Photoshop: What Does Byte Order choice mean in Tiff File Save Options ?

I see IBM PC Byte order or Mac Byte Order as a choice when I do a file save-as. I know what BigEndian/LittleEndian is for CPU architecture but how does it apply to a tiff file ?

Thanks

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a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

Al Dykes wrote:

I see IBM PC Byte order or Mac Byte Order as a choice when I do a

file

save-as. I know what BigEndian/LittleEndian is for CPU architecture but how does it apply to a tiff file ?

That's right: it refers to the endianness of multibyte values used throughout the TIFF. However any half-decent TIFF reader checks the signature (first two bytes of the file) and can cope with either endianness, so the option really only exists today to cater for crippled readers. Occasionally examples crop up of workflows such as proprietary newspaper systems that insist on a particular byte ordering.

Thanks

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a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

When I upload digital files to my lab for printing they specify to choose the IBM Byte order .

Also my stock agencies when I send them Tiffs on CD.

They're all on a Mac and I'm on a PC

"Al Dykes" wrote in message

I see IBM PC Byte order or Mac Byte Order as a choice when I do a file save-as. I know what BigEndian/LittleEndian is for CPU architecture but how does it apply to a tiff file ?

Thanks

--

a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

:

I see IBM PC Byte order or Mac Byte Order as a choice when I do a file save-as. I know what BigEndian/LittleEndian is for CPU architecture but how does it apply to a tiff file ?

Don't bother. This hasn't made the least bit of difference since around 1992.

Eric Gill wrote:

(Al Dykes) wrote in

news:cv4trc$6a0$:

I see IBM PC Byte order or Mac Byte Order as a choice when I do a

file

save-as. I know what BigEndian/LittleEndian is for CPU

architecture

but how does it apply to a tiff file ?

Don't bother. This hasn't made the least bit of difference since

around

1992.

It *never* made any difference to Photoshop. But as noted above, it's still possible to occasionally find broken software and/or policies (more commonly) that require one ordering or the other.

--T