Provided by: libtiff-tools_4.5.1+git230720-4ubuntu2.4_amd64 
NAME
tiffcrop - select, copy, crop, convert, extract, and/or process one or more TIFF files
SYNOPSIS
tiffcrop [ options ] src1.tif … srcN.tif dst.tif
DESCRIPTION
tiffcrop processes one or more files created according to the Tag Image File Format, Revision 6.0,
specification into one or more TIFF file(s). tiffcrop is most often used to extract portions of an image
for processing with bar code recognizer or OCR software when that software cannot restrict the region of
interest to a specific portion of the image or to improve efficiency when the regions of interest must be
rotated. It can also be used to subdivide all or part of a processed image into smaller sections and
export individual images or sections of images as separate files or separate images within one or more
files derived from the original input image or images.
The available functions can be grouped broadly into three classes:
1. Those that select individual images or sections of images from the input files. The options -N for
sequences or lists of individual images in the input files, -Z for zones, -z for regions, -X and -Y
for fixed sized selections, -m for margins, -U for units, and -E for edge reference provide a variety
of ways to specify portions of the input image.
2. Those that allow the individual images or selections to be exported to one or more output files in
different groupings and control the organization of the data in the output images. The options -P for
page size grouping, -S for subdivision into columns and rows and -e for export mode options that
produce one or more files from each input image. The options -r, -s, -t, -w control strip and tile
format and sizes while -B, -L, -c, -f modify the endian addressing scheme, the compression options,
and the bit fill sequence of images as they are written.
3. Those that perform some action on each image that is selected from the input file. The options
include -R for rotate, -I for inversion of the photometric interpretation and/or data values, and -F
to flip (mirror) the image horizontally or vertically.
Functions are applied to the input image(s) in the following order: cropping, fixed area extraction, zone
and region extraction, inversion, mirroring, rotation.
Functions are applied to the output image(s) in the following order: export mode options for grouping
zones, regions, or images into one or more files, or row and column divisions with output margins, or
page size divisions with page orientation options.
Finally, strip, tile, byte order, output resolution, and compression options are applied to all output
images.
The output file(s) may be organized and compressed using a different algorithm from the input files. By
default, tiffcrop will copy all the understood tags in a TIFF directory of an input file to the
associated directory in the output file. Options can be used to force the resultant image to be written
as strips or tiles of data, respectively.
tiffcrop can be used to reorganize the storage characteristics of data in a file, and to reorganize,
extract, rotate, and otherwise process the image data as specified at the same time whereas tiffcp does
not alter the image data within the file.
Using the options for selecting individual input images and the options for exporting images and/or
segments defined as zones or regions of each input image, tiffcrop can perform the functions of tiffcp
and tiffsplit in a single pass while applying multiple operations to individual selections or images.
OPTIONS
-h Display the syntax summary for tiffcrop.
-v Report the current version and last modification date for tiffcrop.
-N odd|even|#,#-#,#|last
Specify one or more series or range(s) of images within each file to process. The words odd or
even may be used to specify all odd or even numbered images counting from one. Note that
internally, TIFF images are numbered from zero rather than one but since this convention is not
obvious to most users, tiffcrop used 1 to specify the first image in a multipage file. The word
last may be used in place of a number in the sequence to indicate the final image in the file
without knowing how many images there are. Ranges of images may be specified with a dash and
multiple sets can be indicated by joining them in a comma-separated list. eg. use -N 1,5-7,last to
process the 1st, 5th through 7th, and final image in the file.
-E top|bottom|left|right
Specify the top, bottom, left, or right edge as the reference from which to calculate the width
and length of crop regions or sequence of positions for zones. When used with the -e option for
exporting zones or regions, the reference edge determines how composite images are arranged. Using
-E left or -E right causes successive zones or regions to be merged horizontally whereas using -E
top or -E bottom causes successive zones or regions to be arranged vertically. This option has no
effect on export layout when multiple zones or regions are not being exported to composite images.
Edges may be abbreviated to the first letter.
-e combined|divided|image|multiple|separate
Specify the export mode for images and selections from input images. The final filename on the
command line is considered to be the destination file or filename stem for automatically generated
sequences of files. Modes may be abbreviated to the first letter.
