About this tool
Windows Explorer, Photos, and most image viewers cannot show DDS files, so a freshly exported game texture is a blank icon until you convert it. This viewer decodes DDS (BC1/DXT1, BC2/DXT3, BC3/DXT5, BC4, BC5, BC6H, BC7, and uncompressed) and TGA on your device and shows the image at any zoom with a checkerboard for transparency, single-channel views for normal and mask textures, a pixel readout, and the format and mip level count from the header.
Install Amba's Tools as an app (Chrome or Edge, the install icon in the address bar) and it registers as an opener for .dds and .tga: double-click a texture and it opens here, no conversion step. From the viewer, one click sends the same file to DDS to PNG, DDS to TGA, the upscaler, or the normal map generator.
How to use it
- Drop a .dds or .tga file (or paste it). Installed as an app, "Open with" from your file manager lands here.
- Zoom in, switch between color, single channels, and the alpha mask, and hover for pixel values.
- Save a PNG copy or hand the file to a converter with the buttons below the image.
Questions
Why does my DDS look wrong or flipped?
Some engines store textures upside down or with swapped channels (normal maps with the green channel inverted, for example). The viewer shows the pixels exactly as stored; use the channel views to check what each channel holds.
Can it show every mip level?
It shows the base (largest) level and reports how many mips the file contains. Mip previews are planned.
Does it handle cube maps and volume textures?
Only 2D textures. Cube maps and 3D textures decode their first face or slice at best.
Is it free, are files uploaded, which browsers work: the general questions are answered once for the whole site.