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

A
Posted By
adykes
Feb 18, 2005
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1206
Replies
4
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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.
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T
toby
Feb 18, 2005
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

—

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

Don’t blame me. I voted for Gore.
F
frankg
Feb 18, 2005
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.
EG
Eric Gill
Feb 19, 2005
:

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.
T
toby
Feb 21, 2005
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

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