INTRO(3T) MISC. REFERENCE MANUAL PAGES INTRO(3T)
NAME
intro - introduction to libtiff, a library for reading and
writing TIFF files
SYNOPSIS
#include <tiffio.h>
cc file.c -ltiff
DESCRIPTION
Libtiff is a library for reading and writing data files
encoded with the Tag Image File format, Revision 6.0 (or
revision 5.0 or revision 4.0). This file format is suitable
for archiving multi-color and monochromatic image data.
The library supports several compression algorithms, as
indicated by the Compression field, including: no compres-
sion (1), CCITT 1D Huffman compression (2), CCITT Group 3
Facsimile compression (3), CCITT Group 4 Facsimile compres-
sion (4), Lempel-Ziv & Welch compression (5), word-aligned
1D Huffman compression (32771), and PackBits compression
(32773). In addition, several nonstandard compression algo-
rithms are supported: the 4-bit compression algorithm used
by the ThunderScan program (32809) (decompression only), and
NeXT's 2-bit compression algorithm (32766) (decompression
only). Directory information may be in either little- or
big-endian byte order-byte swapping is automatically done by
the library. Data bit ordering may be either Most Signifi-
cant Bit (MSB) to Least Significant Bit (LSB) or LSB to MSB.
Finally, the library does not support files in which the
BitsPerSample, Compression, MinSampleValue, or MaxSam-
pleValue fields are defined differently on a per-sample
basis (in Rev. 6.0 the Compression tag is not defined on a
per-sample basis, so this is immaterial).
DATA TYPES
The library makes extensive use of C typedefs to promote
portability. Two sets of typedefs are used, one for commun-
ication with clients of the library and one for internal
data structures and parsing of the TIFF format. The follow-
ing typedefs are exposed to users either through function
definitions or through parameters passed through the varargs
interfaces.
typedef unsigned short uint16; 16-bit unsigned integer
typedef unsigned <thing> uint32; 32-bit unsigned integer
typedef unsigned int ttag_t; directory tag
typedef uint16 tdir_t; directory index
typedef uint16 tsample_t; sample number
typedef uint32 tstrip_t; strip number
typedef uint32 ttile_t; tile number
typedef int32 tsize_t; i/o size in bytes
typedef void* tdata_t; image data ref
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INTRO(3T) MISC. REFERENCE MANUAL PAGES INTRO(3T)
typedef void* thandle_t; client data handle
typedef int32 toff_t; file offset
Note that tstrip_t, ttile_t, and tsize_t are constrained to
be no more than 32-bit quantities by 32-bit fields they are
stored in in the TIFF image. Likewise tsample_t is limited
by the 16-bit field used to store the SamplesPerPixel tag.
tdir_t constrains the maximum number of IFDs that may appear
in an image and may be an arbitrary size (w/o penalty).
ttag_t must be either int, unsigned int, pointer, or double
because the library uses a varargs interface and ANSI C res-
tricts the type of the parameter before an ellipsis to be a
promoted type. toff_t is defined as int32 because TIFF file
offsets are (unsigned) 32-bit quantities. A signed value is
used because some interfaces return -1 on error. Finally,
note that user-specified data references are passed as
opaque handles and only cast at the lowest layers where
their type is presumed.
LIST OF ROUTINES
The following routines are available. Consult specific
manual pages for details on their operation. (The manual
page names give here are for systems where the full function
names can not be encoded in the filesystem; on most systems
doing ``man function-name'' will work.)
Name Appears on Page Description
TIFFCheckTile tile.3t very x,y,z,sample is within image
TIFFClientOpen open.3t open a file for reading or writing
TIFFClose close.3t close an open file
TIFFComputeStrip strip.3t return strip containing y,sample
TIFFComputeTile tile.3t return tile containing x,y,z,sample
TIFFCurrentDirectory query.3t return index of current directory
TIFFCurrentRow query.3t return index of current scanline
TIFFCurrentStrip query.3t return index of current strip
TIFFCurrentTile query.3t return index of current tile
TIFFError error.3t library error handler
TIFFFdOpen open.3t open a file for reading or writing
TIFFFileName query.3t return name of open file
TIFFFileno query.3t return open file descriptor
TIFFFlush flush.3t flush all pending writes
TIFFFlushData flush.3t flush pending data writes
TIFFGetBitRevTable swab.3t return bit reversal table
TIFFGetField getfield.3t return tag value in current directory
TIFFGetFieldDefaulted getfield.3t return tag value in current directory
TIFFGetMode query.3t return open file mode
TIFFGetVersion query.3t return library version string
TIFFIsTiled query.3t return true if image data is tiled
TIFFIsByteSwapped query.3t return true if image data is byte-swapped
TIFFNumberOfStrips strip.3t return number of strips in an image
TIFFNumberOfTiles tile.3t return number of tiles in an image
TIFFOpen open.3t open a file for reading or writing
TIFFPrintDirectory print.3t print description of the current directory
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TIFFReadBufferSetup rdbuf.3t specify i/o buffer for reading
TIFFReadDirectory readdir.3t read the next directory
TIFFReadEncodedStrip rdestrip.3t read and decode a strip of data
TIFFReadEncodedTile rdetile.3t read and decode a tile of data
TIFFReadRawStrip rdrstrip.3t read a raw strip of data
TIFFReadRawTile rdrtile.3t read a raw tile of data
TIFFReadRGBAImage rdimage.3t read an image into a fixed format raster
TIFFReadScanline readline.3t read and decode a row of data
TIFFReadTile readtile.3t read and decode a tile of data
TIFFReverseBits swab.3t reverse bits in an array of bytes
TIFFScanlineSize size.3t return size of a scanline
TIFFSetDirectory setdir.3t set the current directory
TIFFSetErrorHandler error.3t set error handler function
TIFFSetField setfield.3t set a tag's value in the current directory
TIFFSetWarningHandler error.3t set warning handler function
TIFFStripSize size.3t return size of a strip
TIFFSwabShort swab.3t swap bytes of short
TIFFSwabLong swab.3t swap bytes of long
TIFFSwabArrayOfShort swab.3t swap bytes of an array of shorts
TIFFSwabArrayOfLong swab.3t swap bytes of an array of longs
TIFFTileRowSize size.3t return size of a row in a tile
TIFFTileSize size.3t return size of a tile
TIFFVGetField getfield.3t return tag value in current directory
TIFFVGetFieldDefaulted getfield.3t return tag value in current directory
TIFFVSetField setfield.3t set a tag's value in the current directory
TIFFWarning warning.3t library warning handler
TIFFWriteDirectory writedir.3t write the current directory
TIFFWriteEncodedStrip wrestrip.3t compress and write a strip of data
TIFFWriteEncodedTile wretile.3t compress and write a tile of data
TIFFWriteRawStrip wrrstrip.3t write a raw strip of data
TIFFWriteRawTile wrrtile.3t write a raw tile of data
TIFFWriteScanline writeline.3t write a scanline of data
TIFFWriteTile wrrtile.3t compress and write a tile of data
TAG USAGE
The table below lists the TIFF tags that are recognized and
handled by the library. If no use is indicated in the
table, then the library reads and writes the tag, but does
not use it internally.
