Phosphor

You can find the old and no longer supported versions of Phosphor for Forge here.

Phosphor for Fabric

Phosphor is a Minecraft mod which works to optimize one of game's most inefficient areas-- the lighting engine. It works on both the client and server, and can be installed on servers without requiring clients to also have the mod. With Phosphor, the amount of time the game takes to generate chunks can be halved for some dimensions, and frame stuttering experienced while traversing the world can be significantly reduced. It's a no-compromises solution for improving performance either in single-player or large multi-player servers, and changes no features or behaviors of the vanilla game.

If you aren't using it already as well, my other optimization mods Lithium and Sodium both pair great with Phosphor and are fully compatible.

Installation

Don't worry, it's fairly painless. Simply make sure you have the latest version of Fabric Loader present and then drop the mod into your mods folder. The Fabric API is not required. No other additional setup is required, and you do not need to create a new world in order to take advantage of the mod.

What doesn't the mod do?

While this is a significant improvement of vanilla's lighting engine implementation, it does not make any changes to how the light model in Minecraft works. In layman's terms, this mod does not change how light is rendered (except where bugs are fixed) or add new features to Minecraft. This allows the mod to work without being installed on the opposite end client or server. The fixes and optimizations provided by Phosphor are specific to improving the lighting engine, keeping it small and self-contained. This mod doesn't cure all world generation lag or client-side hiccups, as lighting is only one part of the equation.

Modpack Permissions

This is a free and open-source project on CurseForge, and as such-- of course you can include it in your modpack! While not required, it's much appreciated if you link back to Phosphor's project page and Patreon in your mods list or credits page.

Reporting issues

Please use the issue tracker linked at the top of the page to report bugs, crashes, and other issues. The Curseforge comments section is not the place to report these kinds of problems and will likely result in you being asked to forward it to the issue tracker.

Forge is no longer supported and downloads are provided as-is.

Going forward, we will only provides updates to Phosphor for Fabric. You can download Phosphor for Fabric over on the newer CurseForge page. The releases on this page are unsupported and will not receive updates. You are on your own if you decide to use them!

Phosphor for Forge

Phosphor is a Minecraft mod which works to optimize one of game's most inefficient areas-- the lighting engine. It works on both the client and server, and can be installed on servers without requiring clients to also have the mod. With Phosphor, the amount of time the game takes to generate chunks can be halved for some dimensions, and frame stuttering experienced while traversing the world can be significantly reduced. It's a no-compromises solution for improving performance either in single-player or large multi-player servers, and changes no features or behaviors of the vanilla game.

If you aren't using it already as well, Lithium (another optimization mod) pairs great with Phosphor and is fully compatible.

Sounds too good to be true? Phosphor has already shipped enabled by default in the very widely known Aether II mod. Check it out here, and maybe considering installing it today!

Installation

Forge on Minecraft 1.15+: You must download and install MixinBootstrap 1.0.2 (or newer) to your mods folder. Afterwards, installing Phosphor is as simple as installing any other Forge mod, simply drop it into your mods folder.

Forge on Minecraft 1.12: No extra dependencies are required, simply drop the mod into your mods folder like any other Forge mod. 

You do not need to create new worlds in order to take advantage of the mod.

How does it work?

For the technically inclined, expand the spoiler below to see what exactly we do to improve performance. Note that this pertains to the version for Minecraft 1.12 and is outdated in lieu of Minecraft 1.15+.

Phosphor has had a lot of time to mature the last few months, and as such, mod incompatibilities and bugs are very rare.

What doesn't the mod do?

While this is a significant improvement of vanilla's lighting engine implementation, it does not make any changes to how the light model in Minecraft works. In layman's terms, this mod does not change how light is rendered (except where bugs are fixed) or add new features to Minecraft. This allows the mod to work without being installed on the opposite end client or server. The fixes and optimizations provided by Phosphor are specific to improving the lighting engine, keeping it small and self-contained. This mod doesn't cure all world generation lag or client-side hiccups, as lighting is only one part of the equation.

Mod compatibility

Modpack Permissions

This is a free and open-source project on CurseForge, and as such-- of course you can include it in your modpack! While not required, it's much appreciated if you link back to Phosphor's project page and Patreon in your mods list or credits page.

Special thanks

This mod would not have been possible without the contributions made by Mathe172 and PhiPro95. Some components of this mod are inspired and/or based off their previous work.

Reporting issues

Please use the issue tracker linked at the top of the page to report bugs, crashes, and other issues. The Curseforge comments section is not the place to report these kinds of problems and will likely result in you being asked to forward it to the issue tracker.

Maintenance Status

Phosphor is not currently maintained due to a lack of available time and resources. As of Minecraft 1.20, there have been significant improvements to the game's lighting engine, and most of Phosphor's patches are no longer applicable or useful. (see more)

You may also be interested in our other mods, Sodium and Lithium.

(This page continues as it was historically written.)

Phosphor is a Minecraft mod which works to optimize one of game's most inefficient areas-- the lighting engine. It works on both the client and server, and can be installed on servers without requiring clients to also have the mod.

With Phosphor, the amount of time the game takes to generate new chunks can be greatly reduced, and you can expect to see some of the nastier frame stutters caused by loading chunks on the client simply vanish.

It's a no-compromises solution for improving performance either in single-player or large multi-player servers, and changes no features or behaviors of the vanilla game. In fact, our continued insistence towards not changing vanilla behaviours has even led to the mod being officially allowed in Minecraft speedrunning.

Installation

Make sure you have the latest version of Fabric Loader present and then simply drop the mod into your mods folder. No other mods or additional setup (not even Fabric API!) is required. You do not need to create new worlds in order to take advantage of the mod.