diff --git a/DirectXTex/BC.cpp b/DirectXTex/BC.cpp
index 4924354..6448664 100644
--- a/DirectXTex/BC.cpp
+++ b/DirectXTex/BC.cpp
@@ -377,7 +377,7 @@ namespace
         _Out_ D3DX_BC1 *pBC,
         _In_reads_(NUM_PIXELS_PER_BLOCK) const HDRColorA *pColor,
         bool bColorKey,
-        float alphaRef,
+        float threshold,
         DWORD flags)
     {
         assert(pBC && pColor);
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ namespace
 
             for (size_t i = 0; i < NUM_PIXELS_PER_BLOCK; ++i)
             {
-                if (pColor[i].a < alphaRef)
+                if (pColor[i].a < threshold)
                     uColorKey++;
             }
 
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@ namespace
 
         for (i = 0; i < NUM_PIXELS_PER_BLOCK; ++i)
         {
-            if ((3 == uSteps) && (pColor[i].a < alphaRef))
+            if ((3 == uSteps) && (pColor[i].a < threshold))
             {
                 dw = (3 << 30) | (dw >> 2);
             }
@@ -735,7 +735,7 @@ void DirectX::D3DXDecodeBC1(XMVECTOR *pColor, const uint8_t *pBC)
 }
 
 _Use_decl_annotations_
-void DirectX::D3DXEncodeBC1(uint8_t *pBC, const XMVECTOR *pColor, float alphaRef, DWORD flags)
+void DirectX::D3DXEncodeBC1(uint8_t *pBC, const XMVECTOR *pColor, float threshold, DWORD flags)
 {
     assert(pBC && pColor);
 
@@ -792,7 +792,7 @@ void DirectX::D3DXEncodeBC1(uint8_t *pBC, const XMVECTOR *pColor, float alphaRef
     }
 
     auto pBC1 = reinterpret_cast<D3DX_BC1 *>(pBC);
-    EncodeBC1(pBC1, Color, true, alphaRef, flags);
+    EncodeBC1(pBC1, Color, true, threshold, flags);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/DirectXTex/BC.h b/DirectXTex/BC.h
index 8ddb366..69b6746 100644
--- a/DirectXTex/BC.h
+++ b/DirectXTex/BC.h
@@ -875,7 +875,7 @@ void D3DXDecodeBC6HU(_Out_writes_(NUM_PIXELS_PER_BLOCK) XMVECTOR *pColor, _In_re
 void D3DXDecodeBC6HS(_Out_writes_(NUM_PIXELS_PER_BLOCK) XMVECTOR *pColor, _In_reads_(16) const uint8_t *pBC);
 void D3DXDecodeBC7(_Out_writes_(NUM_PIXELS_PER_BLOCK) XMVECTOR *pColor, _In_reads_(16) const uint8_t *pBC);
 
-void D3DXEncodeBC1(_Out_writes_(8) uint8_t *pBC, _In_reads_(NUM_PIXELS_PER_BLOCK) const XMVECTOR *pColor, _In_ float alphaRef, _In_ DWORD flags);
+void D3DXEncodeBC1(_Out_writes_(8) uint8_t *pBC, _In_reads_(NUM_PIXELS_PER_BLOCK) const XMVECTOR *pColor, _In_ float threshold, _In_ DWORD flags);
     // BC1 requires one additional parameter, so it doesn't match signature of BC_ENCODE above
 
 void D3DXEncodeBC2(_Out_writes_(16) uint8_t *pBC, _In_reads_(NUM_PIXELS_PER_BLOCK) const XMVECTOR *pColor, _In_ DWORD flags);
diff --git a/DirectXTex/DirectXTex.h b/DirectXTex/DirectXTex.h
index 57db489..aa7a175 100644
--- a/DirectXTex/DirectXTex.h
+++ b/DirectXTex/DirectXTex.h
@@ -451,6 +451,9 @@ namespace DirectX
         // Resize the image to width x height. Defaults to Fant filtering.
         // Note for a complex resize, the result will always have mipLevels == 1
 
