Textures & images — raylib Data Flow

LoadTexture pipeline

LoadTexture("sprite.png")
  │
  ├─► LoadFileData()          [rcore.c — fopen entire file]
  │
  ├─► LoadImageFromMemory()   [extension → stb_image / qoi / …]
  │       Image { data, width, height, format, mipmaps }
  │
  ├─► LoadTextureFromImage()
  │       texture.id = rlLoadTexture(data, w, h, format, mipmaps)
  │
  └─► UnloadImage()           [RL_FREE CPU buffer]

rtextures.c L4118–4130 — LoadTexture

Image — CPU memory

typedef struct Image {
    void *data;
    int width, height, mipmaps, format;  // PixelFormat enum
} Image;

Procedural generators: GenImageColor, GenImagePerlinNoise, etc. CPU filters: ImageResize, ImageBlurGaussian, ImageFormat conversion.

Texture2D — GPU handle

typedef struct Texture {
    unsigned int id;   // OpenGL texture name
    int width, height, mipmaps, format;
} Texture2D;

rlLoadTexture checks GPU format support (RLGL.ExtSupported) before upload. Unsupported compressed formats log a warning and return id 0.

rlgl.h — rlLoadTexture

DrawTexturePro → batch

Builds four corners (with rotation), sets rlSetTexture(texture.id), emits quad to batch. Skips draw if texture.id == 0.

rtextures.c — DrawTexturePro

RenderTexture2D (FBO)

BeginTextureMode enables framebuffer, sets orthographic projection to texture size, updates CORE.Window.currentFbo. Drawing goes to GPU texture attachment instead of screen until EndTextureMode.

rcore.c — BeginTextureMode / EndTextureMode

File format flags (config.h)

Enabled by default: PNG, BMP, GIF, QOI, DDS. Disabled by default: JPG, TGA, HDR, ASTC, KTX. Strip formats at compile time with -DSUPPORT_FILEFORMAT_JPG=1 or CMake CUSTOMIZE_BUILD=ON.

Override file I/O

SetLoadFileDataCallback lets embedded targets load from APK/assets or packfiles without changing rtextures code. Android CMake link flag: -Wl,--wrap=fopen.

rcore.c — LoadFileData

Textures and images: RAM to VRAM

LoadTexture pipeline