Minecraft Shaders: Install with Iris and Pick a Pack

On Java Edition, install shaders by adding the Iris and Sodium mods (on Fabric or NeoForge), dropping a shader pack .zip into the shaderpacks folder, and choosing it under Options → Video Settings → Shader Packs. On Bedrock, there are no community shader packs; instead, switch the graphics mode to Vibrant Visuals in Video settings if your device supports it.

Shaders replace the game’s lighting: real shadows from the sun, reflective water, light shafts through leaves, fog that glows at sunset. They also cost a lot of performance, so the right pack depends on your hardware.

Java: install with Iris

1. Set up a loader. Iris runs on Fabric, NeoForge and Quilt. If you’ve never modded before, follow how to install Minecraft mods first; it covers the loader and the mods folder.
2. Download Iris and Sodium from Modrinth for your exact game version and loader, and put both .jar files in mods. (Iris’s own installer can set up Fabric, Iris and Sodium together if you’d rather skip the manual steps.)
3. Launch the game, go to Options → Video Settings → Shader Packs, and click Open Shader Pack Folder.
4. Drop a shader pack .zip into that folder. Don’t unzip it.
5. Select the pack in the list and click Apply. With Iris, K toggles shaders on and off in-game and O opens the shader pack screen (the default keys).

OptiFine is the older alternative: one installer, shaders under Video Settings → Shaders. It works with most of the same packs, but it can’t be combined with Sodium and often clashes with other mods. Unless a specific pack requires it, use Iris.

Shader packs by hardware

All of these are free (or have free versions) and well established. Download from Modrinth, CurseForge or the author’s own site, not from re-upload sites.

Integrated graphics or older GPUs: MakeUp Ultra Fast and Sildur’s Enhanced Default are lightweight and give you shadows without halving your FPS. Complementary Reimagined on its lowest profile also runs on modest hardware.

Mid-range GPUs: Complementary Reimagined (keeps the vanilla look) and Complementary Unbound (more dramatic), plus BSL. These are the packs most players end up keeping.

High-end GPUs: Bliss, Photon and SEUS PTGI push further with heavier lighting and reflections. Some of these use path-tracing-style lighting and want a strong recent graphics card.

Pair a shader with a resource pack if you want new textures too; shaders change light, not block textures.

Getting the FPS back

Shaders hit the GPU much harder than vanilla. In the pack’s own settings menu (Shader Packs → Shader Pack Settings), the options that cost the most are:

1. Shadow resolution and shadow distance. Drop these first.
2. Render distance in the normal video settings. Shaders render shadows across that whole distance, so 10 to 12 chunks is a sensible cap.
3. Volumetric light, clouds and reflections. Pretty, expensive.

Most packs also come with preset profiles (Low, Medium, High). Start one step below where you think your PC sits. For performance problems that remain with shaders off, see our lag guide.

Bedrock: Vibrant Visuals

Bedrock Edition got its own built-in lighting upgrade, Vibrant Visuals, with directional shadows, volumetric fog and better water. Turn it on in Settings → Video → Graphics Mode. It needs a supported device: on Windows a DirectX 12 GPU, on phones a reasonably recent chip, on consoles mainly Xbox Series X|S, PS5 and Switch 2 (some older consoles support it but have it off by default). The original Switch and Chromebooks don’t support it.

Vibrant Visuals is Bedrock-only for now. Mojang has said it plans to bring it to Java later, but until then Java players use Iris and packs. Want more Java tweaks beyond shaders? Our beginner mod list has the essentials.