How to convert PNG to DDS
- 1
Add your images
Drop one or many PNG, JPG or WebP files on the box, or click it to pick them. They are read on your device and never sent to a server.
- 2
Pick format and options
Auto picks BC3 (DXT5) when the image has transparency and BC1 (DXT1) when it does not. Turn mipmaps, power-of-two resize or vertical flip on or off.
- 3
Download DDS or ZIP
Each preview is the DDS decoded again, with its size and PSNR quality score. Download one .dds file, or all of them as a ZIP.
Which DDS format to choose
| Format | Also called | Best for | Size of a 1024x1024 texture (no mipmaps) |
|---|---|---|---|
| BC1 | DXT1 | Opaque colour maps; cut-out (on/off) alpha | 512 KB |
| BC3 | DXT5 | Colour with smooth alpha (glass, foliage, decals) | 1 MB |
| BC7 | BPTC (DX10 header, BC7_UNORM) | Best colour quality; BC3 can be sharper on hard cut-out edges | 1 MB |
| Uncompressed | B8G8R8A8 (A8R8G8B8) | Lossless: UI art, masks, exact data | 4 MB |
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Frequently Asked Questions
DDS (DirectDraw Surface) is a texture file made for graphics cards. It can hold block-compressed pixels (BC1 to BC7, also called DXT), a full mipmap chain, cubemaps and texture arrays, so a game can load it straight into video memory. A PNG has to be unpacked to full size first, which uses more video memory and loads slower. That is why game engines and mods often ask for DDS.
BC1 (DXT1) for opaque textures: it is the smallest, at 4 bits per pixel, and keeps only on/off alpha. BC3 (DXT5) for smooth transparency, at 8 bits per pixel. BC7 is the same size as BC3 with better colour on most images (for hard cut-out alpha, BC3 often scores higher here), but needs a DirectX 11-era game or tool. Uncompressed RGBA8 is lossless and 4 times the size of BC3.
Yes for textures on 3D models and terrain: mipmaps are smaller copies (half, quarter... down to 1x1) that stop distant surfaces from shimmering. Turn them off for UI or HUD images shown at a fixed size. Our mipmaps are box-filtered in linear light with alpha weighting; tick "Normal map / data texture" for normal, roughness or mask maps.
Many engines and older GPUs want sizes like 256, 512, 1024 or 2048, and Direct3D needs block-compressed textures to be a multiple of 4. The converter warns you when an image is not, and "Resize to power of two" scales it to the nearest such size.
No. Reading, mipmapping and compressing all happen in your browser, so your textures stay on your device. Images up to 8192x8192 pixels are accepted; a 2048x2048 BC7 texture with mipmaps takes a few seconds, and bigger ones take longer.
Each result shows its PSNR (a standard quality score in decibels; higher is better) measured against your image. BC1 and BC3 use a principal-axis fit with least-squares refinement. BC7 uses one of its eight modes (mode 6), so dedicated offline encoders can do slightly better on hard textures. Check any result in the DDS viewer.
Yes. It is free, with no signup and no watermark. The conversion runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded or stored. Images up to 8192x8192 pixels are accepted.
Yes. Drop or pick many PNG, JPG or WebP files at once. Each one is converted with the settings you choose, and "Download all as ZIP" gives you every .dds file in one ZIP.
Yes. The converter reads PNG, JPG and WebP. JPG has no transparency, so Auto saves it as BC1 (DXT1); pick BC7 if you want the best colour quality.
Tick "Normal map / data texture" so the mipmaps average the raw values without sRGB gamma, and pick BC7 or uncompressed to keep the most detail. This converter does not write BC5, the two-channel format some engines want for normal maps; if your game asks for BC5, use its own texture tool.
Yes. Games such as Skyrim and Fallout 4 load their textures as DDS, and mod tools for many other DirectX games expect it too. Mod guides usually use the old DirectX names: DXT1 is BC1 and DXT5 is BC3 here. Give the .dds file the same name as the texture it replaces, and check it in the DDS viewer before you pack the mod.