   A couple quick questions about .dds textures.
  Hello,I have a couple of quick questions about .dds textures.Question 1)Is this definitively the right format to use for DirectX 3D real time apps?Question 2)I have heard that they can be compressed, what is this exactly, and how is it done?Thank you,Jeremy   
  1.  Completely depends on your app.  The big advantage of .DDS is that you can store your textures in a format that corresponds directly to Direct3D surface formats.  This can significantly speed up loading times, since you don't need to any format conversion.  However if you're more interested in file size, or using lossless compression then you might want a different format.2.  You can store your texture in one of the compressed surface formats (DXT1-5 in D3D9, BC1-5 in D3D10) if you'd like.  However these are lossy, and have a fixed compression ratio (which means in certain situations even a lossless format like PNG can result in smaller sizes).   ;  Thank you for your help.   ;  Thank you for your help.   ;Quote:Original post by MJP(which means in certain situations even a lossless format like PNG can result in smaller sizes).Note: smaller file sizes. The benefit of DX compression formats is that they take less space on the card, too.