EXPORT MODES
┌─────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Export mode │ Description │
├─────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ combined │ All images and selections are written │
│ │ to a single file with multiple │
│ │ selections from one image combined │
│ │ into a single image (default) │
├─────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ divided │ All images and selections are written │
│ │ to a single file with each selection │
│ │ from one image written to a new image │
├─────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ image │ Each input image is written to a new │
│ │ file (numeric filename sequence) with │
│ │ multiple selections from the image │
│ │ combined into one image │
├─────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ multiple │ Each input image is written to a new │
│ │ file (numeric filename sequence) with │
│ │ each selection from the image written │
│ │ to a new image │
├─────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ separate │ Individual selections from each image │
│ │ are written to separate files │
└─────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┘
-U in|cm|px
Specify the type of units to apply to dimensions for margins and crop regions for input and output
images. Inches or centimeters are converted to pixels using the resolution unit specified in the
TIFF file (which defaults to inches if not specified in the IFD).
-m top,left,bottom,right
Specify margins to be removed from the input image. The order must be top, left, bottom, right
with only commas separating the elements of the list. Margins are scaled according to the current
units and removed before any other extractions are computed.
-X # Set the horizontal (X-axis) dimension of a region to extract relative to the specified origin
reference. If the origin is the top or bottom edge, the X axis value will be assumed to start at
the left edge.
-Y # Set the vertical (Y-axis) dimension of a region to extract relative to the specified origin
reference. If the origin is the left or right edge, the Y axis value will be assumed to start at
the top.
-Z #:#,#:#
Specify zones of the image designated as position X of Y equal sized portions measured from the
reference edge, eg 1:3 would be first third of the image starting from the reference edge minus
any margins specified for the confining edges. Multiple zones can be specified as a comma
separated list but they must reference the same edge. To extract the top quarter and the bottom
third of an image you would use -Z 1:4,3:3.
-z x1,y1,x2,y2: ... :xN,yN,xN+1,yN+1
Specify a series of coordinates to define regions for processing and exporting. The coordinates
represent the top left and lower right corners of each region in the current units, eg inch, cm,
or pixels. Pixels are counted from one to width or height and inches or cm are calculated from
image resolution data.
Each colon delimited series of four values represents the horizontal and vertical offsets from the
top and left edges of the image, regardless of the edge specified with the -E option. The first
and third values represent the horizontal offsets of the corner points from the left edge while
the second and fourth values represent the vertical offsets from the top edge.
-F horiz|vert
Flip, ie mirror, the image or extracted region horizontally or vertically.
-R 90|180|270
Rotate the image or extracted region 90, 180, or 270 degrees clockwise.
-I [black|white|data|both]
Invert color space, eg dark to light for bilevel and grayscale images. This can be used to modify
negative images to positive or to correct images that have the PHOTOMETRIC_INTERPRETATION tag set
incorrectly. If the value is black or white, the PHOTOMETRIC_INTERPRETATION tag is set to
MinIsBlack or MinIsWhite, without altering the image data. If the argument is data or both, the
data values of the image are modified. Specifying both inverts the data and the
PHOTOMETRIC_INTERPRETATION tag, whereas using data inverts the data but not the
PHOTOMETRIC_INTERPRETATION tag. No support for modifying the color space of color images in this
release.
-H # Set the horizontal resolution of output images to #, expressed in the current units.
-V # Set the vertical resolution of the output images to # expressed in the current units.
-J # Set the horizontal margin of an output page size to # expressed in the current units when
sectioning image into columns × rows subimages using the -S cols:rows option.
-K # Set the vertical margin of an output page size to # expressed in the current units when sectioning
image into columns × rows subimages using the -S cols:rows option.
-O portrait|landscape|auto
Set the output orientation of the pages or sections. Auto will use the arrangement that requires
the fewest pages. This option is only meaningful in conjunction with the -P option to format an
image to fit on a specific paper size.
-P page
Format the output images to fit on page size paper. Use -P list to show the supported page sizes
and dimensions. You can define a custom page size by entering the width and length of the page in
the current units with the following format #.#x#.#.
-S cols:rows
Divide each image into cols across and rows down equal sections.
-B Force output to be written with Big-Endian byte order. This option only has an effect when the
output file is created or overwritten and not when it is appended to.
-C Suppress the use of "strip chopping" when reading images that have a single strip/tile of
uncompressed data.
-c Specify the compression to use for data written to the output file: -c none for no compression, -c
packbits for PackBits compression, -c lzw for Lempel-Ziv & Welch compression, -c jpeg for baseline
JPEG compression. -c zip for Deflate compression, -c g3 for CCITT Group 3 (T.4) compression, -c
g4 for CCITT Group 4 (T.6) compression. By default tiffcrop will compress data according to the
value of the Compression tag found in the source file.
The CCITT Group 3 and Group 4 compression algorithms can only be used with bilevel data.
Group 3 compression can be specified together with several T.4-specific options: 1d for
1-dimensional encoding, 2d for 2-dimensional encoding, fill to force each encoded scanline to be
zero-filled so that the terminating EOL code lies on a byte boundary. Group 3-specific options
are specified by appending a :-separated list to the g3 option; e.g. -c g3:2d:fill to get
2D-encoded data with byte-aligned EOL codes.
LZW compression can be specified together with a predictor value. A predictor value of 2 causes
each scanline of the output image to undergo horizontal differencing before it is encoded; a value
of 1 forces each scanline to be encoded without differencing. LZW-specific options are specified
by appending a :-separated list to the lzw option; e.g. -c lzw:2 for LZW compression with
horizontal differencing.
-f Specify the bit fill order to use in writing output data. By default, tiffcrop will create a new
file with the same fill order as the original. Specifying -f lsb2msb will force data to be
written with the FillOrder tag set to LSB2MSB, while -f msb2lsb will force data to be written with
the FillOrder tag set to MSB2LSB.
-i Ignore non-fatal read errors and continue processing of the input file.
-k size
Set maximum memory allocation size (in MiB). The default is 256MiB. Set to 0 to disable the
limit.
-l Specify the length of a tile (in pixels). tiffcrop attempts to set the tile dimensions so that no
more than 8 kilobytes of data appear in a tile.
-L Force output to be written with Little-Endian byte order. This option only has an effect when the
output file is created or overwritten and not when it is appended to.
-M Suppress the use of memory-mapped files when reading images.
-p Specify the planar configuration to use in writing image data that has more than one sample per
pixel. By default, tiffcrop will create a new file with the same planar configuration as the
original. Specifying -p contig will force data to be written with multi-sample data packed
together, while -p separate will force samples to be written in separate planes.
-r Specify the number of rows (scanlines) in each strip of data written to the output file. By
default (or when value 0 is specified), tiffcrop attempts to set the rows/strip that no more than
8 kilobytes of data appear in a strip. If you specify the special value -1 it will results in
infinite number of the rows per strip. The entire image will be the one strip in that case.
-s Force the output file to be written with data organized in strips (rather than tiles).
-t Force the output file to be written with data organized in tiles (rather than strips).
-w Specify the width of a tile (in pixels). tiffcrop attempts to set the tile dimensions so that no
more than 8 kilobytes of data appear in a tile.
-D opt1:value1,opt2:value2,opt3:value3:opt4:value4
Debug and dump facility
Display program progress and/or dump raw data to non-TIFF files. Options include the following
and must be joined as a comma separated list. The use of this option is generally limited to
program debugging and development of future options. An equal sign may be substituted for the
colon in option:value pairs.
debug:N:
Display limited program progress indicators where larger N increases the level of detail.
format:txt|raw:
Format any logged data as ASCII text or raw binary values. ASCII text dumps include strings of
ones and zeroes representing the binary values in the image data plus identifying headers.
level:N:
Specify the level of detail presented in the dump files. This can vary from dumps of the
entire input or output image data to dumps of data processed by specific functions. Current
range of levels is 1 to 3.
input:full-path-to-directory/input-dumpname:
output:full-path-to-directory/output-dumpname:
When dump files are being written, each image will be written to a separate file with the name
built by adding a numeric sequence value to the dumpname and an extension of .txt for ASCII
dumps or .bin for binary dumps.
The four debug/dump options are independent, though it makes little sense to specify a dump file
without specifying a detail level.
Note: tiffcrop may be compiled with -DDEVELMODE to enable additional very low level debug
reporting.
However, not all option combinations are permitted.
Note 1: The (-X|-Y), -Z, -z and -S options are mutually exclusive. In no case should the options be
applied to a given selection successively.
Note 2: Any of the -X, -Y, -Z and -z options together with other PAGE_MODE_x options such as -H, -V,
-P, -J or -K are not supported and may cause buffer overflows.
