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Image Conversion

Convert ART to TIFF — Free Online Converter

Convert AOL Compressed Image (.art) to Tagged Image File Format (.tiff) online for free. Fast, secure image conversion with no watermarks or registrat...

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How to Convert

1

Upload your .art file by dragging it into the upload area or clicking to browse.

2

Choose your output settings. The default settings work great for most files.

3

Click Convert and download your .tiff file when it's ready.

About ART to TIFF Conversion

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is the professional archival standard for raster images, trusted by libraries, museums, government agencies, and the publishing industry for long-term image preservation. Converting ART files from AOL's defunct proprietary format to TIFF elevates recovered internet-era imagery to institutional archival standards, complete with support for embedded color profiles, extensive metadata, and guaranteed long-term readability.

This conversion is the premium preservation path for ART files. While PNG offers lossless compression in a more compact package, TIFF's rich metadata capabilities and institutional acceptance make it the format of choice when the converted images will enter formal archival collections, library catalogs, or museum digital asset management systems.

Why Convert ART to TIFF?

Institutional archives worldwide standardize on TIFF for master image files. Libraries, museums, universities, and government agencies recognize TIFF as the preservation format for raster images — a status backed by decades of stability and formal recommendations from organizations like the Library of Congress and the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI). Converting ART to TIFF ensures that recovered AOL-era images meet these institutional standards.

TIFF also supports features critical for professional archival workflows: embedded ICC color profiles for color-accurate reproduction, multi-page documents for grouping related images, and extensive EXIF/IPTC/XMP metadata fields for cataloging. These capabilities are essential when converting historical internet imagery into formally curated collections.

Common Use Cases

  • Submit recovered AOL-era images to library and museum digital archives in their required format
  • Create master archival files of early internet visual culture for academic research collections
  • Preserve decoded ART images in the format recommended by the Library of Congress for raster masters
  • Generate print-ready master files from AOL graphics for exhibition-quality reproduction
  • Store recovered images with embedded ICC profiles for color-accurate long-term preservation

How It Works

ImageMagick decodes the ART wavelet data into full-color pixels and writes a TIFF file using either no compression (for maximum compatibility) or LZW/ZIP lossless compression (for reasonable file sizes). The TIFF uses the BigTIFF variant if the uncompressed data exceeds 4 GB. Color depth defaults to 8-bit RGB but can be upsampled to 16-bit for downstream editing headroom. The TIFF specification (revision 6.0) ensures compatibility with virtually every professional imaging application.

Quality & Performance

TIFF preservation is mathematically lossless — whether using uncompressed, LZW, or ZIP compression modes, every decoded pixel from the ART source is preserved exactly. The quality ceiling is determined entirely by the original Johnson-Grace compression. TIFF adds zero degradation while providing the richest metadata and most widely accepted archival container available.

SHARP EngineFastLossless

Device Compatibility

DeviceARTTIFF
Windows PCPartialNative
macOSPartialPartial
iPhone/iPadPartialPartial
AndroidPartialPartial
LinuxPartialPartial
Web BrowserNoNo

Tips for Best Results

  • 1Use LZW compression for the best balance of file size and universal compatibility in TIFF output
  • 2Embed an sRGB ICC profile in the TIFF for color-accurate display across different devices
  • 3Populate IPTC metadata fields with the original AOL context, estimated date, and collection notes
  • 4Store TIFF masters alongside smaller PNG or JPEG access copies for everyday use
  • 5Use 8-bit color depth unless you plan to do extensive color manipulation that benefits from 16-bit headroom

Converting ART to TIFF provides the gold standard preservation path for recovered AOL images, meeting institutional archival requirements with lossless quality and professional metadata capabilities.

Frequently Asked Questions

LZW or ZIP compression provide lossless compression with 30-60% file size reduction. Uncompressed TIFF is safest for maximum compatibility but produces larger files. Never use JPEG compression within TIFF for archival purposes.
Significantly larger. An uncompressed TIFF is the full raw pixel size (width x height x 3 bytes for RGB). With LZW compression, it is typically 3-10x larger than the compressed ART source. This is the cost of lossless, uncompressed archival storage.
Yes. TIFF supports EXIF, IPTC, and XMP metadata fields. You can document the original AOL source, acquisition date, collection context, and preservation notes directly within the file.
Both are lossless. TIFF is preferred for institutional archives due to wider professional acceptance, richer metadata, and multi-page support. PNG is more practical for personal archival and web use due to smaller files and universal browser support.
Yes. ImageMagick can combine multiple decoded ART images into a single multi-page TIFF, which is convenient for archiving related collections of AOL-era images in a single file.

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