Microsoft announced DirectStorage 1.4: faster game loading thanks to a new compression method and additional technologies
Microsoft updated DirectStorage to version 1.4
Microsoft released a new update to its DirectStorage technology (version 1.4), which allows you to fully leverage fast NVMe‑SSDs when working with games. This release adds a new resource compression/decompression algorithm—Zstandard (Zstd)—which further reduces load times and increases the throughput of game file transfers.
What changed?
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| New Zstd method | Improved compression of game assets, speeding up data transfer from disk to GPU. |
| Game Asset Conditioning Library (GACL) | A texture preprocessing library that can reduce their size by up to 50 %. |
| Restructuring techniques | Shuffling—grouping repeating patterns within files. |
| Entropy reduction | BLER (Block‑Level Entropy Reduction)—simplifying texture blocks. CLER (Component‑Level Entropy Reduction)—simplifying color channels. |
| Machine learning | Used to preserve visual quality so changes are invisible to the player. |
How it works in games?
1. Preparation – GACL processes textures before they’re stored on disk.
2. Zstd compression – The resulting data is compressed and written to the SSD.
3. Loading – DirectStorage reads files directly from memory without CPU involvement, and the GPU receives already decompressed textures.
> Important: developers don’t need to change anything in their game engine. All transformations are automatically reversed during decompression, so the load on game code remains unchanged.
Supported formats
* The current public version 1.4 supports BC1, BC3, BC4, and BC5 textures.
* Support for BC7 and additional performance improvements is planned for the next release.
Bottom line
DirectStorage 1.4 increases the efficiency of working with fast SSDs through new compression algorithms and asset preprocessing. It reduces game load times without adding extra burden on developers, allowing them to focus on content creation.
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