S3 Texture Compression is a group of related lossy texture compression algorithms originally developed by Iourcha et al. of S3 Graphics, Ltd. for use in their Savage 3Dcomputer graphics accelerator. The method of compression is strikingly similar to the previously published Color Cell Compression, which is in turn an adaptation of Block Truncation Coding published in the late 1970s. Unlike some image compression algorithms, S3TC's fixed-rate data compression coupled with the single memory access made it well-suited for use in compressing textures in hardware-accelerated 3D computer graphics. Its subsequent inclusion in Microsoft's DirectX 6.0 and OpenGL 1.3 led to widespread adoption of the technology among hardware and software makers. While S3 Graphics is no longer a competitor in the graphics accelerator market, license fees have been levied and collected for the use of S3TC technology until October 2017, for example in game consoles and graphics cards. The wide use of S3TC has led to a de facto requirement for OpenGL drivers to support it, but the patent-encumbered status of S3TC presented a major obstacle to open source implementations, while implementation approaches which tried to avoid the patented parts existed.
Patent
Some of the multiple USPTO patents on S3 Texture Compression expired on October 2, 2017. At least one continuation patent, , however had a 165-day extension. This continuation patent expired on March 16, 2018.
Codecs
There are five variations of the S3TC algorithm, each designed for specific types of image data. All convert a 4×4 block of pixels to a 64-bit or 128-bit quantity, resulting in compression ratios of 6:1 with 24-bit RGB input data or 4:1 with 32-bit RGBA input data. S3TC is a lossy compression algorithm, resulting in image quality degradation, an effect which is minimized by the ability to increase texture resolutions while maintaining the same memory requirements. Hand-drawn cartoon-like images do not compress well, nor do normal map data, both of which usually generate artifacts. ATI's 3Dc compression algorithm is a modification of DXT5 designed to overcome S3TC's shortcomings with regard to normal maps. id Software worked around the normalmap compression issues in Doom 3 by moving the red component into the alpha channel before compression and moving it back during rendering in the pixel shader. Like many modern image compression algorithms, S3TC only specifies the method used to decompress images, allowing implementers to design the compression algorithm to suit their specific needs, although the patent still covers compression algorithms. The nVidiaGeForce 256 through to GeForce 4 cards also used 16-bit interpolation to render DXT1 textures, which resulted in banding when unpacking textures with color gradients. Again, this created an unfavorable impression of texture compression, not related to the fundamentals of the codec itself.
DXT1
DXT1 is the smallest variation of S3TC, storing 16 input pixels in 64 bits of output, consisting of two 16-bit RGB 5:6:5 color values and, and a 4x4 two-bit lookup table. If, then two other colors are calculated, such that for each component, and. This mode operates similarly to mode 0xC0 of the original Apple Video codec. Otherwise, if, then and is transparent black corresponding to a premultiplied alpha format. The lookup table is then consulted to determine the color value for each pixel, with a value of 0 corresponding to and a value of 3 corresponding to.
DXT2 and DXT3
DXT2 and DXT3 converts 16 input pixels into 128 bits of output, consisting of 64 bits of alpha channel data followed by 64 bits of color data, encoded the same way as DXT1. In DXT2, the color data is interpreted as being premultiplied by alpha, in DXT3 it is interpreted as not having been premultiplied by alpha. Typically DXT2/3 are well suited to images with sharp alpha transitions, between translucent and opaque areas.
DXT4 and DXT5
DXT4 and DXT5 converts 16 input pixels into 128 bits of output, consisting of 64 bits of alpha channel data followed by 64 bits of color data. If, then six other alpha values are calculated, such that,,,,, and. Otherwise, if, four other alpha values are calculated such that,,, and with and. The lookup table is then consulted to determine the alpha value for each pixel, with a value of 0 corresponding to and a value of 7 corresponding to. DXT4's color data is premultiplied by alpha, whereas DXT5's is not. Because DXT4/5 use an interpolated alpha scheme, they generally produce superior results for alpha gradients than DXT2/3.
