A method and graphics processing unit (GPU) are provided for applying texture processing to a block of fragments, each of the fragments being associated with a texture coordinate for each of a plurality of dimensions of a texture. A fragment processing unit of the GPU detects that the texture coordinates for the fragments of the block are axis-aligned, and in response to detecting that the texture coordinates for the fragments of the block are axis-aligned, sends a reduced set of texture coordinates to a texture processing unit of the GPU. The texture processing unit: (i) processes the reduced set of texture coordinates to generate texel addresses of texels to be fetched, (ii) fetches texels using the generated texel addresses, (iii) determines a processed value for each of the fragments of the block based on the fetched texels, and (iv) outputs the processed values.