Version: 2023.1
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Texture formats
Mipmaps

Recommended, default, and supported texture formats, by platform

This page contains the following information:

This page doesn’t contain information about console platforms. For information about console platforms, see the platform-specific documentation.

For an overview of texture formats, see Texture formats. For information about texture import settings and how to set per-texture platform-specific overrides, see Texture import settings. Some texture import settings can also be overridden globally in Build Settings, mostly to speed up iteration time during development.

Terminology

This page uses the following terminology:

  • Bits per pixelThe smallest unit in a computer image. Pixel size depends on your screen resolution. Pixel lighting is calculated at every screen pixel. More info
    See in Glossary     (bpp)     is the amount of storage required for a single texture pixel. Textures with a lower bpp value have a smaller size on disk and in memory. A lower bpp value also means that the GPU can store more pixels in its cache, which results in faster texture access.
  • LDR (Low Dynamic Range) refers to most typical images where colors are conceptually between 0.0 (black) and 1.0 (white) values. The majority of image files (such as PNG and JPG) have low dynamic range.
  • HDRhigh dynamic range
    See in Glossary     (High Dynamic Range) refers to special image and texture formats where colors can have a higher range than 0 through 1. Image file formats like .exr or .hdr are often used for HDR image data. At runtime and on the GPU, there are several HDR formats, trading off accuracy, range and memory usage.
  • RGB is a color model in which red, green and blue combine to reproduce an array of colors.
  • RGBA is a version of RGB with an alpha channel, which supports blending and opacity alteration.
  • Variable bit rate (VBR) means that bits per pixel is not a fixed value, and depends on the actual content instead. VBR only applies to Crunch compression, and only texture size on disk. The size in memory is the same as when using the underlying texture format (for example, RGB Compressed DXT1 for RGB Crunched DXT1).

Recommended texture formats, by platform

Desktop

For devices with DirectX 11 or better class GPUs, where support for BC7 and BC6H formats is guaranteed to be available, the recommended choice of compression formats is: RGB textures - DXT1 at four bits/pixel. RGBA textures - BC7 (higher quality, slower to compress) or DXT5 (faster to compress), both at eight bits/pixel. HDR textures - BC6H at eight bits/pixel. If you need to support DirectX 10 class GPUs on PC (NVIDIA GPUs before 2010, AMD before 2009, Intel before 2012), then DXT5 instead of BC7 would be preferred, since these GPUs do not support BC7 nor BC6H.

See the Supported texture formats reference table for detailed information about all supported formats.

iOS and tvOS

For Apple devices that use the A8 chip (2014) or above, ATSC is the recommended texture format for RGB and RGBA textures. This format allows you to choose between texture quality and size on a granular level: all the way from eight bits/pixel (4x4 block size) down to 0.89 bits/pixel (12x12 block size). If support for older devices is needed, or you want additional Crunch compression, then Apple devices support ETC/ETC2 formats starting with A7 chip (2013). For even older devices, PVRTC is the format to use. On iOS you can configure the default texture format in the Player SettingsSettings that let you set various player-specific options for the final game built by Unity. More info
See in Glossary. PVRTC gives you the broadest possible compatibility. ASTC is preferred, but is not supported on A7 devices (the very first Metal-enabled devices) and will be unpacked at runtime.

See the Supported texture formats reference table for detailed information about all supported formats.

Android

Texture format support on Android is complicated. You might need to build several application versions with different sub-targets.

You can select the default format in Player Settings. Your options are ASTC, ETC2 and ETC (ETC1 for RGB, ETC2 for RGBA). See Texture compression settings for more details on how the different settings interact.

For LDR RGB and RGBA textures, most modern Android GPUs that support OpenGL ES 3.1 or Vulkan also support ASTC format, including: Qualcomm GPUs since Adreno 4xx / Snapdragon 415 (2015), ARM GPUs since Mali T624 (2012), NVIDIA GPUs since Tegra K1 (2014), PowerVR GPUs since GX6250 (2014).

If you need support for older devices, or you want additional Crunch compression, then all GPUs that run Vulkan or OpenGL ES 3.0 support the ETC2 format. The resulting image quality is quite high, and it supports one- to four-component texture data. For even older devices, usually only ETC format is available. The drawback is that there is no direct alpha channel support. For SpritesA 2D graphic objects. If you are used to working in 3D, Sprites are essentially just standard textures but there are special techniques for combining and managing sprite textures for efficiency and convenience during development. More info
See in Glossary, Unity offers an option to use ETC1 compression by splitting a texture into two ETC1 textures: one for RGB, one for alpha. To enable this, enable the Android-specific Split Alpha Channel option for the Texture when importing a Sprite AtlasA utility that packs several sprite textures tightly together within a single texture known as an atlas. More info
See in Glossary. The sprite shaderA program that runs on the GPU. More info
See in Glossary samples both textures and combines them into the final result.

For HDR textures, ASTC HDR is the only compressed format available on Android devices. ASTC HDR requires Vulkan or GL_KHR_texture_compression_astc_hdr support. ASTC is the most flexible format. If a device doesn’t support ASTC HDR the texture is decompressed at runtime to RGB9e5 or RGBA Half, depending on alpha channel usage.

For devices that don’t support ASTC HDR, all devices running Vulkan, Metal, or OpenGL ES 3.0 support RGB9e5, which is suitable for textures without an alpha channel. If an alpha channel or even wider support is needed, use RGBA Half. This takes twice as much memory as RGB9e5.

If you want to distribute your application to Google Play, it’s best practice to use texture compression targeting.

See the Supported texture formats reference table for detailed information about all supported formats.

Default texture formats, by platform

The following table shows the default formats used for each platform.

Platform Color model None Normal quality (default) High quality Low quality (higher performance)
Windows, Linux, macOS RGB RGB 24 bit RGB Compressed DXT1 RGB(A) Compressed BC7 RGB Compressed DXT1
RGBA RGBA 32 bit RGBA Compressed DXT5 RGB(A) Compressed BC7 RGBA Compressed DXT5
HDR RGBA Half RGB Compressed BC6H RGB Compressed BC6H RGB Compressed BC6H
WebGLA JavaScript API that renders 2D and 3D graphics in a web browser. The Unity WebGL build option allows Unity to publish content as JavaScript programs which use HTML5 technologies and the WebGL rendering API to run Unity content in a web browser. More info
See in Glossary (configurable)		 RGB RGB 24 bit RGB Compressed DXT1 RGB Compressed DXT1 RGB Compressed DXT1
RGBA RGBA 32 bit RGBA Compressed DXT5 RGBA Compressed DXT5 RGBA Compressed DXT5
Android (configurable) RGB RGB 24 bit RGBA Compressed ASTC 6x6 block
RGB Compressed ETC2
RGB Compressed ETC		 RGBA Compressed ASTC 4x4 block
RGB Compressed ETC2
RGB Compressed ETC		 RGBA Compressed ASTC 8x8 block
RGB Compressed ETC2
RGB Compressed ETC
RGBA RGBA 32 bit RGBA Compressed ASTC 6x6 block
RGBA Compressed ETC2		 RGBA Compressed ASTC 4x4 block
RGBA Compressed ETC2		 RGBA Compressed ASTC 8x8 block
RGBA Compressed ETC2
iOS (configurable) RGB RGB 24 bit RGBA Compressed ASTC 6x6 block
RGB Compressed PVRTC 4 bits		 RGBA Compressed ASTC 4x4 block
RGB Compressed PVRTC 4 bits		 RGBA Compressed ASTC 8x8 block
RGB Compressed PVRTC 2 bits
RGBA RGBA 32 bit RGBA Compressed ASTC 6x6 block
RGBA Compressed PVRTC 4 bits		 RGBA Compressed ASTC 4x4 block
RGBA Compressed PVRTC 4 bits		 RGBA Compressed ASTC 8x8 block
RGBA Compressed PVRTC 2 bits
tvOS RGB RGB 24 bit RGBA Compressed ASTC 6x6 block RGBA Compressed ASTC 4x4 block RGBA Compressed ASTC 8x8 block
RGBA RGBA 32 bit RGBA Compressed ASTC 6x6 block RGBA Compressed ASTC 4x4 block RGBA Compressed ASTC 8x8 block
Default RGBA RGBA 32 bit RGBA 16 bit RGBA 16 bit RGBA 16 bit

Texture formats, by quality

The table below shows each format available in Unity, and their quality details.

Texture format Description Channels Quality Bits per pixel Size of 1024x1024 texture, in MB
RGB(A) Compressed BC7 Compressed RGB or RGBA RGB or RGBA High 8 1
RGBA Crunched DXT5 Compressed RGBA, with additional on-disk Crunch compression RGBA Low to medium Variable Variable
RGBA 64 bit Uncompressed RGBA, very high precision RGBA Very high 64 8
RGBA 32 bit Uncompressed RGBA RGBA High 32 4
RGBA 16 bit Quantized RGBA RGBA Medium 16 2
RGB Compressed DXT1 Compressed RGB (also known as BC1) RGB Medium 4 0.5
RGB Crunched DXT1 Compressed RGB, with additional on-disk Crunch compression RGB Low to medium Variable Variable
RGB 48 bit Uncompressed RGB, very high precision. Converted to RGBA 64 bit for the GPU RGB Very high 48 disk, 64 GPU 6 disk, 8 GPU
RGB 24 bit Uncompressed RGB. Converted to RGBA 32 bit for the GPU RGB High 24 disk, 32 GPU 3 disk, 4 GPU
RGB 16 bit Quantized RGB RGB Medium 16 2
RG Compressed BC5 Compressed two channel (RG) RG High 8 1
RG 32 bit Uncompressed two channel (RG), very high precision RG Very high 32 4
R Compressed BC4 Compressed single channel (R) R High 4 0.5
R 8 Uncompressed single channel (R) R High 8 1
R 16 bit Uncompressed single channel (R), very high precision R Very high 16 2
Alpha 8 Uncompressed single channel (A) A High 8 1
RGBA Half HDR, half-precision (FP16) RGBA, –64k to +64k range RGBA High 64 8
RGB Compressed BC6H HDR, compressed RGB, 0 to +64k range RGB High 8 1
RGB9e5 32 Bit Shared Exponent Float HDR, quantized RGB, 0 to +64k range RGB Medium 32 4
RGB(A) Compressed ASTC Compressed RGB or RGBA, size & quality dependent on block size RGB or RGBA Low to high 12x12: 0.89, 10x10: 1.28, 8x8: 2, 6x6: 3.56, 5x5: 5.12, 4x4: 8 12x12: 0.11, 10x10: 0.16, 8x8: 0.25, 6x6: 0.45, 5x5: 0.64, 4x4: 1.0
RGBA Compressed ETC2 Compressed RGBA RGBA Medium 8 1
RGBA Crunched ETC2 Compressed RGBA, with additional on-disk Crunch compression RGBA Low to medium Variable Variable
RGB + 1-bit Alpha Compressed ETC2 4 bits Compressed RGBA, with alpha values fully opaque or fully transparent RGBA Medium 4 0.5
RGBA Compressed PVRTC 4 bits Compressed RGBA, texture required to be square RGBA Medium 4 0.5
RGBA Compressed PVRTC 2 bits Compressed RGBA, texture required to be square RGBA Low 2 0.25
RGB Compressed ETC2 Compressed RGB RGB Medium 4 0.5
RGB Compressed ETC Compressed RGB RGB Low 4 0.5
RGB Crunched ETC Compressed RGB, with additional on-disk Crunch compression RGB Low Variable Variable
RGB Compressed PVRTC 4 bits Compressed RGB, texture required to be square RGB Medium 4 0.5
RGB Compressed PVRTC 2 bits Compressed RGB, texture required to be square RGB Low 2 0.25
RG Compressed EAC 8 bit Compressed two channel (RG) RG High 8 1
R Compressed EAC 4 bit Compressed single channel (R) R High 4 0.5
RGB(A) Compressed ASTC HDR HDR, compressed RGB or RGBA, size & quality dependent on block size RGB or RGBA Low to High 12x12: 0.89, 10x10: 1.28, 8x8: 2, 6x6: 3.56, 5x5: 5.12, 4x4: 8 12x12: 0.11, 10x10: 0.16, 8x8: 0.25, 6x6: 0.45, 5x5: 0.64, 4x4: 1.0

Supported texture formats, by platform

The table below shows each texture format available in Unity, and the platforms that support them.

Texture format Windows macOS Linux Android iOS & tvOS WebGL (Desktop Browsers) WebGL (iOS and Android browser)
RGB(A) Compressed BC7 yes (1) yes (1) yes no no yes (1) no
RGBA Compressed DXT5 yes yes yes no (3) no partial (2) no
RGBA Crunched DXT5 yes yes yes no (3) no partial (2) no
RGBA 64 bit yes yes yes partial (4) yes no no
RGBA 32 bit yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
RGBA 16 bit yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
RGB Compressed DXT1 yes yes yes no (3) no partial (2) no
RGB Crunched DXT1 yes yes yes no (3) no partial (2) no
RGB 48 bit yes yes yes partial (4) yes no no
RGB 24 bit yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
RGB 16 bit yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
RG Compressed BC5 yes yes yes no no yes no
RG 32 bit yes yes yes partial (4) yes no no
R Compressed BC4 yes yes yes no no yes no
R 8 yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
R 16 bit yes yes yes partial (4) partial (4) yes (10) yes (10)
Alpha 8 yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
RGBA Half yes yes yes partial (7) yes partial (7) partial (7)
RGB Compressed BC6H yes (1) yes (1) yes no no yes (1) no
RGB9e5 32 Bit Shared Exponent Float yes yes yes yes yes yes yes)
RGB(A) Compressed ASTC no no no partial (5) yes (6) no yes (6 and 9)
RGBA Compressed ETC2 no no no partial (9) yes no yes
RGBA Crunched ETC2 no no no partial (9) yes no yes
RGB + 1-bit Alpha Compressed ETC2 4 bits no no no partial (9) yes no yes
RGBA Compressed PVRTC 4 bits no no no no (8) yes no no
RGBA Compressed PVRTC 2 bits no no no no (8) yes no no
RGB Compressed ETC2 no no no partial (9) yes no yes
RGB Compressed ETC no no no yes yes no yes
RGB Crunched ETC no no no yes yes no yes
RGB Compressed PVRTC 4 bits no no no no (8) yes no no
RGB Compressed PVRTC 2 bits no no no no (8) yes no no
RG Compressed EAC 8 bit no no no partial (9) yes no yes
R Compressed EAC 4 bit no no no partial (9) yes no yes
RGB(A) Compressed ASTC HDR no no no partial (7) partial (7) no partial (7)

Notes:

  1. Except on pre-DX11 level GPUs, or macOS when using WebGL or OpenGL. When not supported, BC6H textures get decompressed to RGBA Half, and BC7 get decompressed to RGBA32 at load time.
  2. With linear rendering on web browsers that don’t support sRGB DXT, textures are decompressed to RGBA32 at load time.
  3. Except on Android devices with NVIDIA Tegra GPUs; these do support DXT/BC formats.
  4. Requires GL_EXT_texture_norm16 or corresponding Vulkan capability on Android.
  5. Requires Vulkan or GL_KHR_texture_compression_astc_ldr OpenGL ES extension.
  6. Except on Apple A7 chip devices (2013).
  7. Android: requires GL_KHR_texture_compression_astc_hdr extension. iOS: requires A13 or later chip (2019).WebGL: requires WEBGL_compressed_texture_astc extension and HDR profile. When not supported, the texture is decompressed to RGB9E5 format, losing the alpha channel.
  8. Except on Android devices with Imagination PowerVR GPUs; these do support PVRTC formats.
  9. Requires WEBGL_compressed_texture_astc extension.
  10. Requires EXT_texture_norm16 extension and WebGL 2.

Supported texture formats in WebGL

The following table provides the supported texture formats for WebGL.

Format Description
ASTC Adaptive Scalable Texture Compression (ASTC) is an advanced lossy texture compression format. Widely used for mobile browsers / devices.
DXT Also known as S3 Texture Compression (S3TC), DXT is mainly used for desktop browsers and devices.
ETC2 Ericsson Texture Compression (ETC) is an older lossy texture compression format, lower quality than ASTC, used for mobile browsers / devices.

Additional resources:

TextureImporterOverride

Texture formats
Mipmaps
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