TIFFGT(1) LibTIFF TIFFGT(1)
tiffgt - display an image stored in a TIFF file (Silicon Graphics
version)
tiffgt [ options ] input.tif <?>
tiffgt displays one or more images stored using the Tag Image File
Format, Revision 6.0.
tiffgt correctly handles files with any of the following
characteristics:
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|Tag | Value |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|BitsPerSample | 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|SamplesPerPixel | 1, 3, 4 (the 4th sample |
| | is ignored) |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|PhotometricInterpretation | 0 (min-is-white), 1 |
| | (min-is-black), 2 (RGB), |
| | 3 (palette), 6 (YCbCr) |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|PlanarConfiguration | 1 (contiguous), 2 |
| | (separate) |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|Orientation | 1 (top-left), 4 |
| | (bottom-left) |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
Data may be organized as strips or tiles and may be compressed with
any of the compression algorithms supported by the libtiff library.
For palette images (PhotometricInterpretation=3), tiffgt inspects the
colormap values and assumes either 16-bit or 8-bit values according
to the maximum value. That is, if no colormap entry greater than 255
is found, tiffgt assumes the colormap has only 8-bit values;
otherwise it assumes 16-bit values. This inspection is done to
handle old images written by previous (incorrect) versions of
libtiff.
tiffgt can be used to display multiple images one-at-a-time. The
left mouse button switches the display to the first image in the next
file in the list of files specified on the command line. The right
mouse button switches to the first image in the previous file in the
list. The middle mouse button causes the first image in the first
file specified on the command line to be displayed. In addition the
following keyboard commands are recognized:
+---------+----------------------------+
|Key | Description |
+---------+----------------------------+
|b | Use a |
| | PhotometricInterpretation |
| | of MinIsBlack in |
| | displaying the current |
| | image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|l | Use a FillOrder of |
| | lsb-to-msb in decoding the |
| | current image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|m | Use a FillOrder of |
| | msb-to-lsb in decoding the |
| | current image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|c | Use a colormap visual to |
| | display the current image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|r | Use a true color (24-bit |
| | RGB) visual to display the |
| | current image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|w | Use a |
| | PhotometricInterpretation |
| | of MinIsWhite in |
| | displaying the current |
| | image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|W | Toggle (enable/disable) |
| | display of warning |
| | messages from the TIFF |
| | library when decoding |
| | images |
+---------+----------------------------+
|E | Toggle (enable/disable) |
| | display of error messages |
| | from the TIFF library when |
| | decoding images. |
+---------+----------------------------+
|z | Reset all parameters to |
| | their default settings |
| | (FillOrder, |
| | PhotometricInterpretation, |
| | handling of warnings and |
| | errors) |
+---------+----------------------------+
|PageUp | Display the previous image |
| | in the current file or the |
| | last image in the previous |
| | file |
+---------+----------------------------+
|PageDown | Display the next image in |
| | the current file or the |
| | first image in the next |
| | file |
+---------+----------------------------+
|Home | Display the first image in |
| | the current file |
+---------+----------------------------+
|End | Display the last image in |
| | the current file |
| | (unimplemented) |
+---------+----------------------------+
-c Force image display in a colormap window.
-d Specify an image to display by directory number. By default
the first image in the file is displayed. Directories are
numbered starting at zero.
-e Enable reporting of error messages from the TIFF library. By
default tiffgt silently ignores images that cannot be read.
-f Force tiffgt to run as a foreground process. By default
tiffgt will place itself in the background once it has opened
the requested image file.
-l Force the presumed bit ordering to be LSB to MSB.
-m Force the presumed bit ordering to be MSB to LSB.
-o Specify an image to display by directory offset. By default
the first image in the file is displayed. Directories offsets
may be specified using C-style syntax; i.e. a leading 0x for
hexadecimal and a leading 0 for octal.
-p Override the value of the PhotometricInterpretation tag; the
parameter may be one of: miniswhite , minisblack, rgb,
palette, mask, separated, ycbcr, and cielab.
-r Force image display in a full color window.
-s Stop on the first read error. By default all errors in the
input data are ignored and tiffgt does it's best to display as
much of an image as possible.
-w Enable reporting of warning messages from the TIFF library.
By default tiffgt ignores warning messages generated when
reading an image.
-v Place information in the title bar describing what type of
window (full color or colormap) is being used, the name of the
input file, and the directory index of the image (if
non-zero). By default, the window type is not shown in the
title bar.
