How to use shaders in Minecraft 1.20.2

Minecraft's stock visuals certainly work well enough, but sometimes players need a little more quality in their graphics. In addition to using texture/resource packs, they can also install shaders that offer magnificent lighting effects. These include bloom, ambient occlusion, specular mapping, and even creating more realistic particle effects among other things.

Moreover, there are countless different shaders to choose from, each with its own approach to Minecraft's visuals. This gives players a ton of flexibility and freedom to customize their graphics as they see fit. However, before doing so, players will need to install a mod that permits shaders to be enabled in-game.

Although there are multiple mods that can do so for Minecraft, it doesn't hurt to examine how to install Optifine or Iris Shaders, two of the most popular methods.

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How to install Optifine for Minecraft 1.20.2

Shaders as they're seen with Optifine (Image via @OptiFineNews/X)

Optifine is arguably the most popular means of installing shaders in Minecraft, and it possesses a very simple download process. In just a few clicks, players can install it and immediately gain access to customizable shaders along with the ability to import others created by the community.

It should be noted that they will have to make sure that Optfine matches the version of the game they're using, otherwise, there may be a mismatch and the shaders won't work as intended. Fortunately, the developers of Optifine are pretty quick to catch up to new game updates as they're released.

How to install Optifine

1. Head to the Optifine download page and click the link of the version that matches the one you're playing Minecraft on (1.20, 1.20.2, etc.).
2. You should receive a .jar file for Optifine. Open this file and follow the installation wizard. Make sure that the program targets your root folder known as .minecraft. Ordinarily, Optifine will find this folder with no problem.
3. After you've completed the setup program, simply open the game launcher. Optifine will make a new version separate from the base game by default. So simply select Java Edition and then click the version selector next to the green install/play button and choose Optifine. Then hit the play button and you're good to go!

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How to install Iris Shaders for Minecraft 1.20.2

Shaders as seen in the Iris Shaders mod (Image via Coderbot/Modrinth)

Much like Optifine, Iris Shaders is a Minecraft mod that provides accessibility to a vast array of shaders. Players can use the effects that are provided with the mod itself or import shader packs created by the community. However, Iris Shaders is much easier to install by using a mod loader.

Fortunately, Iris Shaders is developed with the Fabric mod loader in mind. After installing Fabric, players can quickly and easily move the mod's .jar file into Fabric's mod folder and then open the game and enjoy. Just like Optifine, they will need to ensure that Iris Shaders and Fabric match their base game version.

How to install Iris Shaders

1. Begin by downloading and installing Fabric for your version of the game if you haven't already. It can be found on its official download page. Like Optifine, make sure that Fabric is directed to your root folder and is installed correctly.
2. Once you have Fabric installed, head to Iris Shaders' download page, like the one that can be found on Modrinth. Make sure to download the version that matches your game version and Fabric.
3. A .jar file should download, and you'll then need to move or copy/paste this to your mods folder which was created when Fabric was installed. You can find it on Windows by opening the search bar by your start (Windows) button and entering %appdata%. Open the root folder, then the mods folder, and put the Iris Shaders .jar into it. On Mac, you can find the root folder via the Finder with the path ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft.
4. Once the .jar file has been placed, go ahead and open the game launcher, choose Fabric from the version selector, and click the play button. Fabric should load Iris Shaders in automatically.

That's all there is to it! There are certainly other ways to install Minecraft shaders, but these two are quick and painless. By using Optifine or Iris Shaders, players can spend less time messing with files and folders and more time enjoying their new-look visuals.