DDS to PNG Converter
Convert DirectDraw Surface (.dds) game textures to PNG — BC1–BC5 block-compressed and uncompressed formats, with alpha — to view, edit or share them.
DDS to PNG Converter
🔒 Processed on your device with the browser's own image engine — nothing is uploaded, and re-encoding strips EXIF metadata such as GPS location.
Drop files on the left — or tap a sample above.
- DDSGPU block compression BC1–BC7 or none · BC1: 4 bits/pixel · BC3: 8 bits/pixel · BGRA: 32 · alpha: 1-bit (BC1), 4-bit (BC2) or interpolated 8-bit (BC3)
- PNGLossless (Deflate) · 1–16 bits per channel, palette or true colour · alpha: Full 8-bit alpha
- TipNormal maps saved as BC5 store only red and green; the blue channel is reconstructed so the PNG looks like a normal map.
- PrivacyFiles never leave your device; re-encoding drops EXIF/GPS metadata.
Format facts checked October 2026.
Runs in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded or stored.
Scratchpad auto-saved
How it works — in four simple steps
No signup and nothing to install — it all runs in your browser.
Add DDS files
Drop, choose or paste them — or press the sample preset above.
Set the PNG options
Normal maps saved as BC5 store only red and green; the blue channel is reconstructed so the PNG looks like a normal map.
Convert
Press Convert — results appear with a before/after slider, sizes and format details.
Download
Save each file or everything as a ZIP.
Normal maps saved as BC5 store only red and green; the blue channel is reconstructed so the PNG looks like a normal map.
Features
Lossless output
Every pixel and the alpha channel stored exactly.
Built-in DDS decoder
Reads BC1–BC5 and uncompressed DDS, including DX10 headers.
Batch + before/after
Convert many files at once, compare with the slider, download individually or as a ZIP.
Nothing uploaded
Decoding and encoding run in your browser tab; the files never leave your device.
About the DDS to PNG Converter
DDS is the native texture format of DirectX games, so modders, artists and players extracting game assets end up with .dds files that Windows Photos, phones and browsers can't open. Converting to PNG makes them editable in any image editor.
Your DDS is read by our own decoder: BC1/DXT1 (with 1-bit alpha), BC2/DXT3, BC3/DXT5, BC4 (ATI1) and BC5 (ATI2, with the normal map's blue channel reconstructed), uncompressed RGB/RGBA/luminance via channel masks, and DX10 extended headers. The largest mip level is shown.
The PNG is written by your browser's own encoder, which is lossless — every decoded pixel, including the alpha channel, is stored exactly.
DDS vs PNG compared
| Property | DDS | PNG |
|---|---|---|
| Origin / standard | Microsoft DirectX 7 (1999) | W3C 1996 · ISO/IEC 15948 |
| Compression | GPU block compression BC1–BC7 or none | Lossless (Deflate) |
| Transparency | 1-bit (BC1), 4-bit (BC2) or interpolated 8-bit (BC3) | Full 8-bit alpha |
| Colour depth | BC1: 4 bits/pixel · BC3: 8 bits/pixel · BGRA: 32 | 1–16 bits per channel, palette or true colour |
| Animation / pages | No (mipmaps, cubemaps, arrays) | APNG extension |
| Maximum size | 16,384 px on Direct3D 11+ hardware | 2³¹ − 1 px (practically memory-bound) |
| Typical use | DirectX game textures, mods | Screenshots, UI, logos, web graphics |
| Opens in | Visual Studio, GIMP, Paint.NET, game tools — not browsers | Everything |
Measured on our sample
What this page produced from its built-in sample (a 1024 × 512 BC3 DDS with mipmaps), with each preset:
| Setting | Input | Output | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default settings | 682.8 KB · 1024 × 512 | 190.6 KB · 1024 × 512 |
Measured with this page’s converter in Chromium (October 2026). Press the sample preset above to reproduce; your own images will differ with their content.
Things to know
- BC6H and BC7 aren't decoded yet. Those newer formats (HDR and high-quality BC7) are reported rather than mis-decoded. BC1–BC5, DXT1–5 and uncompressed DDS files are supported.
- Mipmaps and cubemaps. Only the largest mip level (and the first face of a cubemap) is converted.