VIFF to PFM Converter
Processing entirely on your device — large files may take a moment.
VIFF is the image format of the Khoros software system, a research toolkit from the early days of scientific visualization. Still found in legacy academic image-processing datasets. Convert PFM to PNG or JPG to get a viewable tone-mapped preview of float data.
iLoveConverter processes everything locally on your computer, which makes it private and fast: no upload wait, no server storage, no limits. Add as many files as you like — batch conversion is built in.
How VIFF compares to PFM
| VIFF | PFM | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | None (uncompressed) | None (raw floats) |
| Transparency | Supported | Not supported |
| Animation | Not supported | Not supported |
| Metadata | Attribute lists | Minimal header only |
| Best for | Legacy scientific datasets | HDR interchange, render passes |
How to convert VIFF to PFM
- 1
Select your files
Drag & drop your VIFF files onto the area above, or click to browse. You can add multiple files at once for batch conversion.
- 2
Convert instantly
Click "Convert to PFM". The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly — no upload, no queue, no waiting.
- 3
Download results
Download each converted PFM file individually, or grab everything at once as a ZIP archive.
About the VIFF format
VIFF is the image format of the Khoros software system, a visual-programming environment built for scientific image processing in the late 1980s and 1990s. Its files carry raster data plus optional attribute lists, and it survives today mostly in older academic datasets and image-processing course material.
Modern software rarely opens VIFF without help. Converting VIFF to PNG puts legacy research imagery into a format every viewer, notebook and browser understands — useful when reviving old datasets or coursework.
+Strengths
- ✓Holds multi-band scientific raster data
- ✓Attribute lists travel with the image
- ✓Simple, fully documented binary layout
!Limitations
- −Tied to discontinued Khoros tooling
- −No browser or OS support
About the PFM format
PFM (Portable Float Map) stores pixels as raw 32-bit floating-point values — no palette, no compression tricks, just the numbers. It belongs to the Netpbm family (PBM/PGM/PPM) and is the lingua franca for handing high-dynamic-range data between renderers, tone-mapping experiments and radiance research scripts.
Because the values are floats, a PFM can hold sunlight and candlelight in the same image without clipping. Viewers rarely open it directly: convert to PNG or JPG to get a tone-mapped preview of the same data.
+Strengths
- ✓Full floating-point precision
- ✓Dead-simple text/binary layout
- ✓Widely read by research tooling
!Limitations
- −Enormous files (16 bytes per pixel)
- −Almost no viewer support
Why convert VIFF to PFM?
Think of it as moving your file to the container that fits the job. Tied to discontinued Khoros tooling PFM works differently: Full floating-point precision If any of that sounds like your task, run the conversion — it takes seconds and nothing leaves your device.
Frequently asked questions
Is this VIFF to PFM converter really free?
Yes — completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily conversion limits. The site is supported by advertising.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly, so your files never leave your device — that is what makes it instant and private.
Does it work on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android?
Yes. Anything with a modern browser works: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. No software installation is required.
Will I lose quality converting VIFF to PFM?
No — PFM is a lossless format, so every pixel of the converted image matches your original VIFF file. You can also adjust the quality/size balance before converting when the target format supports compression.
What happens to EXIF data and other metadata?
Conversions here re-encode the image, and re-encoding generally does not carry the original metadata over. If the EXIF data of your VIFF files matters (camera model, GPS, timestamps), keep the original file as the master and treat the converted copy as the shareable version.
Can I convert several VIFF files at once?
Yes — drop as many files as you like into the tool and they are converted in one batch. When more than one file comes out, everything is bundled into a ZIP for a single download.