D3DFORMAT

Defines the various types of surface formats.

Syntax

typedef enum _D3DFORMAT {

... (values)

} D3DFORMAT;

There are several types of formats.

Unsigned Formats
Signed Formats
Mixed Formats
FOURCC Formats
Buffer Formats
Floating-Point Formats
IEEE Formats
BackBuffer or Display Formats

All formats are listed from left to right, most significant bit (MSB) to least significant bit (LSB). For example, D3DFORMAT_ARGB is ordered from the MSB channel A (alpha), to the LSB channel B (blue). When traversing surface data, the data is stored in memory from LSB to MSB, which means that the channel order in memory is from LSB (blue) to MSB (alpha).

The default value for formats that contain undefined channels (G16R16, A8 etc.) is 1. The only exception is the A8 format, which is initialized to 000 for the three color channels.

Unsigned Formats

These constants refer to opcodes for texture address instructions for pixel shaders.

Data in an unsigned format must be positive. Unsigned formats use combinations of (R)ed, (G)reen, (B)lue, (A)lpha, (L)uminance, and (P)alette data. Palette data is also referred to as color indexed data because the data is used to index a color palette.

Unsigned format flags	Value	Format
D3DFMT_R8G8B8	20	24-bit RGB pixel format with 8 bits per channel.
D3DFMT_A8R8G8B8	21	32-bit ARGB pixel format with alpha, using 8 bits per channel.
D3DFMT_X8R8G8B8	22	32-bit RGB pixel format, where 8 bits are reserved for each color.
D3DFMT_R5G6B5	23	16-bit RGB pixel format with 5 bits for red, 6 bits for green, and 5 bits for blue.
D3DFMT_X1R5G5B5	24	16-bit pixel format where 5 bits are reserved for each color.
D3DFMT_A1R5G5B5	25	16-bit pixel format where 5 bits are reserved for each color and 1 bit is reserved for alpha.
D3DFMT_A4R4G4B4	26	16-bit ARGB pixel format with 4 bits for each channel.
D3DFMT_R3G3B2	27	8-bit RGB texture format using 3 bits for red, 3 bits for green, and 2 bits for blue.
D3DFMT_A8	28	8-bit alpha only.
D3DFMT_A8R3G3B2	29	16-bit ARGB texture format using 8 bits for alpha, 3 bits each for red and green, and 2 bits for blue.
D3DFMT_X4R4G4B4	30	16-bit RGB pixel format using 4 bits for each color.
D3DFMT_A2B10G10R10	31	32-bit pixel format using 10 bits for each color and 2 bits for alpha.
D3DFMT_A8B8G8R8	32	32-bit ARGB pixel format with alpha, using 8 bits per channel.
D3DFMT_X8B8G8R8	33	32-bit RGB pixel format, where 8 bits are reserved for each color.
D3DFMT_G16R16	34	32-bit pixel format using 16 bits each for green and red.
D3DFMT_A2R10G10B10	35	32-bit pixel format using 10 bits each for red, green, and blue, and 2 bits for alpha.
D3DFMT_A16B16G16R16	36	64-bit pixel format using 16 bits for each component.
D3DFMT_A8P8	40	8-bit color indexed with 8 bits of alpha.
D3DFMT_P8	41	8-bit color indexed.
D3DFMT_L8	50	8-bit luminance only.
D3DFMT_L16	81	16-bit luminance only.
D3DFMT_A8L8	51	16-bit using 8 bits each for alpha and luminance.
D3DFMT_A4L4	52	8-bit using 4 bits each for alpha and luminance.

Signed Formats

Data in a signed format can be both positive and negative. Signed formats use combinations of (U), (V), (W), and (Q) data.

Signed format flags	Value	Format
D3DFMT_V8U8	60	16-bit bump-map format using 8 bits each for u and v data.
D3DFMT_Q8W8V8U8	63	32-bit bump-map format using 8 bits for each channel.
D3DFMT_V16U16	64	32-bit bump-map format using 16 bits for each channel.
D3DFMT_Q16W16V16U16	110	64-bit bump-map format using 16 bits for each component.
D3DFMT_CxV8U8	117	16-bit normal compression format. The texture sampler computes the C channel from: C = sqrt(1 - U² - V²).

