Texture names are unsigned integers. The value zero is reserved to represent the default texture for each texture target. Texture names and the corresponding texture contents are local to the shared display-list space (see glXCreateContext) of the current GL rendering context; two rendering contexts share texture names only if they also share display lists.

You may use glGenTextures to generate a set of new texture names.

When a texture is first bound, it assumes the dimensionality of its target: A texture first bound to GL_TEXTURE_1D becomes one-dimensional, and a texture first bound to GL_TEXTURE_2D becomes two-dimensional, and a texture first bound to GL_TEXTURE_3D becomes a three-dimensional texture. The state of a one-dimensional texture immediately after it is first bound is equivalent to the state of the default GL_TEXTURE_1D at GL initialization, and similarly for two-, and three-dimensional textures.

While a texture is bound, GL operations on the target to which it is bound affect the bound texture, and queries of the target to which it is bound return state from the bound texture. If texture mapping of the dimensionality of the target to which a texture is bound is active, the bound texture is used. In effect, the texture targets become aliases for the textures currently bound to them, and the texture name zero refers to the default textures that were bound to them at initialization.

A texture binding created with glBindTexture remains active until a different texture is bound to the same target, or until the bound texture is deleted with glDeleteTextures.

Once created, a named texture may be re-bound to the target of the matching dimensionality as often as needed. It is usually much faster to use glBindTexture to bind an existing named texture to one of the texture targets than it is to reload the texture image using glTexImage1D, glTexImage2D, or glTexImage3D. For additional control over performance, use glPrioritizeTextures.

glBindTexture is included in display lists.

GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated if glBindTexture is executed between the execution of glBegin and the corresponding execution of glEnd.

glAreTexturesResident , glDeleteTextures , glGenTextures , glGet , glGetTexParameter , glIsTexture , glPrioritizeTextures , glTexImage1D , glTexImage2D , glTexParameter