What causes "{format} can't be used as a target texture compression for Android" in Unity-Technologies/UnityCsReference?

Filter out invalid formats before assignment: formats.Where(f => f != TextureCompressionFormat.Unknown && f != TextureCompressionFormat.BPTC).

Unity-Technologies/UnityCsReference · error · ArgumentException

{format} can't be used as a target texture compression for A

Error message

{format} can't be used as a target texture compression for Android

What it means

Thrown by the PlayerSettings.Android.textureCompressionFormats setter when any format in the array is TextureCompressionFormat.Unknown or TextureCompressionFormat.BPTC. Unknown is not a real format (it's a sentinel/default), and BPTC (BC6H/BC7) is not supported as an Android target compression format — it's a desktop/DX11 format. The build pipeline cannot include either in an Android APK.

Source

Thrown at Editor/Mono/PlayerSettingsAndroid.bindings.cs:908

            }

            public static TextureCompressionFormat[] textureCompressionFormats
            {
                get
                {
                    return GetTextureCompressionFormatsImpl(BuildTarget.Android);
                }
                set
                {
                    if (value == null || value.Length == 0)
                    {
                        throw new ArgumentException($"Android textureCompressionFormats can't be null or empty");
                    }
                    foreach (var format in value)
                    {
                        if (format == TextureCompressionFormat.Unknown || format == TextureCompressionFormat.BPTC)
                        {
                            throw new ArgumentException($"{format} can't be used as a target texture compression for Android");
                        }
                    }
                    SetTextureCompressionFormatsImpl(BuildTarget.Android, value);
                }
            }

            // Google Play App Dependencies info.
            [NativeProperty("AndroidReportGooglePlayAppDependencies", TargetType.Function)]
            public static extern bool reportGooglePlayAppDependencies { get; set; }

            public static extern AndroidApplicationEntry applicationEntry
            {
                [NativeMethod("GetAndroidApplicationEntry")]
                get;
                [NativeMethod("SetAndroidApplicationEntry")]
                set;
            }

View on GitHub (pinned to 225b0fbdb5)

Solutions

Filter out invalid formats before assignment: formats.Where(f => f != TextureCompressionFormat.Unknown && f != TextureCompressionFormat.BPTC).
Use Android-supported formats only: ETC2, ETC, ASTC, DXT, PVRTC, ATC as applicable.
Initialize arrays explicitly rather than relying on enum default values.

Example fix

// before
PlayerSettings.Android.textureCompressionFormats = allFormats; // contains Unknown/BPTC

// after
var androidFormats = allFormats
    .Where(f => f != TextureCompressionFormat.Unknown && f != TextureCompressionFormat.BPTC)
    .ToArray();
PlayerSettings.Android.textureCompressionFormats = androidFormats;

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

var validFormats = value
    .Where(f => f != TextureCompressionFormat.Unknown && f != TextureCompressionFormat.BPTC)
    .ToArray();
PlayerSettings.Android.textureCompressionFormats = validFormats;

Prevention

Filter out Unknown and BPTC from compression format lists before assigning to Android settings.
Do not share compression format lists across platforms without filtering.
Initialize format arrays explicitly to avoid default Unknown (0) enum values.

When it happens

Trigger: Passing an array containing TextureCompressionFormat.Unknown or TextureCompressionFormat.BPTC to the textureCompressionFormats setter. This happens when copying compression format lists from a PC/Mac build configuration to Android, or when a format enum defaults to Unknown (value 0) in an uninitialized array.

Common situations: Cross-platform build scripts that share a compression format list across platforms; uninitialized arrays where elements default to the 0 enum value (Unknown); configuration tools that present all TextureCompressionFormat values without filtering for Android.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Unity-Technologies/UnityCsReference@225b0fbdb5 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/49d73cc614fd9cd6. Report an issue: GitHub.