MM\\x00*"},"container":"TIFF 6.0 Tag Directory Structure","compressionAlgorithm":["CCITT Group 3/4","JBIG","JPEG"],"colorDepth":["1-bit (Monochrome B\u0026W)","8-bit (Grayscale/Color Indexed)","24-bit (RGB Color)"],"transparency":false,"animation":false,"metadata":{"exif":false,"xmp":true,"iccProfile":true},"alphaChannel":false,"progressiveLoading":false,"hdrSupport":false},"history":{"developer":"IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)","released":"1998","specification":"RFC 3949 (Obsoletes RFC 2301)"},"browserSupport":{"chrome":false,"chromeVersion":"None","firefox":false,"firefoxVersion":"None","safari":false,"safariVersion":"None","edge":false,"edgeVersion":"None","internetExplorer":false},"softwareSupport":[{"name":"HylaFAX","logo":""},{"name":"Windows Fax and Scan","logo":""},{"name":"LibTIFF","logo":""},{"name":"ImageMagick","logo":"image-magic.webp"}],"conversion":{"convertTo":["tiff","png","jpeg"],"convertFrom":["tiff","raw_fax"]},"developer":{"httpHeaders":[{"header":"Content-Type","value":"image/tiff-fx"}],"htmlAccept":"image/tiff-fx, .tiff, .tif","fileDetection":["Check the first two bytes for TIFF endianness (49 49 or 4D 4D)","Verify the 42 identifier (2A 00 or 00 2A)","Parse the IFD (Image File Directory) tags to verify fax-specific parameters such as GlobalParametersIFD (Tag 400) or specific PhotometricInterpretation and Compression tags associated with Profiles S, F, J, C, L, or M"]},"prosCons":{"pros":["Provides a universal, standardized format for transmitting multi-page documents over IP networks and email (Internet Fax)","Supports highly efficient telecom-centric compression algorithms (MMR, JBIG) that produce very small files for text documents","Maintains backwards compatibility with standard TIFF parsers"],"cons":["Not supported natively by web browsers","Requires complex parsing of TIFF IFD tags to differentiate a true TIFF-FX file from a standard TIFF file","Usage is slowly declining as traditional faxing is replaced by secure PDF transmission and e-signature platforms"]},"specifications":{"url":"https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3949","rfc":"RFC 3949","mimeAliases":["image/tiff"]},"developerSnippets":{"python":"import magic\n# Libmagic will typically identify this simply as a TIFF file, not explicitly TIFF-FX\nprint(magic.from_file('fax.tif', mime=True)) # Outputs 'image/tiff'","nodejs":"const FileType = require('file-type');\nconst type = await FileType.fromFile('fax.tif');\nconsole.log(type.mime); // Outputs 'image/tiff'. Identifying TIFF-FX requires parsing the internal IFD tags.","go":"import \"net/http\"\n// http.DetectContentType will return 'image/tiff' based on the II* or MM* magic bytes.","php":"$mime = mime_content_type('fax.tif');\necho $mime; // Standard server setups resolve this to 'image/tiff'"},"relatedFormats":["tiff"]}