Failed usage of GL_COMPRESSED_RGB

[Kopelrativ]

I did a simple test, and replaced GL_RGB with GL_COMPRESSED_RGB, and GL_RGBA8 with GL_COMPRESSED_RGBA (OpenGL 4.2).

The result was that GPU memory consumption increased! I know the result will not be the same on all targets, but I didn't expect that. Using GL_RGB5, however, improved GPU memory use as well as rendering speed.

Are there any guidelines (except doing a test on each target and choose from that)?

Edit: mental arithmetic is an unreliable method. I was wrong, and it was an improvement in both cases. Any views on guidelines are still welcome, though.

[aqnuep]

Well, first I would rather give a try to specify an actual specific compressed internal format constant like GL_COMPRESSED_RGBA_S3TC_DXT5_EXT. Otherwise the implementation is free to choose arbitrary compressed format, even a non-compressed one.

[thokra]

[..]even a non-compressed one.

Well that makes total sense.

Do you know if the Catalyst does that? Maybe Ilian can give some info on the NVIDIA side.

In which particular case could that happen?

[aqnuep]

I didn't talk about any particular implementation but rather talked about the fact that the spec allows this (just read GL_ARB_texture_compression).

In general, the rule is to use an explicit internal format (a specific compressed internal format for compressed textures or a sized internal format for uncompressed textures).