Photoshop: What Does Byte Order choice mean in Tiff File Save Options ?

I see IBM PC Byte order or Mac Byte Order as a choice when I do a file
save-as. I know what BigEndian/LittleEndian is for CPU architecture
but how does it apply to a tiff file ?



Thanks

 

That's right: it refers to the endianness of multibyte values used
throughout the TIFF. However any half-decent TIFF reader checks the
signature (first two bytes of the file) and can cope with either
endianness, so the option really only exists today to cater for
crippled readers. Occasionally examples crop up of workflows such as
proprietary newspaper systems that insist on a particular byte
ordering.

 

When I upload digital files to my lab for printing they specify to choose
the IBM Byte order .

Also my stock agencies when I send them Tiffs on CD.

They're all on a Mac and I'm on a PC

 

Don't bother. This hasn't made the least bit of difference since around
1992.

 

It *never* made any difference to Photoshop. But as noted above, it's
still possible to occasionally find broken software and/or policies
(more commonly) that require one ordering or the other.

--T