Remove white background on TIFF files

[juanignaciod]

I have some TIFF files with white background. What is the best way to get rid of that white background without losing quality (ie. tiny white stroke on the objects). I see in the channels tab that I have a pretty decent mask in there but I don't actually knows how to use it to make my file fully transparency.

Hope anyone can help me with this.

Best,

J.

[Guest]

For a quick solution try this:  http://bergdesign.com/plugins/

[juanignaciod]

I don't understand why you tell me about that plug-in, but thanks! 🙂

[Guest]

Tiff files typically do not support transparent backgrounds, but you can use the mask already created as a selection > double click on the background layer in the "Layers" palette > it will rename itself Layer 0, say yes to that > with the background mask selected, hit the "Delete" key > background will drop out and you'll see checkerboard pattern > last step, save-as PSD.  Another way would be to use the background selection and create a clipping path > save-as EPS.  The .psd will support feathering and is easier to work with than clipping paths.  Either way will require some finesse on your part.

[Junk Mailer]

I thought TIFF files nowadays supported transparency? See my attached PS CS3 "Save as TIFF" dialog... Or are you really trying to say that page layout apps don't support TIFFs with transparency?

[Junk Mailer]

I just tested in InDesign CS3 and it seems to support transparency in TIFF images just fine...

[CHMprepress]

No Tiff does not support transparantie.

What you did by saving this tiff with layers is save a tiff+native photoshop file in one file.

Why dont you just save the image as a native photoshop file, this makes your file alot lighter and easyer to use in a native Adobe workflow.

[Junk Mailer]

So you are saying that it isn't truly a TIFF, but a sort of pseudo-psd layered file (but with only 1 layer)? I did check the file size and it is fairly large... So would this file's transparency not be supported outside of Adobe apps? I'm not disagreeing with you, I am trying to learn here also.

Thanks,

-JM

[Chris Cox · Accepted solution]

The TIFF file format does support transparency, and Photoshop can read and write transparency in TIFF.

Other applications reading TIFF may not support transparency in TIFF correctly.