<cat>Material.ShaderReference</cat>⤶ <title>Texture Format Cheat-Sheet</title> # Texture Format Cheat-Sheet Different textures need different compression formats for efficient storage and rendering. The tables below outline a few formats suitable for specific data types. Please note that example texture lists are non-exhaustive, you should choose the best format that suits your needs based on the data type and resolution. ## Compressed Formats Block compression is a texture compression technique for reducing texture size. We recommend that you use these formats for most purposes, as a block-compressed texture can be up to 75% smaller than a texture with 32-bits per color. For most purposes, if you want a color texture, use **BC7**. If you want a HDR texture, use **BC6H**. | Format | Source Data Type & Resolution (bits) | Example Textures | |-------------------|------------------------------|-------------------------------------------| | BC1 | RGB color (5:6:5) and alpha (1) | Diffuse Map, Roughness Map, Normal Map | | BC2 | RGB color (5:6:5) and alpha (4) | Diffuse Map with Transparency | | BC3 | RGB color (5:6:5) and alpha (8) | Diffuse Map with High Quality Transparency | | BC4 | Single-channel (8) | Height Map, Displacement Map, Ambient Occlusion Map | | BC5 | Two-channel color (8:8) | | | BC6H | Three-channel HDR color (16:16:16) | Skyboxes | | BC7 | RGB (4-7 bits per channel) and alpha (0-8 bits) | Diffuse Map, Roughness Map, Normal Map | ## Raw Formats Raw formats are also usable. You should only really use these in situations where block compression causes artifacting - because they have higher storage requirements. | Format | Source Data Type & Resolution (bits) | Example Textures | |-------------------|------------------------------|-------------------------------------------| | RGBA8888 | RGB color and alpha (8 bits each) | | | RGBA16161616F | Three-channel HDR color and alpha (16 bits each) | |