diff --git a/src/decoder/image.rs b/src/decoder/image.rs
index eef5d0a..a1bda19 100644
--- a/src/decoder/image.rs
+++ b/src/decoder/image.rs
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ pub(crate) struct Image {
     pub tile_attributes: Option<TileAttributes>,
     pub chunk_offsets: Vec<u64>,
     pub chunk_bytes: Vec<u64>,
+    pub chroma_subsampling: (u16, u16),
 }
 
 /// Describes how to read a tile-aligned portion of the image.
@@ -275,6 +276,25 @@ impl Image {
             .transpose()?
             .unwrap_or(PlanarConfiguration::Chunky);
 
+        let ycbcr_subsampling = tag_reader.find_tag_uint_vec::<u16>(Tag::ChromaSubsampling)?;
+
+        let chroma_subsampling = if let Some(subsamples) = &ycbcr_subsampling {
+            let [a, b] = subsamples.as_slice() else {
+                return Err(TiffError::FormatError(TiffFormatError::InvalidCountForTag(
+                    Tag::ChromaSubsampling,
+                    subsamples.len(),
+                )));
+            };
+
+            // ImageWidth and ImageLength are constrained to be integer multiples of
+            // YCbCrSubsampleHoriz and YCbCrSubsampleVert respectively. TileWidth and TileLength
+            // have the same constraints. RowsPerStrip must be an integer multiple of
+            // YCbCrSubsampleVert.
+            (*a, *b)
+        } else {
+            (2, 2)
+        };
+
         let planes = match planar_config {
             PlanarConfiguration::Chunky => 1,
             PlanarConfiguration::Planar => samples,
@@ -386,6 +406,7 @@ impl Image {
             tile_attributes,
             chunk_offsets,
             chunk_bytes,
+            chroma_subsampling,
         })
     }
 
@@ -715,6 +736,23 @@ impl Image {
             ));
         }
 
+        // Only this color type interprets the tag, which is defined with a default of (2, 2)
+        if matches!(color, ColorType::YCbCr(_)) && self.chroma_subsampling != (1, 1) {
+            // The JPEG library does upsampling for us and defines its buffers correctly
+            // (presumably). All other compression schemes are not supported..
+            //
+            // NOTE: as explained in <fa225e820b96bef35f01bf4685654beeb4a8df0c> we may be better
+            // off supporting this tag by consistently upsampling, not by adjusting the buffer
+            // size. At least as a default this makes more sense and is much more permissive in
+            // case the compression stream disagrees with the tags (we would not have enough / or
+            // the wrong buffer layout if we only asked for subsampled planes in a planar layout).
+            if !matches!(self.compression_method, CompressionMethod::ModernJPEG) {
+                return Err(TiffError::UnsupportedError(
+                    TiffUnsupportedError::ChromaSubsampling,
+                ));
+            }
+        }
+
         Ok(ReadoutLayout {
             planar_config: self.planar_config,
             color,
diff --git a/src/decoder/mod.rs b/src/decoder/mod.rs
index 53db108..79b693d 100644
--- a/src/decoder/mod.rs
+++ b/src/decoder/mod.rs
@@ -860,6 +860,7 @@ impl<R: Read + Seek> Decoder<R> {
                 tile_attributes: None,
                 chunk_offsets: Vec::new(),
                 chunk_bytes: Vec::new(),
+                chroma_subsampling: (2, 2),
             },
         };
         decoder.next_image()?;
diff --git a/src/encoder/mod.rs b/src/encoder/mod.rs
index 6c1a965..45024e3 100644
--- a/src/encoder/mod.rs
+++ b/src/encoder/mod.rs
@@ -11,7 +11,10 @@ use std::{
 use crate::{
     decoder::ifd::Entry,
     error::{TiffResult, UsageError},
-    tags::{CompressionMethod, ExtraSamples, IfdPointer, ResolutionUnit, SampleFormat, Tag, Type},
+    tags::{
+        CompressionMethod, ExtraSamples, IfdPointer, PhotometricInterpretation, ResolutionUnit,
+        SampleFormat, Tag, Type,
+    },
     Directory, TiffError, TiffFormatError,
 };
 
@@ -565,6 +568,12 @@ impl<'a, W: 'a + Write + Seek, T: ColorType, K: TiffKind> ImageEncoder<'a, W, T,
 
         encoder.write_tag(Tag::PhotometricInterpretation, <T>::TIFF_VALUE.to_u16())?;
 
+        if matches!(<T>::TIFF_VALUE, PhotometricInterpretation::YCbCr) {
+            // The default for this tag is 2,2 for subsampling but we do not support such a
+            // transformation. Instead all samples must be provided.
+            encoder.write_tag(Tag::ChromaSubsampling, &[1u16, 1u16][..])?;
+        }
+
         encoder.write_tag(Tag::RowsPerStrip, u32::try_from(rows_per_strip)?)?;
 
         encoder.write_tag(
diff --git a/src/error.rs b/src/error.rs
index e0c06cb..eb4fc86 100644
--- a/src/error.rs
+++ b/src/error.rs
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ quick_error! {
         InvalidTypeForTag {
             display("tag has invalid type")
         }
+        InvalidCountForTag(tag: Tag, len: usize) {
+            display("tag `{tag:?}` with incorrect number of elements ({len}) encountered")
+        }
         StripTileTagConflict {
             display("file should contain either (StripByteCounts and StripOffsets) or (TileByteCounts and TileOffsets), other combination was found")
         }
@@ -156,6 +159,9 @@ quick_error! {
         UnsupportedInterpretation(interpretation: PhotometricInterpretation) {
             display("unsupported photometric interpretation \"{interpretation:?}\"")
         }
+        ChromaSubsampling {
+            display("chroma subsampling of YCbCr color is unsupported")
+        }
         MisalignedTileBoundaries {
             display("tile rows are not aligned to byte boundaries")
         }
diff --git a/src/tags.rs b/src/tags.rs
index 07787d1..14cc383 100644
--- a/src/tags.rs
+++ b/src/tags.rs
@@ -128,6 +128,11 @@ pub enum Tag(u16) unknown(
     SMaxSampleValue = 341, // TODO add support
     // JPEG
     JPEGTables = 347,
+    // Subsampling
+    #[doc(alias = "YCbCrSubsampling")]
+    ChromaSubsampling = 530, // TODO add support
+    #[doc(alias = "YCbCrPositioning")]
+    ChromaPositioning = 531, // TODO add support
     // GeoTIFF
     ModelPixelScaleTag = 33550, // (SoftDesk)
     ModelTransformationTag = 34264, // (JPL Carto Group)