Compression
KTX2 Compression Settings
Fine-tune how textures are encoded when KTX2 Format is selected in the Output section.
These settings appear only when Texture Format is set to KTX2 Format. KTX2 uses Basis Universal encoding to create textures that decompress directly on the GPU - reducing video memory usage compared to PNG or JPEG without any CPU decompression overhead at runtime.
Platform availability
On Windows, KTX2 natives are bundled for Maya 2022-2027. On macOS, KTX2 export (and other features that need Maya-year-specific native libraries) is verified for Maya 2026 only. The plug-in auto-loads on Maya 2022+, but choose Maya 2026 on macOS when you need the full feature set including KTX2.
Quality¶
Controls the overall quality level of the KTX2 encoding.
| Setting | File size | Quality | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Smallest | Lower | Less-important textures, large atlases |
| Medium | Balanced | Good | Most assets (default) |
| High | Larger | Better | Hero assets and close-up surfaces |
| Maximum | Largest | Best | Key assets where size is not a concern |
Format¶
Selects the Basis Universal encoding mode used inside the KTX2 container.
| Format | File size | Quality | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| ETC1S | Smaller | Lower | Color maps, large atlases, UI textures |
| UASTC | Larger | Higher | Normal maps, metallic/roughness, hero color |
| ASTC 4x4 | Varies | High | Mobile hardware with native ASTC support |
| None | No GPU compression | Lossless | Archiving, or runtimes that need raw KTX2 |
Practical guidance:
- Use ETC1S for color textures where subtle compression differences are acceptable
- Use UASTC for any data texture - normal, roughness, metallic - where precision matters
- When a material uses both color and data textures, encode them separately using UASTC for data and ETC1S for color if your pipeline allows it
Supercompression¶
Default: On
Applies Zstandard file-level compression on top of the KTX2 output. This reduces the download size of the .ktx2 files without affecting how the GPU decompresses them at runtime.
- Leave this on in almost all cases - it reduces size with no quality cost
- Turn it off only if a specific tool in your pipeline cannot read Zstandard-compressed KTX2
Generate Mipmaps¶
Default: On
Automatically generates mip levels for each exported texture.
- Mipmaps improve rendering quality and performance when objects appear at varying distances from the camera
- Leave this on for any texture used on a 3D surface in a real-time viewer
- Turn it off only for textures shown at a fixed size (for example, UI elements or a flat screen)
Compress Normal Maps¶
Default: Off
By default, normal maps stay as regular images (for example PNG) instead of being forced into KTX2. That avoids banding or noise that lossy compression can add on normals.
- Leave this off for the safest look
- Turn it on only if you need smaller normals and have checked the result in your viewer