MATLAB: Does the TIF or TIFF image created by BLOCKPROC not open correctly outside of MATLAB in Image Processing Toolbox 7.0 (R2010a)

blocprocImage Processing Toolboxtiftiff

I am using BLOCKPROC to perform "file to file" image processing on large TIF images.
fun = @(block_struct) imresize(block_struct.data,.5);
I = imread('penguin.tif');
%create and write with blockproc directly
blockproc(I,[20 20],fun,'Destination','TEST_blockproc.tif');
%create with blockproc and write with imwrite
I2=blockproc(I,[20 20],fun);
imwrite(I2,'TEST_imwrite.tif','tif')
%The image displays ok in MATLAB
imshow(I2) %just fine
%But if I open the file outside of MATLAB it may not open correctly
winopen('TEST_blockproc.tif') %fails
winopen('TEST_imwrite.tif')   %works
%Behavior may be different depending on your default TIF viewer that opens the image.

Best Answer

This may be expected behavior in Image Processing Toolbox 7.0 (R2010a) depending on your external TIF viewer.
BLOCKPROC, when used with the 'Destination' argument may create tiled TIF images. This is one of the advantages that allows large image file-to-file processing. If you wish to use an external application to view the TIF file, it must support tiled-tif images.
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