Convert IFF to DDS

What is IFF file?

The IFF file extension is an interchange file format developed by Electronic Arts Inc. It is mainly used to store binary data, which can be either written or interpreted by multiple consumers and stored in a specific order. This stored binary data can be edited, viewed, and printed from various programs that accept and are compatible with the IFF format. [ ⏩ ] IFF file extension

What is DDS file?

The DDS (DirectDraw Surface) .DDS file extension is a raster graphics file format created by Microsoft for storing data textures used by DirectX applications such as games, as well as non-graphical textures for things like sound and texture of fonts. The format supports lossless compression and can store images up to 4 GB in size, supporting 8, 16 and 32-bits per pixel of RGB or RGBA color. The format also stores audio data, which can be compressed using DirectSound compression. [ ⏩ ] DDS file extension

How to convert the file from IFF to DDS?

To successfully convert the IFF file to DDS, you should install one of the applications from the list. After installing the software, open the program and select the file you want to convert (file-name.IFF). The next step is to select the target format from the list, in this case DDS (usually converters allow you to convert to several different formats, so check out their features - maybe one of the available formats will suit you more than DDS).

What is a file conversion?

A data conversion is normally an automated process to some extent. The effect of the operation of one program is automatically the input product of another application. If that does not happen we need to help the process a little bit and convert the file on our own, e.g. IFF to DDS. To obtain a matched structure of the data, it is necessary to use an appropriate converter.

Program for converting IFF files to DDS files is a kind of a "binary code translator" compensating for the differences in the code or translating it in such a way so that another application could use it. For us, as users, the visible change will be only another file extension. (After converting the file, it will be the extension DDS, while before this step we had the IFF file). For the programs, the difference is on a much higher level – either the application will be able to open a new DDS file, or not.

Other IFF and DDS file conversions