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Quicktime tiff lzw decompressor7/6/2023 ![]() ![]() I only go to the RAW image - and post-process - when I have screwed up! The JPEG compression algorithms have gotten so good that I just use the out-of-camera JPEGs most of the time. Of course, if you printed the JPEG and the RAW saved as a TIFF, you would very likely not notice any quality difference in the two images. If you wonder what is lost, then view the two images on a large, high resolution display - and zoom in and pixel peek. ![]() ![]() Set your camera to RAW + JPEG and compare the size of the RAW and JPEG image files from the camera. JPEGs are "lossy" - when you save as a JPEG, you throw away tons of information that was in that RAW image. That you are getting no size difference between an uncompressed and LZW TIFF out of Preview means Preview is doing something wrong. As such, I have no idea of it's lossy or lossless. I've never used it (not even an option in Photoshop). LZW can be opened and saved a zillion times, and the last will be the same as the first. Each time you open and save the file, you compound the loss. It's a very slight difference compared to an uncompressed image, but it's still a loss. Even using the highest quality option, information is tossed. If you really want a JPEG, just save it as one to begin with. You are literally saving your image as a JPEG inside a TIFF wrapper. Using JPEG compression is the most pointless option for TIFF images I have ever seen. It's lossless and saves quite a bit of space. If you want to get the size down, use LZW. The uncompressed TIFF saved from that is about 105 MB. From my Nikon D800, a typical RAW image is about 48 MB. It's normal for camera RAW images to be smaller than a TIFF written from that image. ![]()
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