XIFF

From Just Solve the File Format Problem
Jump to: navigation, search
File Format
Name XIFF
Ontology
Extension(s) .xif
MIME Type(s) image/vnd.xiff
PRONOM fmt/1479, fmt/1480
Wikidata ID Q28207555
Released ≤1997

XIFF (eXtended Image File Format, Xerox Image File Format[1]), also known as XIF (eXtended Image Format, Xerox Image Format[2]) and also DigiPaper/XIF[3][4], and apparently also Xerox DIFF, is a raster graphics format associated with ScanSoft and Xerox. It is a compound image format, similar in concept to Mixed Raster Content or JPM.

XIFF is probably considered to be proprietary, though the MIME type registration indicates that there was a specification at the (long dead) URL http://www.xerox.com/xis/xiff/.[5]

Also used as the file format for Fax software such as the FaxWave service.[6]

ScanSoft has a long and complicated history. It was a part of Xerox around the time XIFF was developed, and since 2005 is a part of Nuance Communications.

Contents

Format details

XIFF is an extension of TIFF. There is extension data starting at offset 8, which is not referenced by any TIFF tag. Also related to the TIFF-F[7] specification.[8]

XIFF is possibly related to TIFF-FX mixed raster content subtype (See RFC 2301 & RFC 2531).

A TIFF viewer that does not support XIFF will likely either not display certain elements at all, or display them as separate pages.

File Identification

XIFF 3.0 Header begins with the standard TIFF header, at offset 8 for 10 bytes contains either "XEROX DIFF", or " eXtended " for version 2 & 3 respectively. At offset 18 there is one byte to indicate version, followed by another byte at offset 19 to indicate a revision number. See page 25 of XIFF 3.0 spec [9] and this forensic book [10]

Disambiguation

  • Not related to the XIFF instant messaging library.
  • Not related to XLIFF (XML Localisation Interchange File Format). (It's apparently a common typo to write "XIFF" instead of "XLIFF".)

See also the XIF disambiguation page.

Software

Links

References

  1. https://archive.org/download/gov.uspto.patents.application.10767044/10767044-2004-01-29-00007-SPEC.pdf, p.5
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20070223154220/http://www.objectrescue.com/products/recover-file-types.html
  3. http://www.vincent-net.com/luc/papers/99isdm_document_talk.pdf
  4. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january00/moll/01moll.html
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/19990224033629/http://www.xerox.com/scansoft/xiff/index.htm
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20000512013555/http://www.callwave.com/faxviewers.html
  7. https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2306#:~:text=TIFF-F
  8. https://archive.org/details/MacAddict-073-200209/page/n23/mode/2up?q=xif
  9. https://github.com/thorsted/pronom-research-week/blob/master/XIFF/Xiff3_0.doc
  10. https://files.transtutors.com/cdn/uploadassignments/3103417_1_guide-to-computer-forensics-and-investigations-------pg-384--407---1-.pdf#page=11
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox