How to Import a Sprite Sheet into Unity
5 min read · Updated August 2026
Unity doesn’t read atlas JSON out of the box, so the smoothest workflow depends on your sheet. For uniform grids, Unity’s own Sprite Editor slices perfectly with zero plugins. For irregular packed atlases, a free importer reads SpritePilot’s TexturePacker JSON. Here are both paths, end to end.
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Path A — uniform grid, no plugins
- Export a grid sheet. In Export & Download, choose the Grid layout, keep Trim transparency off (uniform cells slice cleanly), and download the PNG. If your project scales or zooms sprites, set Extrude to 2 to prevent edge bleeding.
- Import and set Sprite Mode. Drop the PNG into your Unity project. In the Inspector, set Texture Type to "Sprite (2D and UI)" and Sprite Mode to "Multiple", then click Apply.
- Slice in the Sprite Editor. Open the Sprite Editor, click Slice, and choose "Grid By Cell Size". Enter your frame size — the Sprite Player back in SpritePilot shows it, e.g. 64×64 — then Slice and Apply. Unity creates one sprite per cell, named and ordered.
- Pixel art settings. For pixel art, also set Filter Mode to "Point (no filter)" and Compression to "None" on the texture, and use a consistent Pixels Per Unit across all your sprites.
Path B — packed atlas via TexturePacker JSON
If you exported with Trim transparency or mixed sprite sizes, the frames aren’t on a uniform grid, so grid slicing won’t work. Export with the TexturePacker (hash) metadata format instead, then install a TexturePacker importer from the Asset Store (the official "TexturePacker Importer" is free). Drop both the PNG and the JSON into your project and the importer slices the texture automatically, using your custom sprite names and the pivot you picked in SpritePilot.
Tips
- SpritePilot’s pivot picker writes the anchor into the JSON — set it once there (e.g. bottom-center for characters) instead of adjusting every sprite in Unity.
- Animation tags don’t import into Unity automatically; use them as your naming/order reference when creating Animation Clips.
- Atlas larger than 2048 px? Check your Unity texture Max Size import setting, which silently downscales larger textures by default.
Related guides
- Sprite Sheet Export Formats Explained
- How to Import a Sprite Sheet into Godot 4
- How to Load a Sprite Atlas in Phaser 3