Uploading images and sounds

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Second Life allows you to upload your own images (textures), sounds, and animations to help make unique creations and expressions.

How much does it cost?

Uploading files to Second Life costs L$10 (ten Linden Dollars) per file. The per-file cost is deducted from your inworld balance regardless of whether you upload the files one at a time or use Bulk Upload. (The purpose of Bulk Upload is to expedite the upload process, not to save L$.)

Uploading an image

1. Go to File > Upload Image (L$10).
2. Choose a valid TGA, PNG, BMP, or JPG file with at least 24-bit color. PNG (24-bit) and TGA (32-bit) files allow the use of transparent effects via an alpha channel. For example, a stained glass window. You can't upload files saved in 8-bit, 16-bit or palletized color. Most modern image editors can convert between formats.

Tip: When uploading, textures are scaled to the nearest "powers of 2" aspect ratio due to how the system handles textures. If you find this results in unwanted stretching/squishing, you may prefer to use your image editor's built-in resampling to optimize proportions prior to upload.

What image format should I use?

TGA (32-bit supports alpha channel), PNG (24-bit supports alpha channel), or BMP. When you upload an image, the Viewer internally converts it to JPG2000 for optimized future transmission. For best quality, try to avoid uploading JPGs; their already-compressed quality degrades further because of the double conversion.

What are good sizes for textures?

Textures should be as small as possible — texture size is highly context-sensitive so it takes experienced artistic judgment. For example, if you're texture-mapping a tiny pebble, its detail can be negligible compared to a giant tree in the same scene. For general use, 512x512 is a fair balance.

The maximum resolution for an uploaded texture is 1024x1024 pixels; if you upload a bigger image, it'll be scaled down to 1024x1024 pixels. Even if you have a fast Internet connection and top-end graphics card, your computer can only display a finite amount of texture data.

Uploading a sound

1. Go to File > Upload Sound (L$10).
2. Choose a WAV file to upload. Valid files are any .WAV file in standard PCM format, 16-bit/44.1kHz/mono or stereo (which will be converted to mono), exactly 10 seconds or less in length. Other formats which don't work include MP3s or WAVs in 8-bit, 22.05 kHz, or any other frequency. You can convert sounds into the proper format using an audio editor like the free Audacity, or a specialized app like r8brain for Windows.

This video shows you how it all works:

<videoflash type="vimeo">4242459|640|480</videoflash>

Uploading in bulk

To upload more than one file at a time:

1. Go to File > Bulk Upload
2. In the file browser dialog, select all the files you wish to upload. You can hold Shift ⇧ or Ctrl while clicking to select multiple files. Using this method, you can upload files of different valid formats at the same time.

You can also Set Default Permissions for convenience when uploading.