Convert DDS to VIPS

The DirectDraw Surface (DDS) file extension is used primarily for storing graphical textures and cubic environment maps in the field of computer technology. Introduced by Microsoft with DirectX 7.0, DDS files facilitate efficient loading and storage of texture data, crucial for rendering 3D graphics in real-time applications like video games and simulation software. These files support both uncompressed and compressed formats, leveraging S3 Texture Compression (S3TC) to optimize memory usage and performance. DDS files are indispensable in modern graphics programming, enabling quick texture manipulation and robust graphical asset management.

The VIPS (Virtual Image Processing System) file format, developed by the libvips library, is designed for high-performance image processing with low memory usage. It supports arbitrary metadata and is optimized for command-line operations. Although not widely supported by other programs, it serves as an efficient intermediate format for tasks like image inversion and gamma correction. The format includes a 64-byte header with basic fields such as image width and a set of band-interleaved scanlines for the image data.