MDI File Extension

What is the .MDI file type?

The .mdi extension belongs to the Microsoft Document Imaging (MDI) file format, bound up with the respective file type (.mdi). MDI is a legacy proprietary format by Microsoft (MS), stemming from TIFF (Tagged Image File Format).

MDI was developed in the scope of the Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI) system. Part of every previous MS Office release, MODI was finally discontinued by MS and removed from MS Office 2010 and later releases. MODI can still be installed manually, using installation packages provided by MS.

An .mdi file is a digital image file in the MDI format. Like TIFF, .mdi files can hold multiple images and textual data (OCR text). With MODI installed, MDI files could be produced from any MS Office document by printing to the MODI Writer virtual printer device.

MDI is/was expressly an MS Office-specific format, and its use should be discouraged in favor of standard formats like TIFF. Leftover .mdi files can be easily converted with a number of standalone and online tools into other document (.pdf) and image (.tiff, .jpg, .png) formats. MS provides its own free command-line MDI-to-TIFF converter (MDI2TIFConverter.exe).

Software to open or convert MDI files

2007 Microsoft Office system

 

Microsoft Office Document Imaging

 

2007 Microsoft Office system by Microsoft Corporation

 

Microsoft Office

 

Microsoft Office Picture Manager

 

Free File Viewer Pro

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