For example, the source file of an Asset is a dependency, as well as the Asset’s import settings (such as a texture’s compression type), or the target platform of your Project (for instance, PS4 hardware requires data in a different format to Android hardware). The Asset Database keeps track of all the dependencies for each asset, and keeps a cache of the imported versions of all the Assets.Īn Asset’s import dependencies consists of all of the data that might influence the imported data. The Asset Database also provides an AssetDatabase API that you can use to access Assets, and control or customize the import process. See Refreshing the Asset Database for more information on this process. If you subsequently modify an asset’s source file that you have already imported (or if you change any of its dependencies) Unity reimports the file and updates the imported version of the data. The Texture class in the Unity engine uses this imported version, and Unity uploads it to the GPU for real-time display.

Instead, when you import the texture, Unity creates a new representation of the image in a different format which is stored in the Project’s Library folder. png image file as a texture, it does not use the original. The conversion process is required because most file formats are optimized to save storage space, whereas in a game or a real-time application, the asset data needs to be in a format that is ready for hardware, such as the CPU, graphics, or audio hardware, to use immediately. It stores these converted files, and the data associated with them, in the Asset Database.

With most types of asset, Unity needs to convert the data from the asset’s source file into a format that it can use in a game or real-time application.

Extract unity assets file