Texture Packer

A fast, free, open-source command-line texture atlas packer for game development.

texpacker combines many images into a single optimized texture atlas, minimizing memory usage and boosting rendering performance. It sorts sprites, packs them tightly with advanced algorithms, trims wasted transparency, and writes XML metadata describing every sprite. No GUI, no license fees, no cloud account: one small binary that drops straight into your build scripts and CI pipelines.

Why texpacker

• Free and open source. MIT licensed, no watermarks, no paywalled features.
• Command-line first. Scriptable and reproducible; integrates into Makefiles, CMake, npm scripts, and CI/CD out of the box.
• Fast. Packs dozens of sprites in tens of milliseconds.
• Zero dependencies to install. A single self-contained binary; image codecs are bundled.
• Cross-platform. Builds and runs on Linux, macOS, and BSD.

Features

Packing

• Two packing algorithms: MaxRects (default, densest) and KD-Tree; --algorithm=auto packs with both and keeps the smaller atlas.
• Multi-atlas output when the sprite set exceeds the maximum atlas size.
• Optional power-of-two atlas dimensions for older GPUs.
• Configurable border and padding to prevent texture bleeding.

Optimization

• Trims transparent borders from sprites to reclaim wasted space.
• Deduplicates identical sprites automatically, storing each only once while every reference still resolves.
• Emits per-sprite hotspot and normalized anchor points for pivot-aware engines.

Input and output

• Reads JPEG, PNG, TGA, BMP, PSD, GIF, HDR, PIC, PNM.
• Writes PNG (default), TGA, or BMP atlas images.
• Writes XML metadata with texture path, rect, hotspot, and anchor per sprite.
• Discovers images from directories (recursively) or takes explicit file paths.

Example

Point texpacker at a folder of sprites and it packs them into one tight sheet:

texpacker sprites --atlas=game.png --xml=game.xml --trim-sprite --padding=2

Usage

texpacker INPUT_IMAGE [INPUT_IMAGE] <OPTIONS> --atlas=PATH
  INPUT_IMAGE        Input image file or directory (space-separated)
  --algorithm=NAME   Packing algorithm: kdtree, maxrects, auto (default: maxrects)
  --allow-dupes      Allow duplicate sprites (default: false)
  --anchor-only      Omit hotspot, keep anchor only (default: false)
  --atlas-size=SIZE  Maximum atlas size (default: 2048 px)
  --atlas=PATH       Output atlas file name (default: PNG)
  --border=SIZE      Add border around sprites (default: 0 px)
  --keep-float       Preserve float hotspot coordinates (default: false)
  --multi-atlas      Enable multi-atlas output (default: false)
  --no-recurse       Do not search subdirectories
  --overlay          Overlay sprites (default: false)
  --padding=SIZE     Add padding between sprites (default: 1 px)
  --pot              Make atlas dimensions power of two (default: false)
  --prefix=PREFIX    Add prefix to texture path
  --trim-id=COUNT    Remove COUNT characters from the start of sprite IDs (default: 0)
  --trim-sprite      Trim transparent borders from sprites (default: false)
  --xml=PATH         The output file path for the atlas description in XML format

Download and build

Requires CMake 3.22+ and a C++17 compiler. Works on Linux, macOS, and BSD.

git clone https://github.com/reybits/texture-packer.git
cd texture-packer
make release

Install with Homebrew

brew tap reybits/homebrew-tap
brew install reybits/homebrew-tap/texture-packer

Testing

Run the verification suite to check atlas output against committed reference files:

./tests/verify.sh

It compares atlas images and XML byte-for-byte against reference output across many configurations (single and multi-atlas, power-of-two, border/padding, anchor-only, keep-float, overlay), and additionally checks error-path exit codes, TGA/BMP output, and sprite-trimming behavior.

To regenerate reference files after an intentional change in packing behavior:

./tests/verify.sh --update

Input format notes

• JPEG baseline & progressive (12 bpc/arithmetic not supported, same as stock IJG lib).
• PNG 1/2/4/8-bit-per-channel (16 bpc not supported).
• TGA (not sure what subset, if a subset).
• BMP non-1bpp, non-RLE.
• PSD (composited view only, no extra channels, 8/16 bit-per-channel).
• GIF (*comp always reports as 4-channel).
• HDR (radiance rgbE format).
• PIC (Softimage PIC).
• PNM (PPM and PGM binary only).

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Copyright © 2017-2026 Andrey A. Ugolnik. All Rights Reserved.
https://github.com/reybits
and@reybits.dev