PCX to TGA Converter
Processing entirely on your device — large files may take a moment.
PCX was THE DOS-era image format: ZSoft Paintbrush's RLE-compressed raster that every 1990s game, scanner and clipart CD shipped in. Simple enough that its spec fits on one page. Converting TGA to PNG or WebP brings old game textures into modern web and design tools.
Because the whole conversion happens on your device, it is instant, unlimited and genuinely private — no accounts, no watermarks, no files on anyone's server. Multiple files are converted in one go.
How to convert PCX to TGA
- 1
Select your files
Drag & drop your PCX files onto the area above, or click to browse. You can add multiple files at once for batch conversion.
- 2
Convert instantly
Click "Convert to TGA". The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly — no upload, no queue, no waiting.
- 3
Download results
Download each converted TGA file individually, or grab everything at once as a ZIP archive.
About the PCX format
PCX was the image format of the DOS decade: ZSoft Paintbrush's run-length-encoded raster that every scanner, game and clipart CD adopted because it was published, simple and fast on 286 hardware. The header is a fixed 128 bytes, the palette hides in the final 769, and the whole file can be decoded by one while-loop.
Retro gaming archives and 90s clipart collections are full of PCX files. Converting them to PNG or JPG finally makes them viewable — the pixels were always fine, the container was just ancient.
+ Strengths
- ✓Decoded by a single RLE loop — no dependencies
- ✓Ubiquitous in DOS-era archives
- ✓Supports paletted and 24-bit variants
! Limitations
- −Effectively dead since Windows 95
- −Rows padded — some files have alignment quirks
- −256-color ceiling for most real-world files
About the TGA format
TGA (Truevision Targa, 1984) was the file format of early video digitizer boards and became the texture standard of classic game and 3D pipelines. It is raster data with almost no ceremony: a small header, optional RLE compression, 8/24/32-bit pixels, alpha optional. Half the 3D engines of the 90s read nothing else.
Modern design and web tools have quietly dropped it, but art asset dumps, texture mods and game extracts still arrive as TGA. Converting to PNG (lossless, with alpha intact) or JPG brings these assets into anything current.
+ Strengths
- ✓Trivially simple, lossless raster storage
- ✓Alpha channel support
- ✓The texture format of classic game pipelines
! Limitations
- −Dropped by modern design and web tools
- −No metadata ecosystem
- −Files can be large when uncompressed
Why convert PCX to TGA?
Think of it as moving your file to the container that fits the job. Effectively dead since Windows 95 TGA works differently: Trivially simple, lossless raster storage If any of that sounds like your task, run the conversion — it takes seconds and nothing leaves your device.
Frequently asked questions
Is this PCX to TGA converter really free?
Yes — completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily conversion limits. The site is supported by advertising.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly, so your files never leave your device — that is what makes it instant and private.
Does it work on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android?
Yes. Anything with a modern browser works: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. No software installation is required.
Will I lose quality converting PCX to TGA?
No — TGA is a lossless format, so every pixel of the converted image matches your original PCX file. You can also adjust the quality/size balance before converting when the target format supports compression.
What happens to EXIF data and other metadata?
Conversions here re-encode the image, and re-encoding generally does not carry the original metadata over. If the EXIF data of your PCX files matters (camera model, GPS, timestamps), keep the original file as the master and treat the converted copy as the shareable version.
Will transparent areas survive the conversion to TGA?
Transparency is kept whenever TGA actually supports an alpha channel. If the target format has none (like JPG), transparent areas are flattened onto a white background — that is a property of the format, not of this tool.