November 4, 2025
Tag drama, big karma
Mr Tiff
Hidden TIFF creator found—fans cheer, skeptics say "Wikipedia knew"
TLDR: A relentless researcher finally identified Steve Carlson as the creator of the TIFF image format after deep archival digging. Commenters celebrate the credit while others tease that Wikipedia had it all along, underscoring why naming the people behind everyday tech matters.
The internet loves a mystery solved, and today the comments crowned Mr TIFF: Steve Carlson, the long-missing name behind the TIFF image standard that quietly powers your scans and photos. A book author spent 10,000+ hours chasing receipts, cross-checking interviews like CSI for nerds, and finally dug up Carlson after trawling archives and oral histories. Cue the crowd. One fan went full triumph: history almost forgot this, but now “take your place in history!” Others applauded the detective grind and the simple joy of credit where it’s due. Then came the twist: a cheeky commenter dropped that the answer was already on Wikipedia—yep, on User:Scarlsen—lighting up a mini skirmish over whether this was master sleuthing or just the internet being the internet. Meanwhile, nostalgia hit hard. People who lived through the desktop publishing era said it’s weird seeing their ‘90s lives treated like museum pieces. Another commenter turned it into a PSA: always try alternate spellings when hunting names—because that’s how rabbit holes open into treasure rooms. For context: Apple’s sound chip era featured Peter Gabriel giving the thumbs-up to use “Red Rain,” AIFF standardized audio, and QuickTime was born from audio obsession. But TIFF’s creator? A ghost—until now. The vibe: half cheer squad, half “lol Wikipedia,” all deeply satisfying
Key Points
- •The author verifies historical accounts of Apple’s audio work, including Peter Gabriel’s visit and approval to use “Red Rain” for the Macintosh II launch.
- •AIFF was developed by Steve Milne and Mark Lentczner to provide a standard audio file format amid early MIDI market confusion.
- •AIFF, the Apple Sound Chip, and MIDI Manager helped scaffold QuickTime’s development in 1991; audio was a primary driver, per engineer Toby Farrand.
- •Jerry Morrison created IFF at Electronic Arts and later liaised with Apple’s AIFF team, linking precursor formats to AIFF.
- •Investigating TIFF’s origin led the author to Steve Carlson through MacWeek archives and a Paul Brainerd interview at the Computer History Museum.