How to open a DDS file online
- 1
Open your DDS file
Drop a .dds file on the viewer or click to pick one. It opens on your device; nothing is uploaded.
- 2
Inspect it
Zoom in, switch R, G, B and A on or off, and pick a mip level or cubemap face. The info table shows the format, size and mip count; hover the image to read pixel values.
- 3
Save as PNG
Save the level you are looking at as a PNG with its full colour and alpha. To convert many files at once, use the DDS to PNG converter.
DDS formats supported
| Format | Also called | Typical use | Supported |
|---|---|---|---|
| BC1 | DXT1 | Colour maps, with or without 1-bit (cut-out) alpha | Yes |
| BC2 | DXT3 (and DXT2) | Colour with sharp 4-bit alpha | Yes |
| BC3 | DXT5 (and DXT4) | Colour with smooth alpha | Yes |
| BC4 | ATI1 | One channel: height, roughness, masks | Yes, as greyscale |
| BC5 | ATI2, 3Dc | Two-channel normal maps | Yes, blue rebuilt as normal Z |
| BC7 | BPTC | High-quality colour and alpha | Yes |
| Uncompressed | A8R8G8B8, X8R8G8B8, R8G8B8A8, R8G8B8, R5G6B5, A1R5G5B5, A4R4G4B4, L8, A8L8, A8 | Lossless textures and UI art | Yes |
| BC6H | BPTC float | HDR skies and lighting | Not yet |
| Float | R16F, R32F, RGBA16F, RGBA32F | HDR data | Not yet |
More free texture tools
DDS to PNG converter
Convert one or many DDS files to PNG, with a ZIP download.
PNG to DDS converter
Turn PNG, JPG or WebP into BC1, BC3, BC7 or uncompressed DDS, with mipmaps.
TGA to PNG converter
Convert TGA textures (8 to 32-bit, RLE) to PNG with alpha kept.
Texture a 3D model with AI
Upload a GLB, OBJ or FBX and describe the look; AI paints a new texture onto your model.
Normal map generator
Make a normal map from any image, free in your browser.
Frequently Asked Questions
Open it in this page. The viewer decodes the DDS in your browser, on Windows, Mac, Linux or a phone, with no plugin or app to install and no upload.
They turn each channel on or off. With one channel on, it is shown as greyscale, which is how you check a roughness, metal or mask channel packed into a texture. With alpha off, the image is shown fully opaque.
Mipmaps are smaller copies of the texture (half size, quarter size and so on) that games use for far-away surfaces. The mip picker shows each one, and the info table lists how many the file has.
Yes. For a cubemap you can pick any of the six faces (+X, -X, +Y, -Y, +Z, -Z), and for a texture array any slice. Volume (3D) textures show their first slice.
BC1 to BC5 (DXT1, DXT3, DXT5, ATI1, ATI2), BC7 and uncompressed RGB, RGBA, luminance and alpha formats, with old-style or DX10 headers. HDR formats (BC6H and float) are not supported yet, and the viewer names the format when it cannot open a file.