# Exporting with glTF

> The Texture Export section in Blender's glTF exporter, and what changes in the files it writes.

Texture Exporter docs · https://tools.ashthornton.dev/blender-texture-exporter/docs/gltf-export/

Texture Exporter adds a section to Blender's own glTF exporter, so the textures are encoded as part of an ordinary **File ▸ Export ▸ glTF 2.0**.

## Turn it on

In the export window's sidebar, tick the header of **Texture Export (KTX2 / WebP / AVIF)**. It's off by default, and the choice is saved with the scene in the .blend: tick it once and every later export of that scene uses it, including exports run by scripts or [AI agents](https://tools.ashthornton.dev/blender-texture-exporter/docs/ai-agents.md).

![Blender's glTF export window with the Texture Export section open in its sidebar.](https://tools.ashthornton.dev/_astro/gltf-export.D4AtEUdP.png "File ▸ Export ▸ glTF 2.0")

## The section

![The Texture Export section: the texture list with a warning, and the selected normal map's KTX2 ETC1S settings with the warning to use UASTC.](https://tools.ashthornton.dev/_astro/gltf-sidebar.D0FeE00C.png "Texture Export")

- **The textures in this export.** The list follows the exporter's own **Selected / Visible / Renderable / Active Collection** options, so it shows exactly what this export includes.
  - Each texture has a checkbox; the buttons beside the list tick all, none, or invert.
  - **An unticked texture isn't exported at all.** Its slot is removed from the glTF's materials, with no fallback to the original image.
  - Double-click a name to [rename the exported file](https://tools.ashthornton.dev/blender-texture-exporter/docs/scene-panel.md#renaming-the-exported-file).
- **Settings for the active texture**: the same [settings](https://tools.ashthornton.dev/blender-texture-exporter/docs/texture-settings.md) as the Scene panel.
- **Apply to…** copies the active texture's settings to other textures in this export. A dialog lists them with checkboxes. Each texture keeps its export tick and file name.
- **Edit All…** opens a wide window with every texture's settings side by side.
- **Hashed File Names** and **Only Export Modified Textures**, as in the [Scene panel](https://tools.ashthornton.dev/blender-texture-exporter/docs/scene-panel.md#only-export-modified-textures).

### Textures To

| Option | Folder |
|---|---|
| **Relative Folder** (default `textures`) | A folder next to the exported file. `..` goes up a level, e.g. `../textures`. |
| **Next to the File** | The same folder as the `.glb` / `.gltf`. |
| **Scene Panel Folder** | Wherever the Scene panel exports to. It must be on the same drive, so the URI can stay relative. |

Below it the sidebar shows the URI prefix the glTF will use, and the absolute folder.

## What the export writes

- Each texture is encoded (KTX2 encodes run in parallel), and the glTF references `<folder>/<name>.ktx2`, `.webp`, `.avif` or `.png` by a relative URI. The GLB itself holds only geometry, materials and animation.
- Each texture gets its own sampler. `minFilter` is `LINEAR` when mipmaps are off.
- If a texture fails to encode, it falls back to an external PNG, so the file stays valid.
- The add-on remembers the file as the **last exported glTF**, which the Scene panel's [status box and Update glTF](https://tools.ashthornton.dev/blender-texture-exporter/docs/update-gltf.md) use.

## Exporter options that matter

- **Images** must be **Automatic** or any format except **None**. None exports no textures.
- **Materials** must be **Export**. With Placeholder, Viewport or No Export there are no textures, and the export doesn't replace the last exported glTF. (Geometry-only GLBs written by other add-ons, such as Blender to TSL, don't replace it either.) The section warns you when Materials isn't Export.
- **Draco and meshopt** mesh compression (*Data ▸ Mesh ▸ Compression*) work as usual. They only change the geometry, and **Update glTF** leaves the compressed buffers untouched.
- `.glb` and `.gltf` + `.bin` both work.

> **Tip**
>
> Loading a GLB compressed with Draco or meshopt in three.js needs a decoder too. See [Loading in three.js](https://tools.ashthornton.dev/blender-texture-exporter/docs/threejs.md#notes).