Tag Name Value R/W Library's Use
Artist 315 R/W
BadFaxLines 326 R/W
BitsPerSample 258 R/W lots
CellLength 265 parsed but ignored
CellWidth 264 parsed but ignored
CleanFaxData 327 R/W
ColorMap 320 R/W
ColorResponseUnit 300 parsed but ignored
Compression 259 R/W choosing compression routines
ConsecutiveBadFaxLines 328 R/W
DataType 32996 R
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DateTime 306 R/W
DocumentName 269 R/W
DotRange 336 R/W
ExtraSamples 338 R/W lots
FillOrder 266 R/W control bit order
FreeByteCounts 289 parsed but ignored
FreeOffsets 288 parsed but ignored
GrayResponseCurve 291 parsed but ignored
GrayResponseUnit 290 parsed but ignored
Group3Options 292 R/W used by Group 3 code
Group4Options 293 R/W
HostComputer 316 R/W
ImageDepth 32997 R/W tile/strip calculations
ImageDescription 270 R/W
ImageLength 257 R/W lots
ImageWidth 256 R/W lots
InkNames 333 R/W
InkSet 332 R/W
JPEGACTables 521 R/W JPEG code
JPEGDCTables 520 R/W JPEG code
JPEGProc 512 R/W JPEG code
JPEGQRestartInterval 515 R/W JPEG code
JPEGQTables 519 R/W JPEG code
Make 271 R/W
Matteing 32995 R
MaxSampleValue 281 R/W
MinSampleValue 280 R/W
Model 272 R/W
NewSubFileType 254 R/W (called SubFileType)
Orientation 274 R/W
PageName 285 R/W
PageNumber 297 R/W
PhotometricInterpretation 262 R/W Group 3 and JPEG code
PlanarConfiguration 284 R/W data i/o
Predictor 317 R/W used by LZW code
PrimaryChromacities 319 R/W
ReferenceBlackWhite 532 R/W
ResolutionUnit 296 R/W
RowsPerStrip 278 R/W data i/o
SampleFormat 339 R/W
SamplesPerPixel 277 R/W lots
Software 305 R/W
StripByteCounts 279 R/W data i/o
StripOffsets 273 R/W data i/o
SubFileType 255 R/W (called OSubFileType)
TargetPrinter 337 R/W
Thresholding 263 R/W
TileByteCounts 324 R/W data i/o
TileDepth 32998 R/W tile/strip calculations
TileLength 323 R/W data i/o
TileOffsets 324 R/W data i/o
TileWidth 322 R/W data i/o
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TransferFunction 301 R/W
WhitePoint 318 R/W
XPosition 286 R/W
XResolution 282 R/W
YCbCrCoefficients 529 R/W used by TIFFReadRGBAImage
YCbCrPositioning 531 R/W tile/strip size calulcations
YCbCrSubsampling 530 R/W
YPosition 286 R/W
YResolution 283 R/W used by Group 3 2d encoding
DIAGNOSTICS
All error messages are directed through the TIFFError rou-
tine. By default messages are directed to stderr in the
form: module: message\n. Warning messages are likewise
directed through the TIFFWarning routine.
SEE ALSO
fax2tiff(1), gif2tiff(1), pal2rgb(1), ppm2tiff(1),
rgb2ycbcr(1), ras2tiff(1), sgi2tiff(1), tiff2bw(1), tiff-
dither(1), tiffdump(1), tiffcp(1), tiffcmp(1), tiffgt(1),
tiffinfo(1), tiffmedian(1), tiffsplit(1), tiffsv(1),
Tag Image File Format Specification - Revision 6.0, an Aldus
Technical Memorandum, to be released.
The Spirit of TIFF Class F, an appendix to the TIFF 5.0
specification prepared by Cygnet Technologies.
Appendix ALPHA: Associated Alpha Information, a proposed
appendix to the TIFF 6.0 specification.
BUGS
The library does not support multi-sample images where some
samples have different bits/sample.
It is not possible to overwrite the contents of a strip with
TIFFWriteEncodedStrip or TIFFWriteRawStrip since they append
to a strip. Likewise, TIFFWriteEncodedTile and TIFFWri-
teRawTile append to a tile.
The library does not support random access to compressed
data that is organized with more than one row per tile or
strip. The library discards unknown tags. The library
should do more validity checking of a directory's contents.
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