Mixed Formats

Data in mixed formats can contain a combination of unsigned data and signed data.

Mixed format flags	Value	Format
D3DFMT_L6V5U5	61	16-bit bump-map format with luminance using 6 bits for luminance, and 5 bits each for v and u.
D3DFMT_X8L8V8U8	62	32-bit bump-map format with luminance using 8 bits for each channel.
D3DFMT_A2W10V10U10	67	32-bit bump-map format using 2 bits for alpha and 10 bits each for w, v, and u.

FOURCC Formats

Data in a four-character code (FOURCC) format is compressed data.

MAKEFOURCC

A macro for generating four-character codes follows:

#define MAKEFOURCC(ch0, ch1, ch2, ch3)                              \
                ((DWORD)(BYTE)(ch0) | ((DWORD)(BYTE)(ch1) << 8) |   \
                ((DWORD)(BYTE)(ch2) << 16) | ((DWORD)(BYTE)(ch3) << 24 ))

Here are the defined FOURCC formats.

FOURCC flags	Value	Format
D3DFMT_MULTI2_ARGB8	MAKEFOURCC('M','E','T','1')	MultiElement texture (not compressed)
D3DFMT_G8R8_G8B8	MAKEFOURCC('G', 'R', 'G', 'B')	A 16-bit packed RGB format analogous to YUY2 (Y0U0, Y1V0, Y2U2, etc.). It requires a pixel pair in order to properly represent the color value. The first pixel in the pair contains 8 bits of green (in the high 8 bits) and 8 bits of red (in the low 8 bits). The second pixel contains 8 bits of green (in the high 8 bits) and 8 bits of blue (in the low 8 bits). Together, the two pixels share the red and blue components, while each has a unique green component (G0R0, G1B0, G2R2, etc.). The texture sampler does not normalize the colors when looking up into a pixel shader; they remain in the range of 0.0f to 255.0f. This is true for all programmable pixel shader models. For the fixed function pixel shader, the hardware should normalize to the 0.f to 1.f range and essentially treat it as the YUY2 texture. Hardware that exposes this format must have the PixelShader1xMaxValue member of D3DCAPS9 set to a value capable of handling that range.
D3DFMT_R8G8_B8G8	MAKEFOURCC('R', 'G', 'B', 'G')	A 16-bit packed RGB format analogous to UYVY (U0Y0, V0Y1, U2Y2, etc.). It requires a pixel pair in order to properly represent the color value. The first pixel in the pair contains 8 bits of green (in the low 8 bits) and 8 bits of red (in the high 8 bits). The second pixel contains 8 bits of green (in the low 8 bits) and 8 bits of blue (in the high 8 bits). Together, the two pixels share the red and blue components, while each has a unique green component (R0G0, B0G1, R2G2, etc.). The texture sampler does not normalize the colors when looking up into a pixel shader; they remain in the range of 0.0f to 255.0f. This is true for all programmable pixel shader models. For the fixed function pixel shader, the hardware should normalize to the 0.f to 1.f range and essentially treat it as the YUY2 texture. Hardware that exposes this format must have PixelShader1xMaxValue member of D3DCAPS9 set to a value capable of handling that range.
D3DFMT_DXT1	MAKEFOURCC('D', 'X', 'T', '1')	DXT1 compression texture format
D3DFMT_DXT2	MAKEFOURCC('D', 'X', 'T', '2')	DXT2 compression texture format
D3DFMT_DXT3	MAKEFOURCC('D', 'X', 'T', '3')	DXT3 compression texture format
D3DFMT_DXT4	MAKEFOURCC('D', 'X', 'T', '4')	DXT4 compression texture format
D3DFMT_DXT5	MAKEFOURCC('D', 'X', 'T', '5')	DXT5 compression texture format
D3DFMT_UYVY	MAKEFOURCC('U', 'Y', 'V', 'Y')	UYVY format (PC98 compliance)
D3DFMT_YUY2	MAKEFOURCC('Y', 'U', 'Y', '2')	YUY2 format (PC98 compliance)

Buffer Formats

Depth, stencil, vertex, and index buffers each have unique formats.

