An archival Image is an image meant to have lasting utility. Archival images are usually kept off-line on a cheaper storage medium such as CD-ROM or magnetic tape, in a secure environment. Archival images are of a higher resolution and quality than the digital image delivered to the user on-screen. The file format most often associated with archival images is Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) as compared to on-screen viewing file formats, which are usually JPEGs and GIFs.
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Archival image Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA