Questions about texture compression

Question

So when I choose the texture in the Inspector window I see three tabs: Default, Standalones & Android. I can choose some variants of how to compress this texture, but:

• My texture is a png (so it's RGBA). When I click the Default->Format I can see stuff like Alpha 8, R 8, RGB 24 bit. So if I choose R8, for example, does that mean that my GBA channels will be thrown away?
• What is the Max Size? My texture is 600x375. If I choose 512 will it clip my texture to 512x375 or what? And why it is called Max Size if I am working with a single texture right now?
• If I choose Default->Format to Automatic and does not do any override on any specific platform will Unity choose default texture compression formats for a specific platform using this table?

Answer 1

• You lose data based on the compression limits. R8 will not preserve your RGB data.

• Max size is the upper limit of the exported texture. If your size is below it, nothing changes. If your texture is above max size then it's down scaled to match the max size values.

• Unity should be able to pick the correct format, the current compression should show up along side the texture preview. Some cases require you to set the proper settings yourself. From the very link you posted : By default, the Unity Editor automatically converts Textures to the most appropriate format to match the build target you have selected.

This info can all be found in the manual