Why there is .pvr file in OpenGL(IOS)

Question

I am making application with OpenGL in IOS using PVR texture for making 3D effect.I couldn't understand about .pvr files.So please friends would you give idea about .pvr files and what's importance of it in OpenGL and how can i make it?

Answer 1

PVR file is a container for various texture format such as PVRTC, RGB565 and so forth. You can use directly these texture formats as is. If you use PNG, pixels might be pre-multiplied alpha.

PVRTC is compressed texture format that is natively supported by GPU (PowerVR MBX or SGX). GPU can render PVRTC effectively. It would increase framerate.

• PVR Textures and Memory
• Using texturetool to Compress Textures
• PVRTexTool

Answer 2

They are compressed texture files. You can convert more common formats into it using texturetool that comes with Xcode. Compressed textures save bandwidth, loading times and memory and speed up your application because they are compressed also in the video memory. They can also contain mipmaps.