About TGA
Truevision designed the Targa format in 1984 for its video graphics boards, among the first to handle true colour on PCs. Its simplicity outlived the hardware. A TGA is a short header followed by pixels, optionally run-length encoded, with a dependable 8-bit alpha channel. That made it a favourite for game textures, sprite sheets and 3D render output through the 1990s and 2000s, and many engines, mods and pipelines still use it.
Quirks worth knowing
- Upside down by default. TGA stores rows bottom-up unless a header flag says otherwise. Tools that ignore the flag show images flipped.
- Empty alpha. Some exporters write a 32-bit TGA with an alpha channel full of zeros. Read naively, the whole image is invisible. The decoder here treats an all-zero alpha as opaque.
- No compression to speak of. RLE helps with flat colour, not photographs, so TGAs are large.
TGA or PNG?
For new work, PNG does everything TGA does, smaller, and is readable everywhere. Use TGA when a tool, engine or mod specifically asks for it.
TGA at a glance
| First released | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Compression | None or RLE, lossless |
| Transparency | Yes, 8-bit |
| Animation or pages | No |
| Best for | Game textures and 3D pipelines |
| Support | Game engines, 3D and image editors; not browsers |
Questions people ask
Is TGA lossless?
Yes. Both raw and RLE TGA are lossless.
Why do my TGA textures look upside down in some apps?
TGA stores images bottom-up by default, and some apps ignore the flag that says so.
What is the difference between 24 and 32-bit TGA?
32-bit adds an 8-bit alpha channel for transparency.