The best Minecraft shaders, and how to install them

Mojang has continued to churn out Minecraft updates at a regular pace, allowing its community to thrive for over a decade. Along with Mojang, modders are constantly launching their own updates to the game — the most exciting of which might be shaders.

Difficulty

Duration

What You Need

• Minecraft

• Forge and/or Optifine modding managers

Shaders don't add new gameplay elements or new mobs to fight. Instead, they give the blocky world of Minecraft a fresh coat of paint. And for a game that's not particularly known for its next-gen graphics, these shaders do wonders to modernize the experience.

Interested in checking out shaders? Here's a look at the best Minecraft shaders of 2024, along with how to install shaders using Optifine or via direct downloads.

How to install Minecraft shaders

As with any Minecraft mod, you’ll need to do a little work to get prepared before you start installing shaders. To install most Minecraft mods, you can use a mod manager called Forge, but for shaders and texture packs, you’ll want to use a tool called Optifine. On its own, Optifine introduces some handy fixes to Minecraft, including increasing its frame rate, but it’s also an easy way to get shaders to work. It's no longer strictly necessary in 2024, but it's still worth checking out.

Here's what you need to know before installing Minecraft shaders:

Step 1: To install Optifine, head over to its official website and download the latest version.

Step 2: Run the installer, which will add a new version of Minecraft to the Minecraft Launcher.

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Step 3: Run the new version of Optifine Minecraft and you'll be able to play the game using any installed shaders.

Step 4: Shaders can easily be installed by:

• Downloading a shader from your preferred source.

• Dragging the installed file to the Shaderpacks folder in your Minecraft instal