Unity Texture Pipeline Guide & Tools
Export GPU compressed ASTC, DDS, or KTX2 textures for Unity workflows. Understand when to supply source images (PNG, TGA, EXR) to Unity editor Texture Importer versus when to pre-encode containers for runtime asset loading.
Tool entry
Use platform presets for the common route, or open a specific encoder when you already know the target container.
GPU format compatibility does not mean you can drag raw container files (.astc, .dds, .ktx2) directly into all Unity project assets. Standard Unity projects use the Texture Importer to compress source images (PNG, TGA, EXR) at build time, while packages such as official KTX for Unity support both editor import and runtime loading of compatible containers.
Produce ASTC textures for modern Android and iOS builds, DDS BCN (BC1-BC7) textures for Windows and console targets, and BC6H containers for HDR skyboxes or illumination maps.
Follows Unity Manual Texture Importer guidelines for platform-specific format overrides, block compression algorithms, and texture memory management.
Decide between Unity editor import and runtime streaming, select the target platform format, and encode or author assets accordingly.
For standard editor assets, author source images (such as PNG, TGA, or EXR) and let Unity Texture Importer handle compression per platform. When using packages like KTX for Unity, pre-encoded KTX2/Basis textures can be imported in the editor or loaded at runtime.
Choose ASTC (e.g. 4x4 or 6x6) for mobile platforms, BC1/BC3/BC7 for desktop DirectX/Vulkan targets, or BC6H for HDR assets.
Import source files through the Unity Editor Inspector, or load supported pre-compressed containers using dedicated packages such as the official Unity Cloud KTX package.
Not directly into the Project view for all formats. Standard Unity workflows rely on the Texture Importer, which ingests authoring source formats (such as PNG, TGA, TIFF, or EXR), with compression handled through import and target platform build workflows according to settings. Addressables and AssetBundles serve as asset distribution mechanisms rather than container parsers. For compressed texture containers: DDS files can be handled through Unity's supported DDS import pipeline, with specific formats and topologies verified against your project's Unity version; raw ASTC files require an appropriate import workflow; and KTX2 or Basis Universal textures can use compatible packages such as the official Unity Cloud KTX package (com.unity.cloud.ktx) for editor import and runtime loading. Refer to the official Unity Manual Texture Importer documentation: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/class-TextureImporter.html
ASTC should be prioritized when supported by the target device, GPU hardware, and graphics API; projects must verify target platform support beforehand. You can select block footprints from 4x4 (highest quality, 8.0 bpp) to 6x6 or 8x8 (balanced memory and visual fidelity), configured either through Unity platform Texture Importer overrides for import and build workflows or pre-encoded for runtime loaders.
Unity Texture Importer can import EXR and HDR sources and compress them into BC6H (on desktop platforms) or ASTC HDR (on mobile devices supporting ASTC HDR). When pre-encoding to BC6H DDS, you produce lossy half-precision floating-point textures for real-time skyboxes and reflection probes, rather than a lossless archive of source floating-point data.
For complete details on Unity texture importing pipelines, platform format overrides, and runtime asset streaming, consult the official documentation: