Tool
Path traced Minecraft shaders for a mid-range PC
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.
A current mid-range card. Proper shadows, reflections and volumetric light. Simulates light properly rather than approximating it. The most expensive thing here by far.
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-rangeModestAnythingOptiFineIrisreflections · 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
VTXS Screen Space Demo111 followers · up to 26.1.2Fast and very sharp shader with Screen Space Path TracingMid-rangeIrisreflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
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-rangeOptiFineIrisreflections · shadows · bloom · 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
Unbound Visual +16 followers · up to 26.2Unbound Visual+ is a modified version of Complementary Unbound, featuring various added effects and visual enhancements.PowerfulMid-rangeIrisreflections · volumetric light
Luster Shaders13 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
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
Lumenite Shaders7 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-rangeModestAnythingIrisOptiFinereflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
Beautify Shaders7 followers · up to 26.3A more vibrant world, a more beautiful Minecraft. Global illumination, colored light, volumetric clouds and stylized water, inspired by Vibrant Visuals.PowerfulMid-rangeModestAnythingOptiFineIrisPBR textures · coloured lighting · built for screenshots
Lumeon Shaders3 followers · up to 26.1.1Lumeon Shaders is a cinematic Minecraft shader pack that enhances the game's visuals with realistic lighting, improved shadows, reflective water, atmospheric fog, and immersive effects. Designed for players who want a beautiful and dynamic world.PowerfulMid-rangeModestAnythingOptiFineIrisbloom · volumetric light · PBR textures · coloured lighting
LIGHT Ray Shaders2 followers · up to 26.3Light but not just light, make you enjoy advanced render with no lag.PowerfulMid-rangeModestIrisOptiFinereflections · shadows · bloom · volumetric light
PathMax2 followers · up to 26.2Enchanting look with smooth and simple path tracing.Mid-rangeIrisshadows · volumetric light · coloured lighting
VerdantLight Pro1 follower · up to 26.1.2VerdantLight Pro is a Professional version of VerdantLight, provides more cinematic views.Mid-rangeIrisOptiFineshadows · volumetric light
The Beat of a Heart1 follower · up to 1.21.11A vibrant, exciting visual overhaul built to scale. From high-performance potato mode to fully-featured path tracing, this shader lets you customize your graphics exactly to your computer's resources.PowerfulMid-rangeModestAnythingIrisOptiFineshadows · bloom · volumetric light · 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? .