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Compression

Draco Compression

Compress mesh geometry using KHR_draco_mesh_compression for significantly smaller geometry files.

Default: Off
glTF Extension: KHR_draco_mesh_compression

Draco is an open-source mesh compression library from Google. When enabled, geometry data is encoded with Draco before being written to the glTF file. This can significantly reduce the size of geometry, at the cost of requiring Draco support in any viewer or tool that opens the file.


Presets

Start with a preset to set all sliders at once. Adjusting any individual slider afterwards automatically switches to Custom.

Preset Compression Level Position Bits Typical use
Fast 2 18 Quick testing — largest output, fastest encoding
Balanced 7 14 Default tradeoff between quality and file size (default)
High 9 12 Stronger compression, slight geometry precision cost
Maximum 10 11 Smallest output — use when size is critical
Custom Manual Manual Full per-attribute control

Strip Uncompressed

Default: On

When enabled, the original uncompressed vertex data is removed from the file — only the Draco-compressed version is kept.

  • Leave it on to get the full size benefit of Draco
  • Turn it off only if a specific downstream tool needs both the compressed and uncompressed vertex data to be present simultaneously

Advanced Controls

These sliders are fully accessible in Custom preset and are also adjusted automatically when you apply other presets.

Compression Level

  • Range: 0–10  ·  Default: 7
  • Controls how much effort the Draco encoder applies
  • Higher values produce smaller files but take longer to encode; lower values are faster with larger output

Quantization Sliders

Each slider controls how many bits are used to store that vertex attribute. More bits means more precision and slightly larger files.

Attribute Default What it stores
Position Bits 14 Vertex world position
Normal Bits 10 Surface normal direction
Texcoord Bits 12 UV coordinates
Color Bits 8 Vertex color values
Generic Bits 8 Other custom vertex attributes

Practical guidance:

  • Position Bits — reduce carefully; geometry shift becomes visible at lower values, especially on tight-fitting meshes
  • Normal Bits — reducing below 8 can cause banding in smooth lighting; 10 is a safe minimum
  • Texcoord Bits — 10–12 is usually safe for most textures; lower values may shift UV seams

Warning

Draco is marked as required in the exported file. Viewers and tools that do not support KHR_draco_mesh_compression will refuse to open the file. Always confirm runtime support before shipping Draco-compressed assets.