DirectDraw Surface

File Format
Name	DirectDraw Surface
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Graphics DirectDraw Surface
Extension(s)	.dds
PRONOM	fmt/1040
Released	~1999

DDS redirects here. For the tape format, see Digital Data Storage.

DirectDraw Surface (DDS) is an image file format developed by Microsoft. It is associated with DirectX and related APIs. Some video game graphics use this format. Images may be uncompressed, or use one of several compression algorithms.

Identification

DDS files begin with ASCII characters "DDS " (hex 44 44 53 20).

Specifications

• Microsoft's Reference for DDS

Software

• ImageMagick (read support starting with v6.3.9-2; write support starting with v6.8.6-10)
• DDS Plugin for GIMP
• NVIDIA DDS Utilities
• Paint.NET
• Tom's Viewer

Sample files

• tombexcavator samples
• dexvert samples — image/dds

Links

• Wikipedia article
• Microsoft's DDS page