Comment 8 for bug 578741

I've used Cinepaint to create multi-layered tiffs that use layer blending modes. When opened back in Cinepaint or even GIMP each is able to see that the tiff has layers but none can preserve the layer blending modes for later modification. Of the two programs only Cinepaint can save multi-layered tiffs (see this bug https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=335975)

So, Cinepaint goes half way to solving this request in that it can have layered tiffs but it's missing the ability to preserve layer blending modes. In addition to that Cinepaint is currently not available in repositories on Ubuntu (I can't speak to Fedora or others) so it can't really be seen as a solution.

Perhaps, as you mentioned, tiffs saved in Photoshop can preserve layer blending modes (I can't test this) but it's a commercial, proprietary product that isn't officially supported on Linux or available freely, so cannot be relied on.

So, to reiterate my point, using psd and/or xcf files would make the best choice for this feature request.