For long-term storage of edited Photoshop images, should I save as PSD or TIFF?
Asked 6/2/2011
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After retouching a photo in Photoshop, I want to archive the edited version for long-term use. What are the practical advantages and disadvantages of saving that file as TIFF versus PSD? I'm specifically comparing the edited master file formats, not RAW versus TIFF.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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The short answer is: save it as a TIFF.
PSD may once have been considered the more "native"/modern Photoshop format, but no longer. Jeff Schewe (the Photoshop Guru's Guru) advised way back in August 2007 on the Luminous Landscape forums that choosing TIFF over PSD was his strong recommendation. I quote:
Look, I'll make it REAL simple...
TIFF = Good
PSD = Bad
Here's some more detail from that forum posting, but I encourage you to follow the link and read the rest of it:
PSD is now a bastardized file format that is NOT a good idea to use. Even the Photoshop engineers will tell you that PSD is no longer the Photoshop "native" file format. It has no advantages and many disadvantages over TIFF.
TIFF is publicly documented, PSD is not. That makes TIFF a preferred file format for the long term conservation of digital files.
And, let me be blunt, anybody who thinks PSD is "better" than TIFF is ignorant of the facts. If Adobe would let them, the Photoshop engineers would tell you to quit using PSD.
Originally by user1124. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1124
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
For most photo archiving, TIFF is usually the safer choice. It’s more widely supported, publicly documented, and many editors outside Photoshop can read it. TIFF can also preserve layers and support high bit depths, so it works well for many edited photo masters.
PSD’s main advantage is Photoshop feature support. PSD (and PSB for very large files) supports all Photoshop features, and Adobe apps can often preserve more Photoshop-specific data when importing PSDs. If your file relies on complex Photoshop-only features—such as extensive layer styles, folders, snapshots, custom channels, or other app-specific metadata—PSD may retain more of that information.
So the trade-off is:
- TIFF: better interoperability and long-term accessibility
- PSD: best for preserving every Photoshop-specific feature
If your edited photos are typical layered image files, TIFF is often the better archival format. If you need full fidelity to all Photoshop features for future re-editing inside Adobe software, keep a PSD as well.
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