A Major Step Forward for Image Quality
ASTC technology developed by Arm and AMD has been adopted as an official extension to both the OpenGL® and OpenGL® ES graphics APIs. The ASTC specification includes two profiles: LDR and Full. Both of these are supported on the 2nd generation of Mali-T600 series, the Mali-T700 and Mali-T800 series.
ASTC is a major step forward in terms of image quality, reducing memory bandwidth and thus energy use. The smaller LDR Profile supports 2D low dynamic range images and is designed to be easy to integrate with existing hardware designs that already deal with compressed 2D images in other formats. The LDR Profile is a strict subset of the Full Profile, which also includes the 3D textures and high dynamic range support.
Features
ASTC offers a number of advantages over existing texture compression schemes:
- Flexibility, with bit rates from 8 bits per pixel (bpp) down to less than 1 bpp. This allows content developers to fine-tune the tradeoff of space against quality.
- Support for 1 to 4 color channels, together with modes for uncorrelated channels for use in mask textures and normal maps.
- Support for both low dynamic range (LDR) and high dynamic range (HDR) images.
- Support for both 2D and 3D images.
- Interoperability: Developers can choose any combination of features that suits their needs.
Talk with an Expert
There are many different options when designing for image quality. Talk to an Arm expert about what solutions will work better for your design project.
ASTC Resources
Everything you need to know to make the right decision for your project. Includes technical documentation, industry insights, and where to go for expert advice
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