For the first time in a few years, I have seriously considered reviewing a change in workflow for my working files. That is, I may start saving as TIF with layers as opposed to the native Adobe Photoshop PSD format. If you are doing this, please explain why? Is it smaller file sizes? Better compatibility?

I'm using Photoshop CS2.

..adding another question.
Is there anything that a PSD file saves that a TIFF doesn't?

(I thought I knew the answer, and just discovered that I don't! :confused: )

Rô

Psd is a photoshop native format, and by definition everything created in photoshop is fully "guaranteed" to be editable at a later date by photoshop only.
Basically that is the definition of proprietary formats, in that to maintain editability they maintain their own formats.
Tiff is a lossless format, same as psd. And both support layers.
Tiff is not supported generally by web browsers, and thus should be avoided for web use.
The same company owns the tiff and psd formats. More programs however support the tiff format than the psd format !

So why use tiff. It is used for those programs that have layers, so it is exported to keep the layers intact, however, I found in most cases, it does not retain the orignal layer information like transparency and so forth across platforms.

Hope this helps.

Yes, but......

If I'm not going cross-platform?
I just want to save the image and be able to open up later, with nothing else but Photoshop.

In all my tests (OK, it was only one) the TIFF came out slightly smaller and didn't lose anything at all.
Although the economy may not be really worthwhile, there is still the "academic" question...."Why not?"

Rô

I did a test with a working file (20x14 inches) at 200 ppi. It had the same layers, channels, etc.

PSD = 113.2 MB (maximum compatibility)
TIF = 82.9 MB (LZW and RLE)

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the only reason to use maximum compatibility would be if you were going to use the file with Photoshop 4.0 or earlier. But it's entirely possible that I'm wrong. Does anyone know for sure?

Ed

Ed, I found that if we don't check "maximum compatibility" the the preview isn't properly extracted when cataloging the image in our database (Extensis Portfolio). It bloats the file, but with hard drive space becoming cheaper, it's not such an inconvenience as it used to be. However, if I'm working on big, big pictures, sometimes I may turn it off for the earlier working files. :cool:

Thanks for the explanation. Now I know there's a reason. I don't know too much about Photoshop, and definitely a lot less about other programs. ;)

Ed