If you have ever tried to mod a video game, create a custom skin for Minecraft , or edit textures for Skyrim , you have likely run into the dreaded .dds file .
DDS (DirectDraw Surface) is the industry standard for game textures. It allows for mipmaps (pre-calculated lower-resolution copies) and GPU-specific compression (BC1, BC3, BC7). While powerful, these files are notoriously difficult to open in standard image editors. dds gimp plugin
Enter and its lifesaving DDS Plugin .