.DDS File

The dds file extension is used for DirectDraw Surface format, a 3D texture format compressed with DirectX Texture Compression (DXTC1-5=S3TC).

The DirectDraw Surface graphics file format was established by Microsoft for use with the DirectX SDK. The format is specifically designed for use in real-time rendering applications, such as 3D games. It can be used to store textures, cubemaps, mipmap levels, and allows for compression. Due to the fact that most video cards natively support DXTn texture compression, use of this format can save memory on the video card.

This format is used in numerous current computer games.

A dds file extension is related to DirectDraw Surface format. The surface file stores 3D texture compressed with DirectX Texture Compression.

How to open:

Many graphics editors can open and work with DirectDraw textures.

How to convert:

Textures can be generally exported as bitmap images.