A TIFF may be saved in either striped (long horizontal rows) format or tiled (rectangular or square shapes) format. Strips and tiles are simply a way of dividing up a TIFF file's pixels for analysis.
The striped TIFF format came first. So older converter/editors/readers will know how to use that basic format. The tiled format is supported by a later TIFF 6.0 standard and considered an extension. I do not know if newer converter/editor/readers will be required to support the older striped TIFF format, but I would tentatively think 'yes' because strips are the
basic format in TIFF 6.0.
Here's the thing to test. If you save a TIFF in striped format, can you later re-save it into a tiled format? Interestingly, I do not have an converter currently which permits me to test this myself.
EDIT: I clarified the explanation.
ADDED:
http://www.fileformat.info/format/tiff/egff.htmThis link describes the TIFF standards. Way more there than any of us want to read, methinks!!