Images wider and taller than the display are silently truncated to
avoid crashing old versions of the window manager.
tiffdump (1), tiffinfo (1), tiffcp (1), libtiff (3tiff)
LibTIFF contributors
1988-2025, LibTIFF contributors
4.7 March 7, 2026 TIFFGT(1)
NAME
tiffgt - display an image stored in a TIFF file (Silicon Graphics
version)
SYNOPSIS
tiffgt [ options ] input.tif <?>
DESCRIPTION
tiffgt displays one or more images stored using the Tag Image File
Format, Revision 6.0.
tiffgt correctly handles files with any of the following
characteristics:
SUPPORTED TAG VALUES
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|Tag | Value |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|BitsPerSample | 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|SamplesPerPixel | 1, 3, 4 (the 4th sample |
| | is ignored) |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|PhotometricInterpretation | 0 (min-is-white), 1 |
| | (min-is-black), 2 (RGB), |
| | 3 (palette), 6 (YCbCr) |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|PlanarConfiguration | 1 (contiguous), 2 |
| | (separate) |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
|Orientation | 1 (top-left), 4 |
| | (bottom-left) |
+--------------------------+--------------------------+
Data may be organized as strips or tiles and may be compressed with
any of the compression algorithms supported by the libtiff library.
For palette images (PhotometricInterpretation=3), tiffgt inspects the
colormap values and assumes either 16-bit or 8-bit values according
to the maximum value. That is, if no colormap entry greater than 255
is found, tiffgt assumes the colormap has only 8-bit values;
otherwise it assumes 16-bit values. This inspection is done to
handle old images written by previous (incorrect) versions of
libtiff.
tiffgt can be used to display multiple images one-at-a-time. The
left mouse button switches the display to the first image in the next
file in the list of files specified on the command line. The right
mouse button switches to the first image in the previous file in the
list. The middle mouse button causes the first image in the first
file specified on the command line to be displayed. In addition the
following keyboard commands are recognized:
ACTION KEYS
+---------+----------------------------+
|Key | Description |
+---------+----------------------------+
|b | Use a |
| | PhotometricInterpretation |
| | of MinIsBlack in |
| | displaying the current |
| | image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|l | Use a FillOrder of |
| | lsb-to-msb in decoding the |
| | current image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|m | Use a FillOrder of |
| | msb-to-lsb in decoding the |
| | current image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|c | Use a colormap visual to |
| | display the current image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|r | Use a true color (24-bit |
| | RGB) visual to display the |
| | current image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|w | Use a |
| | PhotometricInterpretation |
| | of MinIsWhite in |
| | displaying the current |
| | image |
+---------+----------------------------+
|W | Toggle (enable/disable) |
| | display of warning |
| | messages from the TIFF |
| | library when decoding |
| | images |
+---------+----------------------------+
|E | Toggle (enable/disable) |
| | display of error messages |
| | from the TIFF library when |
| | decoding images. |
+---------+----------------------------+
|z | Reset all parameters to |
| | their default settings |
| | (FillOrder, |
| | PhotometricInterpretation, |
| | handling of warnings and |
| | errors) |
+---------+----------------------------+
|PageUp | Display the previous image |
| | in the current file or the |
| | last image in the previous |
| | file |
+---------+----------------------------+
|PageDown | Display the next image in |
| | the current file or the |
| | first image in the next |
| | file |
+---------+----------------------------+
|Home | Display the first image in |
| | the current file |
+---------+----------------------------+
|End | Display the last image in |
| | the current file |
| | (unimplemented) |
+---------+----------------------------+
OPTIONS
-c Force image display in a colormap window.
-d Specify an image to display by directory number. By default
the first image in the file is displayed. Directories are
numbered starting at zero.
-e Enable reporting of error messages from the TIFF library. By
default tiffgt silently ignores images that cannot be read.
-f Force tiffgt to run as a foreground process. By default
tiffgt will place itself in the background once it has opened
the requested image file.
-l Force the presumed bit ordering to be LSB to MSB.
-m Force the presumed bit ordering to be MSB to LSB.
-o Specify an image to display by directory offset. By default
the first image in the file is displayed. Directories offsets
may be specified using C-style syntax; i.e. a leading 0x for
hexadecimal and a leading 0 for octal.
-p Override the value of the PhotometricInterpretation tag; the
parameter may be one of: miniswhite , minisblack, rgb,
palette, mask, separated, ycbcr, and cielab.
-r Force image display in a full color window.
-s Stop on the first read error. By default all errors in the
input data are ignored and tiffgt does it's best to display as
much of an image as possible.
-w Enable reporting of warning messages from the TIFF library.
By default tiffgt ignores warning messages generated when
reading an image.
-v Place information in the title bar describing what type of
window (full color or colormap) is being used, the name of the
input file, and the directory index of the image (if
non-zero). By default, the window type is not shown in the
title bar.
BUGS
Images wider and taller than the display are silently truncated to
avoid crashing old versions of the window manager.
SEE ALSO
tiffdump (1), tiffinfo (1), tiffcp (1), libtiff (3tiff)
AUTHOR
LibTIFF contributors
COPYRIGHT
1988-2025, LibTIFF contributors
4.7 March 7, 2026 TIFFGT(1)