TIFF File Structure Standards

Question

I've read the TIFF file specification provided by Adobe, but I couldn't find any standards related to:

1. If it's better/more accepted to put IFDs immediately following the image data they describe/immediately preceding the image data they describe/all together at the top with image data below/etc.

2. How many rows to put in each strip. Is there generally a good number? If it's a multi-plane image, would it be okay to make each strip just hold all the rows in that particular image plane?

The reason I ask is because I'm programming some Java to make a TIFF file.

Answer 1

I think it doesn't matter where you put the IFDs provided you follow the spec (because a TIFF reader/writer should be using the spec to find them).

When I wrote some TIFF files, I did:

1. TIFF file header
2. Tags for first page
3. Image for first page
4. Tags for second page
5. Image for second page
6. Etc.

Answer 2

Have you considered finding a bunch of TIFF images off the web from a variety of sites, and then parsing those with the TIFF decompiler you are writing to validate what you are producing? (Or with some other TIFF decompiler?) Would that give you some guidance? If their behaviour is all over the map, you know that it is not critical. If they are consistent, you know you should be consistent with them too.