a look at file formats for document scanning

PDF v. TIFF

Copyright ©2014

So you’ve decided to implement a document management or search and retrieval system for all your paper documents.

You have a lot of

decisions to make.

And one of them is, “What file format should I use?”

PDF

JPEG

Before you can decide on file format, you have some homework to do.

Answer the following:

Are the documents…

• Office Text Documents

• Magazines/Journals

• Books

• Drawings

• Maps

• Newspapers

• Photographs

Graphic-Based Text-Based

Are they…

Black and White, Bitonal,

Grayscale, Color?

Stained, torn, aged?

Contain Handwritten

Notes or Mixed

Components?

How will I use them…

Web: Search, View or Print?

Network Search and Retrieve (everyday business use)?

Archival (search and retrieval or

preservation)?

How will my users search for documents?

How will my users search for documents?

Designated fields such as Invoice No., Customer Name, Date, Patient ID…?

or will they need free-form searching on all text?

Do I have other considerations?

Legal: Admissibility and retention requirements?

Retention: How long do to keep the file for the users, legal?

Security: Do documents need passwords, restricted usage, changes tracked?

Retrieval Limitations:

Can my users wait milliseconds, seconds, or minutes?

Storage Limitations:

How many documents do I have? Is my storage budget limited ?

Conversion: Will I need to convert or present the files in another, or multiple formats later.

Let’s take a look at PDF v. TIFF, the dominant formats for scanned documents.

What is ? (Tagged Image File Format)

TIFF

• Created by Aldus and Microsoft in 1980’s. Now owned by Adobe.

• Developed as a format for scanned images

• Most recent version, 6.0 published in 1992

• Universal: Broadly adopted, widely supported by many applications and free viewers, platform independent

• Many subtypes representing different compression and color representation schemes

Source: National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program.

What is ?

TIFF

For document scanning purposes, the most notable versions are:

• Uncompressed, lossless

TIFF-UNC

• Compressed, lossless

• Often deployed for bitonal or color.

• Most effective for solid colors (graphics), and less effective for 24-bit photo

TIFF-LZW

• Compressed, lossless

• Widely deployed in digital libraries and businesses as a master format for bitonal images.

TIFF-G4

*Lossless compression discards no information whereas lossy compression allows some degradation in order to achieve smaller file size.

What is ? (Portable Document Format)

PDF

• Created by Adobe over 20 years ago, portions now maintained by ISO

• Page-oriented and may contain text, images, graphics, and other multimedia content, such as video and audio

• Universal: Broadly adopted, widely supported by many applications and free viewers, platform independent

• Many subtypes representing different features

• Optionally: hyperlinks, searchable, assistive technology, security features, bookmarks

Source: National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program.

For document scanning purposes, the most notable issues:

What is ?

Searchable

Selecting “make searchable”, “apply OCR”, “text-under-image” or “searchable PDF” from your scanning device options creates a “full-text” searchable file by creating a PDF file with two layers, an image layer and a text layer for full-text searching.

PDF

For document scanning purposes, the most notable issues:

What is ?

Archive

It differs by omitting features not necessary for long-term archiving, such as font linking.

Growing in international government and industry segments, including legal systems, libraries, newspapers, and regulated industries.

PDF/A , ISO-standard for digital preservation or archiving of electronic documents.

PDF

Just a quick note on

• Used primarily for photographs

• Single page • “Lossy”

compression • NOT a “document”

scanning format

JPEG

Now let’s

take a look at

decision points.

Indexing and Searchability?

TIFF TIFF was designed as a “wrapper for images. Can use simple tags only. To be fully searchable, it needs an OCR process to create a separate text file that can then be searched and indexed.

Some document indexing software packages include this as an option.

Accommodates basic tags and can support more sophisticated XML-based metadata with Adobe's Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP). XMP allows you to embed metadata about a file, into the file itself.

Full-text searching option is easily supported and native to the file format so unless it is saved as an “image-only” format, it is fully searchable.

PDF

TIFF

Both TIFF and PDF are universal in that they are common output formats of many applications. They also can be accessed and viewed using many different applications. TIFF files are easily

integrated into other applications such as Word and PowerPoint as they are “image” based. Both formats are viewable across

most if not all operating systems.

Adoption/Portability?

PDF

Longevity/Archiving?

TIFF Because of the widespread adoption and plethora of viewers, TIFF is expected to be a viable file format for some time.

Because PDF/A format was designed for long term use and has been adopted by many libraries and government groups, PDF/A is the clear winner for archiving situations.

PDF

Security?

TIFF There are no built-in security features. Users can only be allowed or disallowed access to TIFF files.

Sophisticated security options. Includes password protection, permissions and restricted use (view, search, print, cut/copy/paste restrictions), watermarking, and encryption.

