# microsoft/DirectXTex

DirectXTex texture processing library

Repository: https://github.com/microsoft/DirectXTex
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/directxtex
Homepage: https://walbourn.github.io/directxtex/
Language: C++
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: microsoft, directx, directx-11, directx-12, cpp-library, textures, xbox, direct3d-texture-resources, direct3d, wic-codec, directxtex, cpp, dds
Last push: 2026-08-25T18:23:29+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 85/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 59, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4164, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 117, "gap_med": 108.5, "n_releases_24m": 7}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2147, forks 494 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:19.021356+00:00)

## What it is
DirectXTex is a shared-source C++ library from Microsoft for reading and writing DDS files and performing texture content processing such as resizing, format conversion, mip-map generation, and BC1-BC7 block compression. It also ships command-line utilities like Texconv and Texassemble for texture pipeline workflows.

## Use cases
- convert images to dds format
- generate mipmaps for game textures
- compress textures to bc7 for directx 12
- convert height map to normal map
- assemble cube maps from images
- read and write dds files in c++

## When to choose
- building Direct3D 11/12 or Xbox game content pipelines
- you need software BC1-BC7 block compression or DDS I/O in C++
- you want a command-line texture conversion tool on Windows

## When to avoid
- you need cross-platform GPU texture compression on Linux/macOS without WIC
- your project is not C++ or not Windows/DirectX-oriented
- you only need simple PNG/JPEG loading at runtime rather than texture processing

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: image-processing, cli, developer-tools
- domain: graphics, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cpp, cross-platform
- tags: dds, directx, texture-compression, mipmaps, block-compression, wic, tga, hdr, xbox, game-development

## Member repositories
- microsoft/DirectXTex (main) score 85

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:19.021356+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:51:08.504490+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/microsoft/DirectXTex (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:19.021356+00:00, sha df2988fb24fc)
  - homepage: https://walbourn.github.io/directxtex/ (fetched 2026-08-29T10:30:58.145412+00:00, sha 85caa59cebb5)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.