Tag Image File Format Fax eXtended (TIFF-FX) - image/tiff-fx MIME Sub-type Registration
RFC 3950

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Network Working Group                                        L. McIntyre
Request for Comments: 3950                                    Consultant
Obsoletes: 3250                                               G. Parsons
Category: Standards Track                                Nortel Networks
                                                             J. Rafferty
                                                   Brooktrout Technology
                                                           February 2005

      Tag Image File Format Fax eXtended (TIFF-FX) - image/tiff-fx
                       MIME Sub-type Registration

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

Abstract

   This document describes the registration of the MIME sub-type
   image/tiff-fx.  The encodings are defined by File Format for Internet
   Fax and its extensions.

1.  Introduction

   This document describes the registration of the MIME sub-type
   image/tiff-fx.  The encodings are defined by File Format for Internet
   Fax [TIFF-FX] and its extensions.

   This document is a product of the IETF Internet Fax Working Group.

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14, RFC 2119
   [REQ].

2.  TIFF-FX Definition

   Tag Image File Format Fax eXtended (TIFF-FX), is defined in detail by
   RFC 3949, "File Format for Internet Fax" [TIFF-FX].

McIntyre, et al.            Standards Track                     [Page 1]
RFC 3950                     image/tiff-fx                 February 2005

   While a brief scope and feature description is provided in this
   section as background information, the reader is directed to the
   original TIFF-FX specification (File Format for Internet Fax) to
   obtain complete feature and technical details.

2.1.  TIFF-FX Scope

   This document defines a TIFF-based file format specification for
   enabling standardized messaging-based fax over the Internet.  It
   specifies the TIFF fields and field values required for compatibility
   with the existing ITU-T Recommendations for Group 3 black-and-white,
   grayscale and color facsimile.  TIFF has historically been used for
   handling fax image files in applications such as store-and-forward
   messaging.  Implementations that support this file format
   specification for import/export may elect to support it as a native
   format.  This document recommends a TIFF file structure that is
   compatible with low-memory and page-level streaming implementations.

   Unless otherwise noted, the current TIFF specification [TIFF] and
   selected TIFF Technical Notes [TTN1, TTN2] are the primary references
   for describing TIFF and defining TIFF fields.  This document is the
   primary reference for defining TIFF field values for fax
   applications.

2.2.  TIFF-FX Features

   Some of the features of TIFF-FX are:

   -  TIFF-FX is capable of describing bilevel, grayscale, palette-
      color, full-color and mixed content image data.

   -  TIFF-FX includes a number of compression schemes that allow
      developers to choose the best space or time tradeoff for their
      applications.

   -  TIFF-FX is designed to be extensible and to evolve gracefully as
      new needs arise.

3.  MIME Definition

   This document defines the image/tiff-fx MIME sub-type to refer to
   TIFF-FX Profiles J, C, L and M encoded image data and any future
   TIFF-FX extensions, or a subset.  The image/tiff-fx content type MAY
   be used when black-and-white image data is encoded using TIFF-FX
   Profiles S or F, or a subset, however, the image/tiff content type
   SHOULD be used.

McIntyre, et al.            Standards Track                     [Page 2]
RFC 3950                     image/tiff-fx                 February 2005

4.  IANA Registration

   To: ietf-types@iana.org
   Subject: Registration of Standard MIME media type image/tiff-fx

   MIME media type name: image

   MIME subtype name: tiff-fx

   Required parameters: none

   Optional parameters: none

   Encoding Considerations:

      This media type consists of binary data.  The base64 encoding
      should be used on transports that cannot accommodate binary data
      directly.

   Security considerations:

      TIFF-FX utilizes a structure which can store image data and
      attributes of this image data.  The fields defined in the TIFF-FX
      specification are of a descriptive nature and provide information
      that is useful to facilitate viewing and rendering of images by a