PNG to DDS Converter

Q: How do I edit a DDS texture from a mod?

Convert it to PNG with [DDS to PNG](/dds-to-png), edit the PNG in any image editor, then come back here to turn it into DDS again. Keep the same dimensions as the original so the model's UV layout still lines up.

Turn a PNG you painted or edited into a DDS texture that a game or mod loader can read. Check the size and compression your game expects first; this page explains both.

or drop JPG, JPEG, JPE … files here ·

Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes

Output

Convert to

Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.

How to use this tool

1
Upload the PNG textures
Add up to 20 PNG files, 95 MB each. Use square or 2:1 images whose sides are powers of two, such as 1024 or 2048 px.
2
Leave the output on DDS
Convert to is set to DDS. Keep Resize output image on Keep original size unless you need a smaller texture.
3
Press Convert to DDS
Download the .dds files, rename them to match the texture paths your mod uses, and copy them into the game's data folder.

DDS (DirectDraw Surface) is the texture container Microsoft introduced with DirectX 7 in 1999. Games load it because the GPU can use its block-compressed pixels directly, without decoding them as it would a PNG.

PNG to DDS for game mods and engines

A PNG is compressed for storage: it must be fully unpacked before a graphics card can draw it. A block-compressed DDS stays compressed in video memory, where the GPU decodes small 4 × 4 pixel blocks on the fly. The texture takes a quarter or less of the memory an uncompressed image would, and loading is a straight copy. That is why Bethesda games such as Skyrim and Fallout 4, and many flight and racing simulators, ship their textures as .dds.

For a mod, the job is usually simple: export the edited diffuse, normal or mask map as PNG, convert it to DDS, and drop it into the same folder path as the texture it replaces. Getting the size right matters more than anything else on this page.

Texture sizes that load cleanly: powers of two

1:1

512 × 512 px

Small props, UI icons

512 × 512

1:1

1024 × 1024 px

Common object texture

1024 × 1024

2:1

2048 × 1024 px

Wide texture, 2:1

2048 × 1024

1:1

4096 × 4096 px

High-resolution mod pack

4096 × 4096, heavy on video memory

DXT1, DXT5 and BC7: which compression your game expects

4 bits per pixel

BC1 (DXT1)

S3's 1998 scheme, the smallest common format.

Color only, or 1-bit cut-out alpha
Half the size of DXT5
Read by every DirectX game

8 bits per pixel

BC3 (DXT5)

Adds a separate, smooth alpha channel to DXT1 color.

Full 8-bit transparency
Standard for alpha in older engines
Color quality same as DXT1

8 bits per pixel

BC7

Introduced with Direct3D 11; far fewer color artifacts.

Best quality of the three
Needs DirectX 11 era engines
Slower to encode

PNG

Portable Network Graphics

PNG is a lossless raster format published in 1996 by the PNG Development Group and later standardised by the W3C and ISO. It keeps every pixel exactly, supports full alpha transparency and handles text, sharp edges and flat colours without artefacts. That precision makes it ideal for screenshots, logos, icons and interface graphics. The trade-off is size: photographs saved as PNG are often several times larger than the same photo as JPEG or WebP. All browsers, operating systems and editors open PNG files.

Compression: Lossless
Transparency: Yes
Animation: No
Introduced: 1996 · PNG Development Group

PNG converter

DDS

DirectDraw Surface

DDS is a Microsoft texture format introduced with DirectX 7 in 1999. It stores images in GPU-ready block compression schemes such as DXT/BCn, along with mipmaps and cube maps, so graphics cards can use them without decoding. Block compression is lossy and can show artefacts in gradients, though uncompressed DDS also exists. It is common in PC games and game mods but unsupported by browsers and most everyday image viewers.

Compression: Lossy or lossless
Transparency: Yes
Animation: No
Introduced: 1999 · Microsoft

DDS converter

Modders and game developers convert PNG to DDS because engines load block-compressed DDS textures straight into GPU memory; going from DDS to PNG is how they open a game's textures for editing.

Mipmaps and other checks before you install a texture

Mipmaps are smaller copies of the texture, each half the size of the last, stored in the same DDS so a distant object can use a 64 px version instead of shimmering at 2048 px. A full chain adds about a third to the file size. Most games expect them; a few UI textures should not have them.

Power-of-two sides let every mip level halve cleanly, and block compression needs both sides to be a multiple of 4. If your PNG is 1000 × 1000, enlarge the canvas or scale it to 1024 × 1024 first with resize image, or crop it square with crop image. Keep the original PNG as the master; DDS block compression is lossy, so re-converting from an old DDS stacks artifacts. If the mod also wants a TGA source, PNG to TGA covers it.

PNG to DDS questions

Does Unity need DDS textures, or can I import PNG?

Import the PNG. Unity reads PNG directly and compresses every texture itself for the target platform when you build, so a DDS adds a lossy step you do not need. DDS matters for engines and mods that load texture files straight from disk.

Which DDS format does Skyrim Special Edition use?

Special Edition reads BC7 as well as the older DXT1 and DXT5, which is why mod authors re-packed many textures as BC7 for it. The original 2011 Skyrim does not support BC7, so textures for that version must stay DXT1 or DXT5.

Can I pick BC7 or the number of mipmaps on this page?

No. The converter has no compression or mipmap settings; it writes a DDS with its own defaults. When a mod guide names an exact format, do the final export with Microsoft's texconv tool or Paint.NET, both of which let you choose the block compression and mip levels.

Does the PNG's transparency carry into the DDS?

Yes, the alpha channel is kept, because DDS stores transparency as part of the texture. Whether the game uses it depends on the material: foliage and hair use alpha cut-outs, while many engines treat alpha in other texture slots as a gloss or height mask.

Why does my new texture show up purple or black in the game?

Purple usually means the game could not find or read the file at the path it expected, so check the file name and folder first. Black or garbled surfaces often point to a compression format or size the engine does not accept; dimensions that are not a multiple of 4 are a common cause.

How do I edit a DDS texture from a mod?

Convert it to PNG with DDS to PNG, edit the PNG in any image editor, then come back here to turn it into DDS again. Keep the same dimensions as the original so the model's UV layout still lines up.