What is a .dds file?
DirectDraw Surface · Image · Microsoft · 1999
DDS is Microsoft's texture format for games and 3D graphics, designed to load straight onto the graphics card. It stores textures with GPU-friendly compression and prebuilt mipmaps, so you mostly meet it when modding games or working in a game engine.
What is a .dds file used for?
A DDS holds image data in a form the GPU can use directly, using block compression (the DXT / BCn family) and mipmaps (smaller prescaled copies) so 3D scenes render fast.
It is standard in DirectX games and engines like Unreal and Unity, which is why game texture packs and mods are full of DDS files.
It is not a general-purpose image: most viewers do not show it. To open one, use GIMP or Photoshop with a DDS plugin, or a dedicated texture viewer.
What opens a .dds file?
The .dds format opens in the following apps, grouped by operating system. If one app does not work, try another from the same list.
Windows
- GIMP (with DDS plugin)
- Photoshop (with plugin)
- texture viewers
macOS
- GIMP (with DDS plugin)
Linux
- GIMP (with DDS plugin)
- ImageMagick
Web
- Not natively; convert to PNG first
Open a .dds file step by step
- Confirm the file really is a .dds. Drop it into the WhatFileType identifier, which reads its signature in your browser without uploading anything.
- On Windows, open it with GIMP (with DDS plugin) or Photoshop (with plugin).
- On Mac, use GIMP (with DDS plugin).
- On Linux, try GIMP (with DDS plugin) or ImageMagick.
- Still stuck? Convert the .dds to PNG, which opens more widely.
Why can't I open my .dds file?
Almost always because no installed app understands DDS. Install one of the apps above, or convert the file to a format your existing software already reads. If double-clicking opens the wrong program instead of nothing at all, the file association is set to the wrong app rather than the file being broken.
The other possibility is that the file is not really a .dds at all. Drop it into the file identifier to check it by its bytes instead of its name. Nothing is uploaded.
How to convert a .dds file
You can convert a .dds file to PNG, TGA using a conversion tool or the export menu of an app that opens it.
What is the .dds file signature (magic bytes)?
A .dds file starts with the hex bytes 44 44 53 20, which read as DDS in ASCII. Programs identify DDS by those bytes, not by the filename, so a renamed file still gives itself away.
These are the documented signatures for DDS. For a full breakdown, see the DDS file signature page.
| Hex signature | Offset | ASCII | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 44 44 53 20 | 0 | DDS | 'DDS ' magic |
See the full magic-numbers reference for every format.
Frequently asked questions
What is a .dds file?
DDS is Microsoft's texture format for games and 3D graphics, designed to load straight onto the graphics card. It stores textures with GPU-friendly compression and prebuilt mipmaps, so you mostly meet it when modding games or working in a game engine.
How do I open a DDS file?
Use GIMP or Photoshop with a DDS plugin, or a texture viewer. Ordinary photo apps will not display it because DDS is a GPU texture format.
How do I convert a DDS to PNG?
Open it in GIMP with the DDS plugin and export as PNG, or use a command-line tool like ImageMagick or NVIDIA's texture tools.
Related formats
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