dxt 

DXT File Extension

Have a problem opening a .DXT file? We collect information about file formats and can explain what DXT files are. Additionally we recommend software suitable for opening or converting such files.

What is the .DXT file type?

Primarily, the .dxt extension denotes the generic DXT Compressed Bitmap Texture (.dxt) file format and type. DXT, also known as S3CT (S3 Compressed Texture) and BC (Block Compression), is a patented format for compressing bitmap textures. Compared to regular textures, DXT compressed textures take up less video memory and allow larger texture sizes.

DXT textures are supported by the vast majority of graphic boards (nVidia, AMD/ATi), video drivers, 3D game engines, and included in the standard feature set in both OpenGL and Microsoft's DirectX.



DXT uses lossy compression algorithms, and there are five main DXT sub-formats, DXT1 through DXT5, providing different levels of compression and quality. DXT textures support alpha-channel transparency.

A .dxt file is a DXT compressed texture, often packaged into other container formats (mainly, DDS, VTF). A large number of computer games use DXT files as texture (skin, decal) resource containers. There are tools to convert .dxt files to .bmp, and back, as well as perform conversion between DXT and other texture formats.


Alternatively, the .dxt extension is assigned to vehicle-diagnostics report files (.dxt) generated by CarSoft, a commercial software/hardware toolkit to perform computer-based diagnostics of motor vehicles via the standard OBD/OBD II (On-Board Diagnostics) interfaces. A .dxt file is a diagnostics report file that contains error codes (if any) with their brief descriptions, in a proprietary format. There are viewers and converter tools to read/convert .dxt vehicle-diagnostics files.


With ASPEN OneLiner, a commercial engineering tool for electric-power utilities by ASPEN, the .dxt extension is bound up with the ASPEN Text Data File (.dxt) file type. Using an INI-like syntax, ASPEN .dxt files store area/zone data for electric-power networks. Such .dxt files can be opened/edited in any text editor.



Software to open or convert DXT files

You can open DXT files with the following programs: 

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