A pipeline is configured to access a memory that stores a texture block and metadata that encodes compression parameters of the texture block and a residency status of the texture block. A processor requests access to the metadata in conjunction with requesting data in the texture block to perform a shading operation. The pipeline selectively returns the data in the texture block to the processor depending on whether the metadata indicates that the texture block is resident in the memory. A cache can also be included to store a copy of the metadata that encodes the compression parameters of the texture block. The residency status and the metadata stored in the cache can be modified in response to requests to access the metadata stored in the cache.