DDS to GIF Converter

DirectDraw Surface (DDS) is a Microsoft container format for storing textures used by DirectX games and 3D applications. DDS files hold image data already compressed in a GPU-friendly scheme such as S3TC/DXT or BCn, so a graphics card can use them directly without decoding. A single DDS can also contain mipmaps, cube maps, and volume textures.

How to open a DDS file?

DDS does not open in standard photo viewers. The usual options are Paint.NET, which supports DDS out of the box, and GIMP, which includes a DDS import and export plugin.

XnView MP and IrfanView can preview DDS quickly, while Adobe Photoshop handles them through Intel's Texture Works plugin. Game modders often use Microsoft’s DirectXTex utilities. To simply view the artwork, convert it with our DDS to PNG tool.

Developed by: Microsoft

Initial Release: 1999

Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a type of bitmap file format that relies on pixels to form simple images using the RGB color model. Unlike the uncompressed BMP file format, GIF uses lossless compression and supports animation without audio. The most common use of GIF is in animated form as advertisements, emotion-based replies on social media, and memes, which often go viral on the Internet. 

How to open a GIF file?

Almost all web browsers support GIF, which gives it a distinct advantage over other image formats, such as PNG. Furthermore, GIF opens on Apple’s mobile devices, including iPhone and iPad, which makes it more popular than Adobe Flash.

GIFs open easily on almost all image-viewer applications, web browsers, and operating systems. To open a GIF for the purposes of editing it, use an application such as Adobe Photoshop. On Windows, open GIFs with Microsoft Photos, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Roxio Creator NXT Pro, and others. On macOS, use Adobe image viewers and editors, including Adobe Illustrator.

Developed by: CompuServe, Inc.

Initial Release: 15 June 1987

Useful links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIF