minecraft best shader

 

Want to try out the very best Minecraft 1.19 shaders? If you ever looked at your Minecraft world and wished that everything looked a little bit more cinematic, a bit more beautiful, then nothing does the job better than downloading some good Minecraft shaders. Also known as shader packs, shaders are a type of graphics mod for Minecraft which completely overhauls the look of any Minecraft world, adding gorgeous lighting, realistic shadows, beautiful skyboxes and oceans, swaying grass and leaves, and much more.

The drawback to using shaders, of course, is that it takes more of a toll on your machine. But some shader packs are far more resource-intensive than others, and in the list below we've run the gamut between lightweight, performant shaders, and beefier shader packs that really test the limits of how good Minecraft can look.

Below we've compiled a list of the very best Minecraft shaders for 1.19, the latest version of Minecraft. In each section you'll find a link that'll take you straight to the download page for each shader pack. Keep scrolling and we'll also explain the easy steps for installing and running any of these Minecraft shaders on either Sodium or Optifine.

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Here are the best Minecraft shaders for 1.19:

• BSL Shaders
• Complementary Shaders
• Continuum Shaders
• Oceano Shaders
• Nostalgia Shaders
• Sildur's Vibrant Shaders
• Sonic Ether's Unbelievable Shaders
• projectLUMA Shaders
• Sora Shaders
• Vanilla Plus Shaders
• Chocapic13's Shaders
• Beyond Belief Shaders

Below we'll walk you through each of these shaders, and what makes them so much better than the other shader packs you might find online. But first, we'll explain how you can install and run Minecraft shaders for 1.19 right now with ease.

How to install Minecraft shaders for 1.19

You can install and use any of the below shaders with Minecraft 1.19 right now, using either Sodium or Optifine. We'll cover both options below.

How to install Minecraft shaders with Sodium and IrisShaders

We'd recommend you use Sodium to install shader mods for Minecraft, because it seems to be able to run the shader packs better. Thanks to a mod called IrisShaders, you can run any of the above shaders on Sodium.

Here's how to install any of the above Minecraft shader packs with Sodium for 1.19:

1. Go to the IrisShaders Download page and click "Download Universal JAR".
2. Run the downloaded JAR file, and install both Sodium and IrisShaders for the correct version of Minecraft (1.19).
3. Download any (or all!) of the shader packs above.
4. Place the downloaded ZIP folder(s) in the following location on your PC: %appdata%\.minecraft\shaderpacks
5. Run the Minecraft launcher, select the "Iris and Sodium" installation, and click "Play".

These steps will install Sodium and IrisShaders in one go, so you'll be able to enjoy the performance benefits of Sodium and the beauty of the above shaders all at once. Pretty sweet, eh?

How to install Minecraft shaders with Optifine

Here are the instructions for installing Minecraft shaders with Optifine:

1. Download and install Optifine for your version of Minecraft (if you can't see 1.19 it may be under "Preview versions" at the top of the page).
2. Download any (or all!) of the shader packs above.
3. Place the downloaded ZIP folder(s) in the following location on your PC: %appdata%\.minecraft\shaderpacks
4. Run the Minecraft launcher, select the "Optifine" installation, and click "Play".

Now let's have a closer look at some spectacular vistas and landscapes through the lens of some of the best Minecraft shaders ever made.

The best Minecraft shaders for 1.19

BSL Shaders

Download link: BSL Shaders

Good lord, BSL Shaders are beautiful. Like, really beautiful. In fact, when all's said and done, this is the shader pack that I always go back to for my own survival worlds, as well as any Minecraft servers I frequent. Everything included here, from the amazing depth of field effects to the crisp lighting, the beautiful water reflections, and the fluffy far-off clouds utterly transport you to a place that you could almost imagine to be Minecraft 2.0. Plus, you can turn on World Curvature for some wonderfully unique screenshots.

You might expect that such stonking pulchritude comes at the cost of lower frames, but... no, not really. It actually runs a little better for me on my (high-end) rig than the other "go-to" shaders on this list (Sildur's and SEUS). The fact that Minecraft can look this good and still run at a solid 60 FPS on a decent rig just blows my mind.

BSL Shaders

 

Complementary Shaders

 

 

Download link: Complementary Shaders

Piggy-backing off the brilliance and success of the previous shader pack on this list, Complementary Shaders is an offshoot of BSL Shaders, designed to be "as issueless as possible". Extremely performant, and with just as much opportunity for customization as BSL, whether you choose BSL or Complementary comes purely down to preference. A great choice for showing off your latest house build.

The download also comes with a Complementary Resource Pack, to be used alongside the shaders if you so desire. Though you can of course use this shader pack alongside any texture pack you desire.

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Continuum Shaders

 

Download link: Continuum Shaders

Right, here's the thing about Continuum Shaders. I waxed lyrical earlier about the stupendous beauty of BSL Shaders, but Continuum Shaders might just have it beat for pure screenshot exquisiteness. Continuum puts a lot of emphasis on its authentic lighting effects, and it shows.

But - and it's a big but - in terms of optimisation, Continuum falls a bit short compared to many other Minecraft shaders on this list. You'll definitely want to run this with Sodium and IrisShaders to get the most performance, but even that may not be enough unless you've got a very powerful PC. The way I'd put it to you is this: if you want an amazingly good-looking screenshot that makes your Minecraft world look like it came out of a world-class modelling or animation studio, Continuum is what you should use. If you're after a shader pack that looks amazing in motion and allows you to get on with building a cool castle or tower, then maybe you should give this one a pass. Particularly if you plan on going into the Nether for a spot of potion making or Netherite mining.

There's no denying Continuum's beauty, though. I mean seriously, look at that screenshot. I can't get over it. That's the best-looking Minecraft screenshot I've ever seen.