Network Working Group Glenn Parsons
Internet Draft James Rafferty
Expires in six months May 30, 1997
Tag Image File Format (TIFF) - image/TIFF
MIME Sub-type Registration
<draft-ietf-fax-tiff-reg-00.txt>
Status of this Memo
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Overview
This document describes the registration of the MIME sub-type
image/tiff. The baseline encoding is defined by [TIFF] and a common
Internet fax format is defined in [TIFF-F].
Internet Fax Working Group
This document is a product of the IETF Internet Fax Working Group.
All comments on this document should be forwarded to the email
distribution list at <ietf-fax@imc.org>.
Internet Draft TIFF-F May 30, 1997
1. Abstract
This document describes the registration of the MIME sub-type
image/tiff. The baseline encoding is defined by [TIFF] and a common
Internet fax format is defined in [TIFF-F]. This document refines
an earlier sub-type registration in RFC 1528 [TPC.INT].
2. TIFF Definition
TIFF (Tag Image File Format) Revision 6.0 is defined in detail by
Adobe in [TIFF]. The documentation can be obtained from Adobe at:
Adobe Developers Association
Adobe Systems Incorporated
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110-2704
Phone: +1-408-536-6000
Fax: +1-408-537-6000
A copy of this specification can also be found in:
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/devrelations/devtechnotes/pdffiles/tif
f6.pdf
2.1 TIFF-F Definition
Though it has been in common usage for many years, TIFF-F has
previously never been documented in the form of a standard. An
informal TIFF-F document was originally created by a small group of
fax experts led by Joe Campbell. The existence of TIFF-F is noted
in [TIFF] but it is not defined. The formal definition for TIFF-F
for Internet applications can be found in [TIFF-F].
3. MIME Definition
3.1 image/TIFF
The image/TIFF sub-type was originally defined in RFC 1528 as
containing TIFF 5.0 encoded image data. This document re-defines
the original image/TIFF definition to refer to TIFF 6.0 encoded
image data. The TIFF 6.0 specification is a cleaner document and is
compatible with previous TIFF 5.0 encoded image data.
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3.2 Application parameter
Up until TIFF 6.0, TIFF supported various "Classes" which defined
the use of TIFF for various applications. The intent of Classes
had been to reduce the information burden on TIFF readers and
writers that wished to support narrow applications.
There are it cases where it may be useful to identify the
application applicable to the content of an image/TIFF body. As a
result, an optional "application" parameter is defined for
image/TIFF to identify the TIFF application of the encoded image
data, if it is known.
TIFF-F [TIFF-F] has been known historically as "TIFF Class F" and
previous informal TIFF-F documents used this terminology. This
document defines the application parameter value "F" to correspond
to a bi-level facsimile image defined by [TIFF-F].
Example:
Content-type: image/TIFF; application=F
There is no default value for application, as the absence of the
application parameter indicates that the encoded TIFF image is
Baseline TIFF or that it is not necessary to identify the
application. It is up to the implementation to determine the
application (if necessary) and present the image to the user.
3.3 Interoperability considerations
The ability of implementations to handle all the defined
applications of TIFF may not be ubiquitous. As a result, the
absence of the application parameter would force implementations to
decode and attempt to display the encoded TIFF image data in order
to determine if it could actually be viewed.
4. IANA Registration
To: ietf-types@iana.org
Subject: Registration of Standard MIME media type image/TIFF
MIME media type name: image
MIME subtype name: TIFF
Required parameters: none
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Internet Draft TIFF-F May 30, 1997
Optional parameters: application
The applications of TIFF are denoted by letters. A single
application is defined here for TIFF-F as follows:
F - Bi-Level Facsimile
There is no default value for application, as the absence of
the application parameter indicates that the encoded TIFF
image is Baseline TIFF or that it is not necessary to
identify the application. It is up to the implementation to
determine the application (if necessary) and present the
image to the user.
Encoding considerations: Binary or Base-64 generally preferred
Security considerations: none
Interoperability considerations:
The ability of implementations to handle all the defined
applications of TIFF may not be ubiquitous. As a result,
the absence of the application parameter would force
implementations to decode and attempt to display the encoded
TIFF image data in order to determine if it could actually
be viewed.
Published specification:
TIFF (Tag Image File Format) is defined in:
TIFF (TM) Revision 6.0 - Final - June 3, 1992
Adobe Developers Association
Adobe Systems Incorporated
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110-2704
Phone: +1-408-536-6000
Fax: +1-408-537-6000
A copy of this specification can be found in:
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/devrelations/devtechnotes/pdff
iles/tiff6.pdf
TIFF-F is defined in [TIFF-F]
Applications which use this media type:
primarily fax and voice messaging
Additional information:
Magic number(s):
II (little-endian): 49 49 42 00 hex
MM (big-endian): 4D 4D 00 42 hex
File extension(s): .TIF
Macintosh File Type Code(s): TIFF
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Internet Draft TIFF-F May 30, 1997
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Glenn W. Parsons
Glenn.Parsons@Nortel.ca
James Rafferty
Jrafferty@worldnet.att.net
Intended usage: COMMON
Author/Change controller:
James Rafferty
5. Authors' Addresses
Glenn W. Parsons
Nortel Technology
P.O. Box 3511, Station C
Ottawa, ON K1Y 4H7
Canada
Phone: +1-613-763-7582
Fax: +1-613-763-8385
Email: Glenn.Parsons@Nortel.ca
James Rafferty
Human Communications
12 Kevin Drive
Danbury, CT 06811-2901
USA
Phone: +1-203-746-4367
Fax: +1-203-746-4367
Email: Jrafferty@worldnet.att.net
6. References
[MIME4] N. Freed and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures", RFC
2048, Innosoft, First Virtual, Nov 1996.
[TIFF] Adobe Developers Association, TIFF (TM) Revision 6.0 - Final,
June 3, 1992.
[TIFF-F] G. Parsons and J. Rafferty, " Tag Image File Format (TIFF)
- Application F", Work In Progress, <draft-ietf-fax-tiff-
02.txt>, May 1997.
[TPC.INT] C. Malamud, M. Rose, "Principles of Operation for the
TPC.INT Subdomain: Remote Printing -- Technical Procedures",
RFC 1528, 10/06/1993
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