EXAMPLES
The following concatenates two files and writes the result using LZW encoding:
tiffcrop -c lzw a.tif b.tif result.tif
To convert a G3 1d-encoded TIFF to a single strip of G4-encoded data the following might be used:
tiffcrop -c g4 -r 10000 g3.tif g4.tif
(1000 is just a number that is larger than the number of rows in the source file.)
To extract a selected set of images from a multi-image TIFF file use the -N option described above. Thus,
to copy the 1st and 3rd images of image file album.tif to result.tif:
tiffcrop -N 1,3 album.tif result.tif
Invert a bilevel image scan of a microfilmed document and crop off margins of 0.25 inches on the left and
right, 0.5 inch on the top, and 0.75 inch on the bottom. From the remaining portion of the image, select
the second and third quarters, ie, one half of the area left from the center to each margin:
tiffcrop -U in -m 0.5,0.25,0.75,0.25 -E left -Z 2:4,3:4 -I both MicrofilmNegative.tif MicrofilmPostiveCenter.tif
Extract only the final image of a large Architectural E sized multipage TIFF file and rotate it 90
degrees clockwise while reformatting the output to fit on tabloid sized sheets with one quarter of an
inch on each side:
tiffcrop -N last -R 90 -O auto -P tabloid -U in -J 0.25 -K 0.25 -H 300 -V 300 Big-PlatMap.tif BigPlatMap-Tabloid.tif
The output images will have a specified resolution of 300 dpi in both directions. The orientation of each
page will be determined by whichever choice requires the fewest pages. To specify a specific orientation,
use the portrait or landscape option. The paper size option does not resample the image. It breaks each
original image into a series of smaller images that will fit on the target paper size at the specified
resolution.
Extract two regions 2048 pixels wide by 2048 pixels high from each page of a multi-page input file and
write each region to a separate output file:
tiffcrop -U px -z 1,1,2048,2048:1,2049,2048,4097 -e separate CheckScans.tiff Check
The output file names will use the stem Check with a numeric suffix which is incremented for each region
of each image, eg Check-001.tiff, Check-002.tiff … Check-NNN.tiff. To produce a unique file for each page
of the input image with one new image for each region of the input image on that page change the export
option to -e multiple.
NOTES
In general, bilevel, grayscale, palette and RGB(A) data with bit depths from 1 to 32 bits should work in
both interleaved and separate plane formats. Unlike tiffcp, tiffcrop can read and write tiled images with
bits per sample that are not a multiple of 8 in both interleaved and separate planar format. Floating
point data types are supported at bit depths of 16, 24, 32 and 64 bits per sample.
Not all images can be converted from one compression scheme to another. Data with some photometric
interpretations and/or bit depths are tied to specific compression schemes and vice-versa, e.g. Group 3/4
compression is only usable for bilevel data. JPEG compression is only usable on 8 bit per sample data (or
12 bit if libtiff was compiled with 12 bit JPEG support). Support for OJPEG compressed images is
problematic at best. Since OJPEG compression is no longer supported for writing images with LibTIFF,
these images will be updated to the newer JPEG compression when they are copied or processed. This may
cause the image to appear color shifted or distorted after conversion. In some cases, it is possible to
remove the original compression from image data using the option -c none.
tiffcrop does not currently provide options to up or downsample data to different bit depths or convert
data from one photometric interpretation to another, e.g. 16 bits per sample to 8 bits per sample or RGB
to grayscale.
tiffcrop is very loosely derived from code in tiffcp with extensive modifications and additions to
support the selection of input images and regions and the exporting of them to one or more output files
in various groupings. The image manipulation routines are entirely new and additional ones may be added
in the future. It will handle tiled images with bit depths that are not a multiple of eight that tiffcp
may refuse to read.
tiffcrop was designed to handle large files containing many moderate sized images with memory usage that
is independent of the number of images in the file. In order to support compression modes that are not
based on individual scanlines, e.g. JPEG, it now reads images by strip or tile rather than by individual
scanlines. In addition to the memory required by the input and output buffers associated with libtiff one
or more buffers at least as large as the largest image to be read are required. The design favors large
volume document processing uses over scientific or graphical manipulation of large datasets as might be
found in research or remote sensing scenarios.
SEE ALSO
pal2rgb (1), tiffinfo (1), tiff2cmp (1), tiffcp (1), tiffmedian (1), tiffsplit (1), libtiff (3tiff)
AUTHOR
LibTIFF contributors
COPYRIGHT
1988-2025, LibTIFF contributors
4.5 Sep 24, 2025 TIFFCROP(1)