PDF

Before we take a look at file size which impacts storage requirements and upload/download speeds, let’s examine the four things that effect file size.

Before we take a look at file size which impacts storage requirements and upload/download speeds, let’s examine the four things that effect file size.

1. Scanning Resolution A 300 dpi scan is much smaller than a 600 dpi scan.

2.Color Space Color and grayscale scans are much larger than black and white scans.

3.Physical Dimensions An 8 ½ by 11 page is much smaller than an 11 x 14, all other things being equal.

4.Compression Raw scans can be compressed for a much smaller size and compression technologies compress different types scanned of documents differently.

Reference: Adobe: Acrolaw Blog

File Size/Upload and Download Speed?

TIFF PDF

Both TIFF and PDF offer compression technology. Scan your typical documents with a variety of file compression formats to determine the acceptable file size and upload/download speed

for your environment.

Color, Grayscale, or Black and White?

TIFF PDF As mentioned previously, G4 compression files are often used for black and white or bitonal scans. TIFF-LZW is often used for bitonal or color images and is most effective for solid color graphics and less effective for 24-bit photos.

PDF files also offer different compression technologies which present options for color space.

Color, Grayscale, or Black and White?

TIFF PDF As mentioned previously, G4 compression files are often used for black and white or bitonal scans. TIFF-LZW is often used for bitonal or color images and is most effective for solid color graphics and less effective for 24-bit photos.

PDF files also offer different compression technologies which present options for color space. Both TIFF and PDF support color, grayscale, and black and

white. Here again, scan your typical documents with a variety of formats to determine the acceptable output. Caution, scanning a black and white text document with a color setting, needlessly

creates a large file.

TIFF PDF

Miscellaneous?

Legal Admissibility: Varies by country. Generally both file types can be admissible as long as the appropriate processes are followed for the rules of evidence for the specific jurisdiction.

TIFF PDF

Miscellaneous?

Legal Admissibility: Varies by country. Generally both file types can be admissible as long as the appropriate processes are followed for the rules of evidence for the specific jurisdiction.

Conversion: Both TIFF and PDF files can be converted with readily available tools. This may be important if your scanned files are to be used as “master files. For example, you may need to scan for both archival and web viewing. Because of file size, you may need to copy and convert a large archival file for easy web viewing. Hence the “master file” may need to be converted to another file type later.

l And the decision goes to…

…maybe both PDF and TIFF as users often have a variety of document types with different requirements.

you decide

Learn More about Document Imaging and Capture

Contact us for more information on: • Intelligent data capture • PDF to TIFF Conversion • How to convert PDF and TIFF Files • More tutorial information on document management • Scanning documents for document management, • How to intelligently capture index data from your scans • Requirements for document management scanning • How to select a document capture or document scanning

solution • Using touchscreen scanners such as the Fujitsu ScanSnap as an

intelligent capture solution • Batch document scanning solutions • Document Management cost savings • EMR data capture • Batch Indexing solutions • Batch document indexing • Index documents • Create a document index • Document management index • Index from print stream • ECM index • Index ECM

By DocuFi

30 years’ experience in the Document Imaging market.

Find out more at ImageRamp and www.docufi.com

Copyright ©2014

makers of ImageRamp, Document Management

Capture Solution and PDFTrans Conversion Software

Image Credits and References

• Todd Anderson neurmadic aesthetic, ”Ding” , http://bit.ly/1egCSkU • Doug Waldron, “Files (85)”, http://bit.ly/1bfciII • Knile Lucy, you have some sorting to do! http://bit.ly/19bSgjFDave Gray • Butterbean man, “Decisions”, http://bit.ly/1iqCVSc • Ben Schumin, SchuminWeb, “Shelves at Archives II”, http://bit.ly/1iqDD1K • Angel Arcones, Freddy The Boy, “Dia 91: Decisiones”, http://bit.ly/1egCSkU • MicroAssist “Apples and Oranges”, http://bit.ly/17KPimb • AJC1, “Checklists”, http://bit.ly/KDCsgO • Russ, russteaches, “2 Big 2 Small”, http://bit.ly/1hODsdL • The U.S. Army,” West Point wins collegiate boxing championship”, http://bit.ly/1g4BAA6 • Aberdeen Proving Ground, “16th pounds 143rd to win Amateur Boxing Tournament”, http://bit.ly/KLxkH4

All images are owned or licensed by DocuFi with acknowledgement given to:

Reference /Source Material:

• Alternative File Formats for Storing Master Images of Digitisation Projects, National Library of the Netherlands Research & Development Department

• Department of Physics, Wake Forest University,

• “Sustainability of Digital Formats. Planning for Library of Congress Collectiion” Library of Congress