Any advantage to uploading textures as JPEG?

Hello, noob question.....

Does SL store all images internally as some specific format?

I'm wondering if I should upload textures in JPEG format so they will rez faster, or if they will just get converted to something else (like uncompressed Targa) on the server which will make it a pointless step with loss of quality.

Obviously this does not apply to anything that needs an alpha channel : )

Thanks,
MR

Images are converted to JPEG2000 when they're uploaded, so it's best to keep the originals the highest quality possible, TGA. JPEG->JPEG2000 simply creates more artifacts, so it is not recommended.

bmp is also fine for uploading if you don't need alpha. Nothing wrong with tga even if you have no alpha, but be careful, because if you save it as a 32 bit tga even though there's nothing even partially transparent in the image, SL thinks it must have some alpha on it some where and you can get alpha render order problems in sl.

Great to know, I will continue uploading everything in TGA and let the server deal with the conversion. I always use 24-bit TGA for anything without any Alpha.

Someone in the WA was saying you should upload everything in JPEG but I wasn't so sure about that, I'll try and spread the correct information now.

MR

Who wuz it? We gonna sic Guido an' Lefty on 'em.



P2

From the times it take to upload a texture, am fairly sure the .tga->jpeg conversion happens in the client, which then sends such image to the server. So technically, you never upload anything as .tga, you just feed the client with data in this format. ^^

correct, the sl client converts everything to jpeg2000 before sending it on to the server.

One advantage is that the saved jpg takes considerably less disk space on your hard drive than the tga. But since disk space is pretty cheap, and you can always burn a CD, it's really no big deal.


Also, if you are creating vendor posters to sell your items, then it's advantageous to use jpg *IF* you are going to sell online. SLBoutique only accepts jpgs. SLexchange accepts tga files, but you will take an upload hit on getting them to slex. So i always create vendor posters in jpg.