+    const float TEX_THRESHOLD_DEFAULT = 0.5f;
+        // Default value for alpha threshold used when converting to 1-bit alpha
+
     HRESULT __cdecl Convert( _In_ const Image& srcImage, _In_ DXGI_FORMAT format, _In_ DWORD filter, _In_ float threshold,
                             _Out_ ScratchImage& image );
     HRESULT __cdecl Convert( _In_reads_(nimages) const Image* srcImages, _In_ size_t nimages, _In_ const TexMetadata& metadata,
@@ -527,11 +530,11 @@ namespace DirectX
             // Compress is free to use multithreading to improve performance (by default it does not use multithreading)
     };
 
-    HRESULT __cdecl Compress( _In_ const Image& srcImage, _In_ DXGI_FORMAT format, _In_ DWORD compress, _In_ float alphaRef,
+    HRESULT __cdecl Compress( _In_ const Image& srcImage, _In_ DXGI_FORMAT format, _In_ DWORD compress, _In_ float threshold,
                               _Out_ ScratchImage& cImage );
     HRESULT __cdecl Compress( _In_reads_(nimages) const Image* srcImages, _In_ size_t nimages, _In_ const TexMetadata& metadata,
-                              _In_ DXGI_FORMAT format, _In_ DWORD compress, _In_ float alphaRef, _Out_ ScratchImage& cImages );
-        // Note that alphaRef is only used by BC1. 0.5f is a typical value to use
+                              _In_ DXGI_FORMAT format, _In_ DWORD compress, _In_ float threshold, _Out_ ScratchImage& cImages );
+        // Note that threshold is only used by BC1. TEX_THRESHOLD_DEFAULT is a typical value to use
 
     HRESULT __cdecl Compress( _In_ ID3D11Device* pDevice, _In_ const Image& srcImage, _In_ DXGI_FORMAT format, _In_ DWORD compress,
                               _In_ float alphaWeight, _Out_ ScratchImage& image );
diff --git a/DirectXTex/DirectXTexCompress.cpp b/DirectXTex/DirectXTexCompress.cpp
index 4db50ca..3283dc2 100644
--- a/DirectXTex/DirectXTexCompress.cpp
+++ b/DirectXTex/DirectXTexCompress.cpp
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ namespace
         const Image& result,
         DWORD bcflags,
         DWORD srgb,
-        float alphaRef)
+        float threshold)
     {
         if (!image.pixels || !result.pixels)
             return E_POINTER;
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ namespace
                 if (pfEncode)
                     pfEncode(dptr, temp, bcflags);
                 else
-                    D3DXEncodeBC1(dptr, temp, alphaRef, bcflags);
+                    D3DXEncodeBC1(dptr, temp, threshold, bcflags);
 
                 sptr += sbpp * 4;
                 dptr += blocksize;
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ namespace
         const Image& result,
         DWORD bcflags,
         DWORD srgb,
-        float alphaRef)
+        float threshold)
     {
         if (!image.pixels || !result.pixels)
             return E_POINTER;
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@ namespace
             if (pfEncode)
                 pfEncode(pDest, temp, bcflags);
             else
-                D3DXEncodeBC1(pDest, temp, alphaRef, bcflags);
+                D3DXEncodeBC1(pDest, temp, threshold, bcflags);
         }
 
         return (fail) ? E_FAIL : S_OK;
@@ -594,7 +594,7 @@ HRESULT DirectX::Compress(
     const Image& srcImage,
     DXGI_FORMAT format,
     DWORD compress,
-    float alphaRef,
+    float threshold,
     ScratchImage& image)
 {
     if (IsCompressed(srcImage.format) || !IsCompressed(format))
@@ -622,12 +622,12 @@ HRESULT DirectX::Compress(
 #ifndef _OPENMP
         return E_NOTIMPL;
 #else
-        hr = CompressBC_Parallel(srcImage, *img, GetBCFlags(compress), GetSRGBFlags(compress), alphaRef);
+        hr = CompressBC_Parallel(srcImage, *img, GetBCFlags(compress), GetSRGBFlags(compress), threshold);
 #endif // _OPENMP
     }
     else
     {
-        hr = CompressBC(srcImage, *img, GetBCFlags(compress), GetSRGBFlags(compress), alphaRef);
+        hr = CompressBC(srcImage, *img, GetBCFlags(compress), GetSRGBFlags(compress), threshold);
     }
 
