Image import settings

After you have imported an image to your project, for the most intuitive results, it’s recommended that you apply certain import settings for Textures, SpritesA 2D graphic objects. If you are used to working in 3D, Sprites are essentially just standard textures but there are special techniques for combining and managing sprite textures for efficiency and convenience during development. More info
See in Glossary, and Vector images before you use them as a background for a visual elementA node of a visual tree that instantiates or derives from the C# VisualElement class. You can style the look, define the behaviour, and display it on screen as part of the UI. More info
See in Glossary in the UI(User Interface) Allows a user to interact with your application. Unity currently supports three UI systems. More info
See in Glossary Builder.

Texture

The recommended import settings for a Texture image that you use as a background for a visual element:

Property:		Value:
Texture Type		Default
	Non-Power of 2	None
	CompressionA method of storing data that reduces the amount of storage space it requires. See Texture Compression, Animation Compression, Audio Compression, Build Compression. See in Glossary	None
	Alpha Is Transparency	true
Texture Type		Editor GUI and Legacy GUI
	Non-Power of 2	None
	Compression	None
	Alpha Is Transparency	true
Texture Type		Sprite (2D and UI)
	Compression	None
	Alpha Is Transparency	true
	Sprite Mode	Single
	MeshThe main graphics primitive of Unity. Meshes make up a large part of your 3D worlds. Unity supports triangulated or Quadrangulated polygon meshes. Nurbs, Nurms, Subdiv surfaces must be converted to polygons. More info See in Glossary Type	Tight

Sprites

The recommended import settings for a Sprite image that you use as a background for a visual element:

Property:		Value:
Texture Type		Sprite (2D and UI)
	Compression	None
	Alpha Is Transparency	true
	Sprite Mode	Multiple if file contains multiple sprites, Single otherwise
	Mesh Type	Tight

Vector images

The recommended import settings for a SVG Vector image that you use as a background for a visual element:

Property:	Value:
Generated Asset Type	UI Toolkit Vector Image
Tessellation Settings	Basic
Target Resolution	Lowest value that produces satisfactory results

Tip:

You can apply default presets to Assets by folder to automatically set your desired import settings.
All image types are subject to dynamic atlasing if they’re not already in an atlas. (An image is in an atlas if imported as a Sprite with Sprite Mode set to Multiple, or if you have manually added it to a Sprite AtlasA texture that is composed of several smaller textures. Also referred to as a texture atlas, image sprite, sprite sheet or packed texture. More info
See in Glossary asset.) You can configure dynamic atlasing in a Panel Settings asset.

Additional resources

Set background images with an image asset

9-Slice images with UI Toolkit