Format Support

Nozzle supports a range of texture formats for different use cases: standard 8-bit color, high-precision floating point, and depth.

Supported Formats

Format	Channels	Bytes/Pixel	Description
`r8_unorm`	1	1	Single-channel 8-bit unsigned normalized
`rg8_unorm`	2	2	Two-channel 8-bit unsigned normalized
`rgba8_unorm`	4	4	RGBA 8-bit unsigned normalized
`bgra8_unorm`	4	4	BGRA 8-bit unsigned normalized
`rgba8_srgb`	4	4	RGBA 8-bit sRGB encoded
`bgra8_srgb`	4	4	BGRA 8-bit sRGB encoded
`r16_unorm`	1	2	Single-channel 16-bit unsigned normalized
`rg16_unorm`	2	4	Two-channel 16-bit unsigned normalized
`rgba16_unorm`	4	8	RGBA 16-bit unsigned normalized
`r16_float`	1	2	Single-channel 16-bit float (half precision)
`rg16_float`	2	4	Two-channel 16-bit float
`rgba16_float`	4	8	RGBA 16-bit float (half precision)
`r32_float`	1	4	Single-channel 32-bit float
`rg32_float`	2	8	Two-channel 32-bit float
`rgba32_float`	4	16	RGBA 32-bit float (full precision)
`r32_uint`	1	4	Single-channel 32-bit unsigned integer
`rgba32_uint`	4	16	RGBA 32-bit unsigned integer
`depth32_float`	1	4	Depth-only 32-bit float

Backend Format Mapping

macOS (Metal/IOSurface)

Nozzle	Metal (MTLPixelFormat)
`r8_unorm`	`MTLPixelFormatR8Unorm`
`rg8_unorm`	`MTLPixelFormatRG8Unorm`
`rgba8_unorm`	`MTLPixelFormatRGBA8Unorm`
`bgra8_unorm`	`MTLPixelFormatBGRA8Unorm`
`rgba8_srgb`	`MTLPixelFormatRGBA8Unorm_sRGB`
`r16_float`	`MTLPixelFormatR16Float`
`rgba16_float`	`MTLPixelFormatRGBA16Float`
`r32_float`	`MTLPixelFormatR32Float`
`rgba32_float`	`MTLPixelFormatRGBA32Float`
`depth32_float`	`MTLPixelFormatDepth32Float`

Windows (D3D11)

Nozzle	DXGI_FORMAT
`r8_unorm`	`DXGI_FORMAT_R8_UNORM`
`rg8_unorm`	`DXGI_FORMAT_R8G8_UNORM`
`rgba8_unorm`	`DXGI_FORMAT_R8G8B8A8_UNORM`
`bgra8_unorm`	`DXGI_FORMAT_B8G8R8A8_UNORM`
`rgba8_srgb`	`DXGI_FORMAT_R8G8B8A8_UNORM_SRGB`
`r16_float`	`DXGI_FORMAT_R16_FLOAT`
`rgba16_float`	`DXGI_FORMAT_R16G16B16A16_FLOAT`
`r32_float`	`DXGI_FORMAT_R32_FLOAT`
`rgba32_float`	`DXGI_FORMAT_R32G32B32A32_FLOAT`
`depth32_float`	`DXGI_FORMAT_D32_FLOAT`

Linux (DMA-BUF)

Nozzle	DRM Fourcc
`r8_unorm`	`DRM_FORMAT_R8`
`rg8_unorm`	`DRM_FORMAT_GR88`
`rgba8_unorm`	`DRM_FORMAT_RGBA8888`
`bgra8_unorm`	`DRM_FORMAT_ARGB8888`
`r16_float`	`DRM_FORMAT_R16`
`rgba16_float`	`DRM_FORMAT_RGBA16161616F`
`r32_float`	`DRM_FORMAT_R32`
`rgba32_float`	`DRM_FORMAT_RGBA32323232F`

Format Fallback

When allow_format_fallback is true (default), the sender falls back to a lower-precision compatible format if the GPU does not support the requested format. The fallback chain steps down precision (e.g., rgba16_float → rgba8_unorm, r32_float → r16_float) until a supported format is found. This handles cases where older GPUs or specific backends lack support for high-precision formats.

Usage

// C++
nozzle::texture_format fmt = nozzle::texture_format::rgba16_float;

// C
NozzleTextureFormat fmt = NOZZLE_FORMAT_RGBA16_FLOAT;