Texture Compression Techniques

Get huge savings by converting, resizing and re-encoding textures.

texturescompressionktx2webpavif

Updated 2025-06-29

In typical game or product-visualisation assets, textures account for 70-95 % of download size. This article walks through each control in the Texture compression section and shows when to use it.

Why compress textures?

Faster initial load → better Core Web Vitals.
Lower memory footprint on mobile GPUs.
Cheaper CDN / S3 bandwidth bills.

Image format

Choose the container that balances quality, transparency and browser support:

Format	Pros	Cons	Best for
JPEG	Tiny files, universal support	No alpha, lossy	Photos, baked lightmaps
PNG	Lossless, alpha channel	Large files	Logos, decals, UI sprites
WebP	25-35 % smaller than PNG, full alpha	Older Safari pre-16.0 lacks support	Most 3D models
AVIF	50 % smaller than WebP, HDR support	Decoding is slower; limited Safari	High-res hero textures

Explore browser support: caniuse.com.

Max dimensions

Large textures kill performance even at high GPU memory budgets. Limit dimensions to powers of two for best mip-mapping. For Web - 2048 px is a sweet spot.

Quality slider

90-100 – Near-lossless. Use for hero assets viewed up close.
70-85 – Default. Visual difference is negligible; halves file size vs lossless.
<60 – Only for distant props or mobile where bandwidth is at a premium.

Consider KTX2 + BasisU

For runtime decoding on the GPU, container formats like KTX2 with Basis Universal are superior – they deliver BC7/ETC/RGTC sized blocks directly to texture memory. We plan to expose this option in a future update.

Geometry Transform Passes

Deep dive into geometry transforms that prepare your model for compression.

Draco Compression Settings

Tweak Draco parameters for the smallest meshes without visible artefacts.