macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install libtifflocal Homebrew formula metadata
brew / rank 30
Install libtiff with Homebrew, dnf, Nix, pacman, zypper
TIFF library and utilities. Version 4.7.2 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#libtiff.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install libtiffFedora Rawhide package metadata · libtiff · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#libtiffnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/li/libtiff/package.nix · source: api.github.com
Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%
sudo pacman -S libtiffArch Linux sync databases · libtiff · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install libtiff6openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · libtiff6 · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
TIFF library and utilities
Project links
Commands and aliases
- fax2ps
- fax2tiff
- pal2rgb
- ppm2tiff
- raw2tiff
- tiff2bw
- tiff2pdf
- tiff2ps
- tiff2rgba
- tiffcmp
- tiffcp
- tiffcrop
- tiffdither
- tiffdump
- tiffinfo
- tiffmedian
- tiffset
- tiffsplit
history
Project history and usage
LibTIFF is the long-running C library and utility suite for reading, writing, inspecting, and transforming TIFF images. It is one of the durable image-format dependencies that quietly sits under scanning, publishing, GIS, scientific-imaging, and document workflows.
Project history
The LibTIFF license and README preserve the original authorship line: copyright 1988-1997 Sam Leffler and 1991-1997 Silicon Graphics. The project documentation describes a library for reading and writing TIFF images plus a collection of tools for manipulating TIFF files.
The project moved through several hosting eras. The README points users to libtiff.gitlab.io and simplesystems.org documentation, OSGeo downloads, and the GitLab source repository, while noting that older Bugzilla issues were migrated to GitLab.
A major evolution point was LibTIFF 4.0.0, whose release notes document BigTIFF support and 64-bit offset work. BigTIFF addressed classic TIFF's 32-bit-offset limit by defining a 64-bit larger-than-4GB TIFF variant.
Adoption history
LibTIFF became standard infrastructure because TIFF itself remained common in archival, print, fax, geospatial, and scientific image data. The input metadata shows packaging in Homebrew, Fedora, Nix, Arch, and openSUSE, and the upstream docs emphasize portability across Unix-like systems and Windows.
The tool set also helped adoption: utilities such as tiffinfo, tiffdump, tiffcp, tiffset, and tiffsplit make the package useful even when no application links the library directly. Upstream's 4.6.0 and 4.7.0 notes about archiving and restoring tools show how much packagers notice the command-line surface.
How it is used
Developers link libtiff to read and write TIFF image data, inspect directories and tags, and handle compression and multi-image files. Users and packagers also rely on the bundled tools for metadata inspection, conversion, splitting, copying, and repair-style workflows.
Because TIFF is a container-like image format with many tags, compression modes, and historical edge cases, LibTIFF often serves as the shared compatibility layer instead of each application implementing the format independently.
Why package nerds care
LibTIFF is the sort of dependency package managers keep sharp because so many unrelated tools inherit its parser and utilities. Security fixes, format-corner-case behavior, and command availability can affect image viewers, document converters, GIS tools, scanner stacks, and scientific pipelines.
Its history also tracks format evolution: classic TIFF, BigTIFF, long-lived command-line utilities, and a project migration from older web infrastructure to GitLab-backed documentation and issue tracking.
Timeline
- 1988: Sam Leffler copyright begins for LibTIFF.
- 1991: Silicon Graphics copyright begins, marking the SGI era of the project.
- 2011: LibTIFF 4.0.0 release notes document BigTIFF support and 64-bit offset changes.
- 2023: LibTIFF 4.6.0 moves many older tools to archived or unsupported source categories and stops building them by default.
- 2024: LibTIFF 4.7.0 restores the removed tools to the default build.
- 2025: The documentation copyright line reaches 1988-2025 for LibTIFF contributors.
Related projects
- TIFF 6.0 and BigTIFF are the core file-format specifications around LibTIFF. ImageMagick, GDAL, scanning software, document converters, and many image viewers commonly sit nearby in distribution dependency graphs.
Sources
- https://gitlab.com/libtiff/libtiff/-/raw/master/README.md
- https://libtiff.gitlab.io/libtiff/
- https://libtiff.gitlab.io/libtiff/project/license.html
- https://libtiff.gitlab.io/libtiff/releases/historical.html
- https://libtiff.gitlab.io/libtiff/releases/v4.0.0.html
- https://libtiff.gitlab.io/libtiff/specification/bigtiff.html
security posture
Risk level: green
library-like package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- library-like package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:library-like
Install behavior
- No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
fax2ps | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
fax2tiff | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
pal2rgb | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
ppm2tiff | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
raw2tiff | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiff2bw | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiff2pdf | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiff2ps | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiff2rgba | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiffcmp | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiffcp | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiffcrop | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiffdither | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiffdump | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiffinfo | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiffmedian | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiffset | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
tiffsplit | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-08-03
manager version4.7.2
manager updated
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:libtiff |
|---|---|
| Version | 4.7.2 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://libtiff.gitlab.io/libtiff/ |
| Bottle | not recorded |
| Service | none declared |
source database matches
Other package-manager records
Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.
Nix95%
libtiff
nix profile install nixpkgs#libtiff- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libtiff
dnf95%
libtiff 4.7.2-2.fc45
Library of functions for manipulating TIFF format image files
http://www.simplesystems.org/libtiff/
sudo dnf install libtiff- License: libtiff
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: libtiff
- 11 dependencies
- 3 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libtiff
dnf95%
libtiff-devel 4.7.2-2.fc45
Development tools for programs which will use the libtiff library
http://www.simplesystems.org/libtiff/
sudo dnf install libtiff-devel- License: libtiff
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: libtiff
- 5 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libtiff
dnf95%
libtiff-static 4.7.2-2.fc45
Static TIFF image format file library
http://www.simplesystems.org/libtiff/
sudo dnf install libtiff-static- License: libtiff
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: i686
- Source Package: libtiff
- 1 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libtiff
dnf95%
libtiff-tools 4.7.2-2.fc45
Command-line utility programs for manipulating TIFF files
http://www.simplesystems.org/libtiff/
sudo dnf install libtiff-tools- License: libtiff
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: libtiff
- 5 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libtiff
pacman95%
libtiff 4.7.2-1
Library for manipulation of TIFF images
http://www.simplesystems.org/libtiff/
sudo pacman -S libtiff- License: libtiff
- Architecture: x86_64
- 10 dependencies
- 2 provides
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libtiff
zypper95%
libtiff6 4.7.2-1.2
The Tiff Library (with JPEG and compression support)
https://libtiff.gitlab.io/libtiff/
sudo zypper install libtiff6- License: HPND
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: tiff
- 10 dependencies
- 4 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Libtiff
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- pkg.so package database
- pkgdb category and tag curation