spark.js⚡️

Real-time texture compression library for the Web.

spark.js is a standalone JavaScript library that exposes a subset of the Spark codecs through a simple and lightweight API.

It enables the use of standard image formats in WebGPU applications transcoding them at load-time to native GPU formats like BC7, ASTC, and ETC2, using fast, high-quality GPU encoders.

Try the image viewer or the gltf demo:

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Installation

npm install @ludicon/spark.js

Usage Example

import { Spark } from "@ludicon/spark.js"

// Initialize a WebGPU device with required features
const adapter = await navigator.gpu.requestAdapter()
const requiredFeatures = Spark.getRequiredFeatures(adapter)
const device = await adapter.requestDevice({ requiredFeatures })

// Create spark instance for the WebGPU device
const spark = await Spark.create(device)

// Load and encode an image into a GPU texture
const texture = await spark.encodeTexture("image.avif")

The main entry point is spark.encodeTexture(), which loads an image and transcodes it into a compressed GPUTexture using the selected format and options. The example above uses default settings, but encodeTexture supports additional parameters for mipmap generation, sRGB encoding, normal map processing, and more.

If the input image dimensions are not multiples of the block size, it will be resized to meet GPU format requirements. For best results, use images with dimensions that are multiples of 4.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build for production
npm run build

# Development mode with watch
npm run watch

Running examples

To run local examples:

npm run dev

This will open http://localhost:5174/examples/index.thml where you can browse the examples.

Note

Browsers treat http://localhost as a secure context, so HTTPS is not required when testing locally on the same machine. However, to access the dev server from another device you must enable HTTPS for WebGPU features to work.

To run the server with HTTPS, set the environment variable HTTPS to true before starting the server:

HTTPS=true npm run serve

Documentation

encodeTexture(source, options)

Load an image and encode it to a compressed GPU texture.

Parameters

• source (string | HTMLImageElement | ImageBitmap | GPUtexture)
  The image to encode. Can be a GPUTexture, URL, DOM image or ImageBitmap.

• options (optional object) Configuration options for encoding:

  • format (string) Desired block compression format. The format can be specified in several different ways:

    • A channel mask indicating the number of channels in your input: "rgba", "rgb", "rg" or "r", the actual format is selected based on the device capabilities.

    • An explicit WebGPU BC, ETC or ASTC format name, or an abbreviated form such as "bc7" or "astc". Note: only 4x4 LDR formats are supported.

    • If you specify auto, the input texture is analyzed to detect the necessary number of channels. This has some overhead, it's always recommended to specify the format through one of the other methods.

    Default: rgb.

  • alpha Hint for the automatic format selector. When no explicit format is provided, the format is assumed to be "rgb". Supplying alpha: true will default to "rgba" instead.

  • preferLowQuality Hint for the automatic format selector. When the input format is "rgb" it chooses 8 bit per block formats like "bc1" or "etc2" instead of "bc7" or "astc".

  • mips or generateMipmaps (boolean) Whether to generate mipmaps. Mipmaps are generated with a basic box filter in linear space. Default: false.

  • srgb (boolean) Whether to encode the image using an as sRGB format. This also affects mipmap generation. The srgb mode can also be inferred from the format. Default: false.

  • normal (boolean) Whether to interpret the image as a normal map. This affects automatic format selection favoring the use of "bc5" and "eac-rg" formats. Default: false.

  • flipY (boolean) Whether to vertically flip the image before encoding. Default: false.

Returns

• Promise<GPUTexture> A promise resolving to the encoded WebGPU texture.

Integration with three.js

Using spark.js with three.js is straightforward. You can encode textures with Spark and expose them to three.js as external textures:

// Load and encode texture using spark:
const gpuTexture = await spark.encodeTexture(textureUrl, { srgb: true, flipY: true });

// Wrap the GPUTexture for three.js
const externalTex = new THREE.ExternalTexture(gpuTexture);

// Then use as any other texture:
const material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ map: externalTex });

To facilitate the use of Spark when loading GLTF assets, import the provided helper:

import { registerSparkLoader } from "@ludicon/spark.js/three-gltf";

Then register Spark with an existing GLTFLoader instance:

const loader = new GLTFLoader()
registerSparkLoader(loader, spark)

After registration, the loader will automatically encode textures with Spark whenever applicable.

License

spark.js is free for non-commercial use.

• The JavaScript code is released under MIT license.
• Use of the Spark shaders is covered under the spark.js EULA.

See https://ludicon.com/sparkjs#Licensing for details on how to use spark.js in commercial projects.