Tool
Path traced Minecraft shader packs
Every shader pack carries a performance tier its own author set, and a style. Pick what your card can handle and what you want it to look like. We are not judging which is prettiest; we are reporting what the authors said.
Simulates light properly rather than approximating it. The most expensive thing here by far.
Miniature Shader1.8k followers · up to 26.2Extremely lightweight with shadows and reflectionsModestAnythingOptiFineIrisreflections · shadows · volumetric light
Shrimple1.1k followers · up to 1.21.4A simple Minecraft Java shader that attempts to maintain the vanilla aesthetic while adding optional shadows, colored lighting, and ray-tracing.PowerfulMid-rangeModestOptiFineIrisreflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
Noble Shaders748 followers · up to 26.3Using clever lighting techniques and powerful customization to create clean, immersive, and enjoyable visuals.PowerfulMid-rangeModestAnythingIrisOptiFinereflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
Soft Voxels Lite269 followers · up to 1.20.1A minimalistic and performant path-traced shaderpack.Mid-rangeIrisOptiFinereflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
Alpha Piscium219 followers · up to 26.3High-quality realistic Minecraft shaderpack.PowerfulIrisreflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
Phoxel PT158 followers · up to 26.1.2[WIP] A Minecraft shader that strives to capture some of the beauty of real life, mixed with the unique ambience and blocky beauty of the Minecraft we've all come to lovePowerfulIrisreflections · shadows · PBR textures · coloured lighting
Dirt RT156 followers · up to 26.2A path tracing shaderpack for vulkanite mod, better than demo packPowerfulFabricIrisreflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
VTXS Screen Space Demo111 followers · up to 26.1.2Fast and very sharp shader with Screen Space Path TracingMid-rangeIrisreflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
Lyrae Shaders88 followers · up to 1.21.11Physically-Based Real-Time Path Traced Graphics.PowerfulIrisreflections · PBR textures · coloured lighting
Spring Shaders (Chun)87 followers · up to 26.2A fresh and clear shader pack themed around spring.PowerfulOptiFineIrisreflections · shadows · volumetric light · PBR textures
Beyond Vanilla55 followers · up to 1.20.4👋Welcome to an immersive visual experience! This is my debut shader pack designed to enhance your Minecraft adventures.Mid-rangeIrisOptiFinereflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
DERCODE37 followers · up to 26.2Realistic & Fantasy Shader based on Derivative shaderPowerfulOptiFineIrisvolumetric light · PBR textures · waving foliage · built for screenshots
Zephyr Starlight36 followers · up to 1.21.11Experimental real-time path traced shaderpack for MinecraftPowerfulIrisreflections · shadows · PBR textures · coloured lighting
Oct-Path34 followers · up to 1.21.11Minecraft shaderpack with Octree-like acceleration structure for its raytracingOptiFinebuilt for screenshots
Better Voxels33 followers · up to 26.3Rethinking Voxels Fork | Every legendary feature you ever wanted in a shader. Combined. Optimized. Perfected.PowerfulIrisreflections · shadows · PBR textures · coloured lighting
CH Motion23 followers · up to 26.2A simple but very good low performance motion blur pack, which enhances the vanilla experience!ModestAnythingOptiFineIris
Unbound Visual +19 followers · up to 26.3Unbound Visual+ is a modified version of Complementary Unbound, featuring various added effects and visual enhancements.PowerfulMid-rangeIrisreflections · volumetric light
SEUS PTGI HRR Reforged17 followers · up to 26.3SEUS PTGI HRR 2.1 Reforged is a community-made modification of Sonic Ether's SEUS PTGI HRR 2.1, aimed at improving image quality and performance, adding more configuration options, fixing visual issues, and introducing new features.Mid-rangeOptiFineIrisreflections · bloom · volumetric light · PBR textures
Serendipity17 followers · up to 26.2a shader aiming for a semi-realistic lookMid-rangeModestOptiFineIrisreflections · bloom · volumetric light · PBR textures
Luster Shaders16 followers · up to 26.3Cinematic Minecraft Shader built off Photon and is for Iris. Dynamic atmosphere, volumetric clouds, Screen Space Path Tracing, PBR, water & reflections — built for gameplay, all with Apple Silicon in mindPowerfulMid-rangeIrisreflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
Foxy shader14 followers · up to 26.1An in-development shader with global ray tracing and some interesting features.PowerfulModestOptiFineIrisreflections · PBR textures · coloured lighting · waving foliage
Lumenite Shaders13 followers · up to 26.3A high-end shader focused on great visuals, packed with features like blocklight shadows, colored block lighting, CSM shadows, realistic water physics (vertex manipulation), shader grass, snow footprints, volumetric clouds, god rays and much more.PowerfulMid-rangeModestAnythingOptiFineIrisreflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
Camellia13 followers · up to 26.3A pathtracing shader pack with quad raytracing.Irisreflections · shadows · volumetric light · PBR textures
The Better Default10 followers · up to 26.1.2RTX feel, volumetricish lighting
And great performance for a shader.Mid-rangeModestIrisreflections · bloom · PBR textures · coloured lighting
Frequently asked
Which Minecraft shader runs best on a weak PC?
238 of the shader packs we track are tagged by their own authors as running on very weak hardware, including integrated graphics. That tag is the author's own claim about their pack, not a benchmark we ran, which is why it is worth more than a top ten list somebody wrote once.
Do I need Iris or OptiFine?
One of the two, and Iris is the usual answer now: it is faster, it works alongside Sodium, and it loads packs written in the OptiFine format. OptiFine still has features nothing else replicates, so a pack built specifically for it may behave differently under Iris.
Will shaders lower my frame rate?
Yes, considerably. Shaders rewrite how the game draws light and shadow, which is expensive whatever your hardware. Running Sodium alongside Iris buys some of that cost back, which is why the two are usually installed together.
How is this list ordered?
By followers, not downloads. A shader bundled inside a popular modpack inherits that pack's download count, so downloads say more about the modpack than the shader. Nobody follows a shader pack by accident.
Installing them is a separate question: setting up Sodium and Iris covers what to install and in what order. Or browse every shader pack by Minecraft version.
Is this information wrong or missing something? .