Systems and methods for representing high dynamic range data in compressed
formats with a fixed size block allow high dynamic range data to be
stored in less memory. The compressed formats use 8 bits per pixel. A
first compressed format includes two endpoint values and an index for
each pixel in the block. A second compressed format includes four
endpoint values, a partition index that specifies a mask for each pair of
the four endpoint values, and an index for each pixel in the block. The
two formats may be used for various blocks within a single compressed
image and mode bits are included to distinguish between the two formats.
Furthermore, each endpoint value may be encoded using an endpoint
compression mode that is also specified by the mode bits. Compressed high
dynamic range values represented in either format may be efficiently
decompressed in hardware.