Buffer flags	Value	Format
D3DFMT_D16_LOCKABLE	70	16-bit z-buffer bit depth.
D3DFMT_D32	71	32-bit z-buffer bit depth.
D3DFMT_D15S1	73	16-bit z-buffer bit depth where 15 bits are reserved for the depth channel and 1 bit is reserved for the stencil channel.
D3DFMT_D24S8	75	32-bit z-buffer bit depth using 24 bits for the depth channel and 8 bits for the stencil channel.
D3DFMT_D24X8	77	32-bit z-buffer bit depth using 24 bits for the depth channel.
D3DFMT_D24X4S4	79	32-bit z-buffer bit depth using 24 bits for the depth channel and 4 bits for the stencil channel.
D3DFMT_D32F_LOCKABLE	82	A lockable format where the depth value is represented as a standard IEEE floating-point number.
D3DFMT_D24FS8	83	A non-lockable format that contains 24 bits of depth (in a 24-bit floating point format - 20e4) and 8 bits of stencil.
D3DFMT_D16	80	16-bit z-buffer bit depth.
D3DFMT_VERTEXDATA	100	Describes a vertex buffer surface.
D3DFMT_INDEX16	101	16-bit index buffer bit depth.
D3DFMT_INDEX32	102	32-bit index buffer bit depth.

All depth-stencil formats except D3DFMT_D16_LOCKABLE indicate no particular bit ordering per pixel, and the driver is allowed to consume more than the indicated number of bits-per-depth channel (but not stencil channel).

Floating-Point Formats

These flags are used for floating-point surface formats. These 16-bits-per-channel formats are also known as s10e5 formats.

Floating-point flags	Value	Format
D3DFMT_R16F	111	16-bit float format using 16 bits for the red channel.
D3DFMT_G16R16F	112	32-bit float format using 16 bits for the red channel and 16 bits for the green channel.
D3DFMT_A16B16G16R16F	113	64-bit float format using 16 bits for the each channel (alpha, blue, green, red).

IEEE Formats

These flags are used for floating-point surface formats. These 32-bits-per-channel formats are also known as s23e8 formats.

Floating-point flags	Value	Format
D3DFMT_R32F	114	32-bit float format using 32 bits for the red channel.
D3DFMT_G32R32F	115	64-bit float format using 32 bits for the red channel and 32 bits for the green channel.
D3DFMT_A32B32G32R32F	116	128-bit float format using 32 bits for the each channel (alpha, blue, green, red).

Other

This only other flag used is for undefined formats.

Other flags	Value	Format
D3DFMT_UNKNOWN	0	Surface format is unknown

BackBuffer or Display Formats

These formats are the only valid formats for a back buffer or a display.

Format	Back buffer	Display
A2R10G10B10	x	x (full-screen mode only)
A8R8G8B8	x
X8R8G8B8	x	x
A1R5G5B5	x
X1R5G5B5	x	x
R5G6B5	x	x

Remarks

The order of the bits are from the most significant byte first, so D3DFMT_A8L8 indicates that the high byte of this 2-byte format is alpha. D3DFMT_D16 indicates a 16-bit integer value and an application-lockable surface.

Pixel formats have been chosen to enable the expression of hardware-vendor-defined extension formats, as well as to include the well-established FOURCC method. The set of formats understood by the Microsoft?Direct3D?runtime is defined by D3DFORMAT.

Note that formats are supplied by independent hardware vendors (IHVs) and many FOURCC codes are not listed. The formats in this enumeration are unique in that they are sanctioned by the runtime, meaning that the reference rasterizer will operate on all these types. IHV-supplied formats will be supported by the individual IHVs on a card-by-card basis.