diff --git a/opendm/config.py b/opendm/config.py
index bacb8dcd..7dcd3697 100644
--- a/opendm/config.py
+++ b/opendm/config.py
@@ -345,9 +345,14 @@ def config():
                              'are doing. Options: %(choices)s.\nDefault: %(default)s')
 
     parser.add_argument('--orthophoto-bigtiff',
-                        action='store_true',
-                        default=False,
-                        help='Set this parameter if you expect a big orthophoto.')
+                        type=str,
+                        choices=['YES', 'NO','IF_NEEDED','IF_SAFER'],
+                        default='IF_SAFER',
+                        help='Control whether the created orthophoto is a BigTIFF or '
+                             'classic TIFF. BigTIFF is a variant for files larger than '
+                             '4GiB of data. Options are %(choices)s. See GDAL specs: '
+                             'https://www.gdal.org/frmt_gtiff.html for more info. '
+                             '\nDefault: %(default)s')
 
     parser.add_argument('--zip-results',
                         action='store_true',
diff --git a/scripts/odm_orthophoto.py b/scripts/odm_orthophoto.py
index 931b3467..e16979f6 100644
--- a/scripts/odm_orthophoto.py
+++ b/scripts/odm_orthophoto.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ class ODMOrthoPhotoCell(ecto.Cell):
         params.declare("t_srs", 'Target SRS', None)
         params.declare("no_tiled", 'Do not tile tiff', False)
         params.declare("compress", 'Compression type', 'DEFLATE')
-        params.declare("bigtiff", 'Make BigTIFF orthophoto', False)
+        params.declare("bigtiff", 'Make BigTIFF orthophoto', 'IF_SAFER')
         params.declare("verbose", 'print additional messages to console', False)
 
     def declare_io(self, params, inputs, outputs):
@@ -103,14 +103,15 @@ class ODMOrthoPhotoCell(ecto.Cell):
                                                            ['LZW', 'DEFLATE'] else '',
                         'epsg': georef.epsg,
                         't_srs': self.params.t_srs or "EPSG:{0}".format(georef.epsg),
-                        'bigtiff': '-co BIGTIFF=YES ' if self.params.bigtiff else '',
+                        'bigtiff': self.params.bigtiff,
                         'png': tree.odm_orthophoto_file,
                         'tiff': tree.odm_orthophoto_tif,
                         'log': tree.odm_orthophoto_tif_log
                     }
 
                     system.run('gdal_translate -a_ullr {ulx} {uly} {lrx} {lry} '
-                               '{tiled} {bigtiff} '
+                               '{tiled} '
+                               '-co BIGTIFF={bigtiff} '
                                '-co COMPRESS={compress} '
                                '{predictor} '
                                '-co BLOCKXSIZE=512 '