     if (FAILED(hr))
@@ -643,7 +643,7 @@ HRESULT DirectX::Compress(
     const TexMetadata& metadata,
     DXGI_FORMAT format,
     DWORD compress,
-    float alphaRef,
+    float threshold,
     ScratchImage& cImages)
 {
     if (!srcImages || !nimages)
@@ -696,7 +696,7 @@ HRESULT DirectX::Compress(
 #else
             if (compress & TEX_COMPRESS_PARALLEL)
             {
-                hr = CompressBC_Parallel(src, dest[index], GetBCFlags(compress), GetSRGBFlags(compress), alphaRef);
+                hr = CompressBC_Parallel(src, dest[index], GetBCFlags(compress), GetSRGBFlags(compress), threshold);
                 if (FAILED(hr))
                 {
                     cImages.Release();
@@ -707,7 +707,7 @@ HRESULT DirectX::Compress(
         }
         else
         {
-            hr = CompressBC(src, dest[index], GetBCFlags(compress), GetSRGBFlags(compress), alphaRef);
+            hr = CompressBC(src, dest[index], GetBCFlags(compress), GetSRGBFlags(compress), threshold);
             if (FAILED(hr))
             {
                 cImages.Release();
diff --git a/Texassemble/texassemble.cpp b/Texassemble/texassemble.cpp
index ff88cf7..98c1e01 100644
--- a/Texassemble/texassemble.cpp
+++ b/Texassemble/texassemble.cpp
@@ -759,7 +759,8 @@ int __cdecl wmain(_In_ int argc, _In_z_count_(argc) wchar_t* argv[])
                 return 1;
             }
 
-            hr = Convert(image->GetImages(), image->GetImageCount(), image->GetMetadata(), format, dwFilter | dwFilterOpts, 0.5f, *timage.get());
+            hr = Convert(image->GetImages(), image->GetImageCount(), image->GetMetadata(), format,
+                dwFilter | dwFilterOpts, TEX_THRESHOLD_DEFAULT, *timage.get());
             if (FAILED(hr))
             {
                 wprintf(L" FAILED [convert] (%x)\n", hr);
diff --git a/Texconv/texconv.cpp b/Texconv/texconv.cpp
index aec3517..afb67c5 100644
--- a/Texconv/texconv.cpp
+++ b/Texconv/texconv.cpp
@@ -1707,7 +1707,8 @@ int __cdecl wmain(_In_ int argc, _In_z_count_(argc) wchar_t* argv[])
                 return 1;
             }
 
-            hr = Convert(image->GetImages(), image->GetImageCount(), image->GetMetadata(), tformat, dwFilter | dwFilterOpts | dwSRGB, 0.5f, *timage);
+            hr = Convert(image->GetImages(), image->GetImageCount(), image->GetMetadata(), tformat,
+                dwFilter | dwFilterOpts | dwSRGB, TEX_THRESHOLD_DEFAULT, *timage);
             if (FAILED(hr))
             {
                 wprintf(L" FAILED [convert] (%x)\n", hr);
@@ -2069,7 +2070,7 @@ int __cdecl wmain(_In_ int argc, _In_z_count_(argc) wchar_t* argv[])
                 }
                 else
                 {
-                    hr = Compress(img, nimg, info, tformat, cflags | dwSRGB, 0.5f, *timage);
+                    hr = Compress(img, nimg, info, tformat, cflags | dwSRGB, TEX_THRESHOLD_DEFAULT, *timage);
                 }
                 if (FAILED(hr))
                 {