TIFF to MPEG-2 Converter

How to Convert TIFF to MPEG-2 Online

1. Upload Your TIFF Files: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select one or more .tiff/.tif images from your computer. Batch upload is supported — upload your full image sequence and the converter merges them into a single MPEG-2 video in alphanumeric filename order (so name your frames 001.tif, 002.tif, 003.tif).
2. Set Image Duration and Background Color: Open Advanced Options and pick how long each TIFF frame stays on screen — defaults to 5 seconds per frame, but you can choose anywhere from 1/60 second (true 60 fps playback) to 10 seconds per frame for slow slideshows. Set the background color (default Black) for any letterboxing if your TIFF aspect ratio differs from the output frame.
3. Choose Quality Preset and Resolution (Optional): Select Quality Preset — Very High (recommended), High, Medium, Low, or Lowest — to trade off file size against MPEG-2 bitrate. Set Video Resolution to Keep Original, pick a Preset (480p, 720p, 1080p up to 4320p), or enter custom Width × Height. Standard-definition DVD targets are 720×480 (NTSC) or 720×576 (PAL).
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Your TIFF frames are encoded into a standards-compliant .mpg (MPEG-2 Part 2 / H.262) file you can drop into DVD-authoring software, broadcast pipelines, or legacy editors. No watermark, no sign-up.

Why Convert TIFF to MPEG-2?

TIFF (Tag Image File Format, released by Aldus in 1986 and finalised as version 6.0 in 1992) is the go-to lossless still format for scanning, archival photography, GIS, and medical imaging. MPEG-2 (ISO/IEC 13818-2, identical to ITU-T H.262, ratified in 1996) is the codec that powers DVD-Video, ATSC over-the-air digital TV in the US, and DVB cable/satellite broadcasts. Converting a TIFF sequence into MPEG-2 wraps your stills into a video file that DVD players, broadcast encoders, and Blu-ray authoring tools accept natively.

• DVD-Video authoring — DVD-Video specifies MPEG-2 video at up to 9.8 Mbit/s peak (10.08 Mbit/s total with audio) at 720×480 (NTSC) or 720×576 (PAL). Image-sequence-to-MPEG-2 is the standard pipeline for burning a slideshow of scanned photos or high-res TIFF artwork to a playable DVD.
• Broadcast and ATSC/DVB workflows — Over-the-air ATSC stations in North America and DVB stations across Europe and much of the world still ingest MPEG-2 for SD channels and many HD subchannels. If you're sending a station ID slate, lower-third graphic, or test-pattern sequence captured as TIFFs, MPEG-2 is the safe bet.
• Archival timelapse from scanned negatives — Photographers digitising film at 16-bit TIFF can stitch each scan into a long-form MPEG-2 timelapse for screening, while keeping the original TIFFs as the master archive.
• Microscopy and scientific imaging — Confocal microscopes, electron microscopes, and CT/MRI scanners frequently output multi-frame TIFF stacks. MPEG-2 is widely supported by clinical viewers and conference-presentation systems.
• Legacy NLE and authoring software — Avid Media Composer, older Premiere builds, Sony DVD Architect, and Adobe Encore all read MPEG-2 program streams reliably. If a colleague needs an editable file and only has older tooling, MPEG-2 plays it safe.
• Long-life backups — MPEG-2 has been a stable ISO standard for over 30 years and is supported by every major decoder. It's a defensible "play it 20 years from now" format for institutional video archives.

TIFF vs MPEG-2 — Format Comparison

Frame Duration Quick Guide

xconvert exposes "Image Duration" rather than a frames-per-second field, so picking the right per-frame duration is the closest thing to setting playback speed:

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I use MPEG-2 or MP4 (H.264) for a modern slideshow?

For anything that will be watched on a phone, computer, or smart TV in 2026, convert to MP4 (H.264) instead — it produces files 2-3× smaller at the same visual quality. Choose MPEG-2 specifically when you need DVD-Video, ATSC/DVB broadcast ingest, or compatibility with legacy DVD authoring tools (Sony DVD Architect, Adobe Encore, older Avid systems). For everything else, H.264 is the better default.

What's the difference between MPEG-2 and MPEG-1?

MPEG-1 (1993) was designed for VideoCD at roughly 1.15 Mbit/s and capped at 352×288 (SIF) resolution. MPEG-2 (1995) added interlacing, much higher bitrates (up to 80 Mbit/s in its Main Profile @ High Level), HDTV resolutions up to 1920×1080, and better motion estimation. Practically every commercial DVD ever pressed uses MPEG-2; VCDs from the late 1990s used MPEG-1.

What frame rate should I pick for my TIFF sequence?

For DVD authoring, use 1/30 second per frame (NTSC: 29.97 fps regions like the US and Japan) or 1/25 second (PAL: not directly available; pick 1/24 or 1/30 and accept a slight conform). For cinematic feel, 1/24 second per frame matches film projection. For a "slideshow" feel, 2-5 seconds per frame works well — the 5-second default is geared toward photo-album viewing rather than motion.

How are my TIFF files ordered in the output video?

The converter merges files in alphanumeric (lexicographic) order of their filenames. That means frame10.tif comes before frame2.tif unless you zero-pad: rename to frame001.tif, frame002.tif, … frame010.tif before uploading. Most cameras and scanners zero-pad by default, but DSLR exports occasionally don't.

My TIFFs are 16-bit / CMYK / multi-page. Will they convert?

Yes — the converter normalises 16-bit, 32-bit, CMYK, and Lab TIFFs to the 8-bit YUV 4:2:0 colour space MPEG-2 requires. You'll lose the extra bit depth (MPEG-2 is 8-bit only in its mainstream profiles), so if you need to preserve that precision keep the TIFF masters and treat the MPEG-2 as a delivery copy. Multi-page TIFFs are flattened: each page becomes one frame in the order it appears inside the file.

What resolution will my MPEG-2 file be?

By default the converter keeps the TIFF's native pixel dimensions (clamped to MPEG-2's 1920×1080 ceiling). For DVD-Video compliance, set Video Resolution to a custom 720×480 (NTSC) or 720×576 (PAL). For broadcast HD ingest, 1920×1080 is supported. MPEG-2 doesn't go above 1080p in any commonly-deployed profile — for 4K, use H.264 or H.265 instead.

Can I add audio to the MPEG-2 file?

This tool produces silent video from your TIFF sequence — there's no audio input field in the image-to-video flow. If you need a soundtrack, render the silent MPEG-2 first, then mux audio with a tool like FFmpeg (ffmpeg -i video.mpg -i audio.mp3 -c:v copy -c:a mp2 output.mpg) or import both into a DVD authoring application. Many DVD-authoring tools accept video-only MPEG-2 and let you add audio in their timeline.

How big will the output MPEG-2 file be?

Roughly 1 GB per hour of video at DVD-quality bitrate (4-6 Mbit/s average). Broadcast HD ingest at 15-25 Mbit/s runs 7-12 GB per hour. Compared with H.264 at the same visual quality, MPEG-2 files are typically 2-3× larger — that's the trade-off for legacy decoder support.

Can I go the other direction — extract TIFF frames from an MPEG-2 file?

Yes, use MPEG-2 to TIFF for that. You can also output to other video containers if you don't need MPEG-2 specifically: TIFF to MP4, TIFF to MOV, or TIFF to AVI.