You invited people into your world and heard "loading takes a while." Re-entering yourself, you do indeed wait.
Entry wait time translates directly into the number of people who give up right there. The room you built never gets seen.
The cause is usually one thing: textures. This article covers cutting size with almost no visual loss.
What You'll Learn
- The size breakdown, and where to look first
- How lowering Max Size takes effect
- Where Crunch compression fits
- What not to reduce
Start from having read measuring performance.
Most of the size is textures
A world's size splits like this.
| Contents | Rough share |
|---|---|
| Textures (images) | The majority |
| Audio | Not negligible if you include music |
| Models (meshes) | Small |
| Scripts, scene settings | Tiny |
Deleting scripts doesn't cut size. Reducing model vertices changes less than you'd hope.
Textures grow large because of how they scale. Double the resolution and the size quadruples.
| Resolution | Area ratio |
|---|---|
| 512 × 512 | 1 |
| 1024 × 1024 | 4 |
| 2048 × 2048 | 16 |
| 4096 × 4096 | 64 |
Images downloaded from asset sites are often 2048 or 4096. One wall tile does not need 4096.
Put the other way, lowering that alone cuts a lot. The clear location of the fix is what makes size pleasant to work on.
Hands-On: Halve the size
Measure your world's current size, tidy the textures, and measure again.
1. Note your current size
Open the VRChat SDK's Control Panel and look at the Builder tab.
Building displays two numbers. Note them.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Download Size | What visitors download |
| Uncompressed Size | The size after expansion |
Those two numbers are this article's answer key.
2. Find the large textures
Type t:Texture into the Project window's search field. Every texture in the project appears.
Switching to list view via the toggle at the top right makes multi-selection easier.
Start with the largest. Fixing one 4096 beats fixing ten small ones.
3. Lower Max Size
Select a texture and the Inspector shows its import settings.
Lower the Max Size field. Here are the targets.
| Use | Max Size |
|---|---|
| Large surfaces like floors and walls | 1024 |
| Furniture and props | 512 |
| Distant decorations | 256 |
| Signs with text | Keep 1024 or above |
Max Size is a cap. If the original image is smaller, it's used as-is. Lowering it breaks nothing, so try it freely.
After lowering, compare in the Scene view. If it looks blurry, step it back up one level.
You can multi-select textures and set them at once. Batching things with the same purpose is faster.
4. Apply Crunch compression
Further down the same Inspector is a Use Crunch Compression checkbox.
| Field | Setting |
|---|---|
| Use Crunch Compression | On |
| Compressor Quality | 70 to 90 |
Crunch is compression aimed at cutting the download. The expanded size is unchanged, and the visitor's wait gets shorter.
In exchange, Unity's export takes longer. Processing runs for a while right after you check the box. With a lot of assets that can be several minutes.
Try quality around 90 first and raise it if the look bothers you. For wall and floor textures, even 70 is nearly imperceptible.
5. Look at audio too
If you've included BGM, that matters too.
Select an audio file and set the following in the Inspector.
| Field | Setting |
|---|---|
| Load Type | Streaming for long tracks |
| Compression Format | Vorbis |
| Quality | Around 70 |
Setting long BGM to Streaming starts playback without loading the whole thing. Short sound effects are fine as they are.
6. Measure again
Build again and compare the two numbers.
| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Download Size | ||
| Uncompressed Size |
Dropping to nearly half from texture tidying alone isn't unusual.
Once the numbers drop, enter and check the look. Being satisfied with the numbers and noticing "it's blurry" later is the biggest waste.
What not to reduce
Lowering everything isn't the answer. Some things visibly suffer.
| What to keep | Why |
|---|---|
| Signs with text | They become unreadable. Unreadable guidance means people get lost |
| Things seen up close | Props held in hand, exhibits people lean into |
| Large non-repeating art | Posters and murals show the coarseness directly |
| Normal maps | Compression makes the bumps ugly |
Conversely, what you can lower decisively is equally clear.
- Things that only appear as distant background
- Finely repeating tile and flooring
- Things that only exist in dark places
Decide by how close visitors get. Keep resolution only for things people approach to touching distance.
Common Pitfalls
- The numbers don't drop → Large textures remain. List them with
t:Textureand work down from the top - It looks blurry → You lowered too far. Step back up one level. Signs especially need care
- Export won't finish after enabling Crunch → Processing takes time. Wait
- The audio got worse → Raise Quality, or go easy on compression for sound effects only
- Not enough headroom on Quest → The budget is far tighter than PC. Lower the Android settings separately
- Upload gets rejected → You're over the limit. Cut further from textures
Bonus: Good to Know Up Front
- Settings can be split per platform: Texture settings can differ between PC and Android. See supporting Quest and phones for details
- Reuse the same assets: One wall type reused beats five similar ones — lighter, and more visually coherent
- Keep the originals: Max Size is an import setting, so the source image is preserved. You can go back later
- Build the habit of measuring early: Building right after adding assets and checking the numbers shows you where it ballooned
- Short entry is part of the experience: A world that doesn't make you wait makes a better impression by that alone. Trading a little visual quality for ease of entry is worth it
Summary
Reducing size is texture tidying.
- Most of the size is textures. Double the resolution, quadruple the size
- Lower Max Size. It's a cap, so lowering breaks nothing
- Cut the download with Crunch compression
- Don't lower text, or things seen up close
The question to ask before lowering something is: "How close do visitors get to this?" If it only exists in the distance, lower it decisively.
To run the pre-release checks, go to the pre-release checklist. To widen your device support, go to supporting Quest and phones.