OptiFine Settings Guide: Best FPS Settings
Complete OptiFine settings guide for Minecraft 1.21. Every setting explained with recommended configurations for low-end, mid-range, and high-end PCs.
OptiFine adds dozens of settings that vanilla Minecraft does not expose. Knowing which ones actually matter is the difference between 40 FPS and 120 FPS on the same hardware. This guide explains every OptiFine setting, identifies the ones with the biggest performance impact, and provides ready-to-use configurations for low-end, mid-range, and high-end systems.
If you have not installed OptiFine yet, start with our installation guide first.
Accessing OptiFine Settings
Open Minecraft, go to Options > Video Settings. OptiFine reorganizes the vanilla video settings and adds several new categories:
- Video Settings (main page)
- Quality
- Details
- Performance
- Animations
- Other
- Shaders (if using shaders)
Main Video Settings
These are the most impactful settings in the entire options menu.
Render Distance
What it does: Controls how many chunks (16x16 block columns) are visible around you. Each increase loads exponentially more terrain.
FPS impact: Extremely high. Going from 16 to 32 chunks can cut FPS in half.
| PC Tier | Recommended |
|---|---|
| Low-end | 6-8 chunks |
| Mid-range | 12-16 chunks |
| High-end | 16-24 chunks |
Going above 24 chunks has diminishing visual returns and heavy performance cost. Even on high-end systems, 32 chunks is rarely worth the FPS hit unless you specifically need long-range visibility.
Simulation Distance
What it does: Controls how far from the player entities and game mechanics are active. Does not affect rendering.
FPS impact: Moderate. Affects CPU load from entity ticking, redstone, and mob AI.
Recommended: Match or set slightly below render distance. Setting simulation distance lower than render distance means you can see far terrain without the CPU cost of processing everything in view.
Max Framerate
What it does: Caps your FPS at the specified value.
FPS impact: Indirect. Capping to your monitor’s refresh rate prevents the GPU from rendering unnecessary frames, reducing heat and power consumption.
Recommended: Set to your monitor’s refresh rate (60, 144, 165, etc.) or VSync. Unlimited is fine if your PC runs cool, but serves no visual purpose above your monitor’s refresh rate.
Graphics
What it does: Switches between Fast, Fancy, and Fabulous rendering modes.
- Fast — transparent blocks (leaves, water) are opaque. Cheapest.
- Fancy — transparent blocks render properly. Moderate cost.
- Fabulous — adds translucency sorting. Highest cost.
FPS impact: Moderate. Fast to Fancy is a 10-20% difference on most systems.
Recommended: Fancy for mid-range and above. Fast only if you are struggling for frames on low-end hardware.
Smooth Lighting
What it does: Controls ambient occlusion (soft shadows in corners and under blocks).
- Off — flat lighting, ugly but free
- Minimum — basic AO, minimal cost
- Maximum — full smooth lighting, moderate cost
FPS impact: Low to moderate.
Recommended: Minimum for low-end, Maximum for everything else. The visual difference between Minimum and Maximum is subtle, but Off looks noticeably worse.
GUI Scale
What it does: Changes the size of the interface elements.
FPS impact: None.
Recommended: Personal preference. Auto works for most displays.
Quality Settings
Navigate to Video Settings > Quality.
Mipmap Levels
What it does: Smooths distant textures to reduce visual shimmer/flickering. Levels 0-4.
FPS impact: Minimal on modern GPUs. Can cost 2-5 FPS on integrated graphics.
Recommended: 4 for most systems. Set to 1-2 only on very low-end integrated graphics.
Anisotropic Filtering
What it does: Improves texture clarity when viewed at steep angles (like looking down a long hallway).
FPS impact: Low on dedicated GPUs. Can cost 5-10 FPS on integrated graphics.
Recommended: OFF for low-end. 2-4 for mid-range. 8-16 for high-end.
Antialiasing
What it does: Smooths jagged edges on block outlines and distant geometry.
FPS impact: HIGH. This is one of the most expensive settings in the entire menu. 2x AA can cost 20-30% FPS, and 16x can halve your framerate.
Recommended: OFF for low-end and mid-range. 2-4 only on high-end systems where you have frames to spare. This is the single biggest “trap” setting in OptiFine — it looks like a harmless toggle but has enormous cost.
Better Grass
What it does: Renders grass texture on the sides of grass blocks for a more seamless look.
FPS impact: Very low.
Recommended: Fancy for all systems. The visual improvement is significant and the cost is negligible.
Better Snow
What it does: Adds snow to the sides of blocks in snowy biomes.
FPS impact: Very low.
Recommended: ON for all systems.
Custom Fonts / Custom Colors / Custom Sky / Custom Items
What it does: Enables resource pack features for custom fonts, biome colors, sky textures, and item models.
FPS impact: Negligible unless using very complex resource packs.
Recommended: ON for all systems unless a specific resource pack causes issues.
Connected Textures
What it does: Makes glass, bookshelves, and other blocks connect seamlessly.
FPS impact: Low. Adds minor overhead when loading chunks.
Recommended: Fancy for all systems. This is one of OptiFine’s best visual features.
Emissive Textures
What it does: Allows resource packs to define parts of textures that glow (like magma block cracks).
FPS impact: Very low.
Recommended: ON for all systems.
Dynamic Lights
What it does: Held torches, dropped glowstone, and burning entities emit light without placing blocks.
FPS impact: Low to moderate. Costs more in caves with many light-emitting entities.
Recommended: Fancy for mid-range and above. OFF for low-end. The visual improvement in caves is substantial.
Details Settings
Navigate to Video Settings > Details.
Clouds
What it does: Controls cloud rendering. Off, Fast (2D), or Fancy (3D).
FPS impact: Low. 3D clouds cost a few FPS.
Recommended: Fast or Fancy for most systems. OFF if you want every last frame on low-end hardware.
Trees
What it does: Controls leaf rendering. Fast (opaque) or Fancy (transparent) or Smart (transparent near, opaque far).
FPS impact: Moderate in forested areas. Transparent leaves require alpha blending.
Recommended: Smart is the best compromise. You get visual quality nearby without the cost of rendering transparent leaves across the entire render distance.
Rain/Snow
What it does: Controls weather particle rendering.
FPS impact: Moderate during storms. Rain particles are surprisingly expensive.
Recommended: Fast for low-end. Fancy for mid-range and above.
Sky / Stars / Sun & Moon
What it does: Toggles sky rendering elements.
FPS impact: Very low.
Recommended: ON for all systems unless you are on absolutely minimal hardware.
Fog
What it does: Controls distance fog rendering.
FPS impact: Minimal. Fog actually helps visually by hiding pop-in at render distance edges.
Recommended: Fast for all systems. Fancy fog adds essentially nothing visually.
Swamp Colors / Biome Blend
What it does: Controls biome color blending at biome borders.
FPS impact: Low. Higher blend radius costs more.
Recommended: 5x5 for most systems. 3x3 for low-end. The difference above 5x5 is barely perceptible.
Translucent Blocks
What it does: Controls rendering order of translucent blocks (stained glass, ice, water).
FPS impact: Low.
Recommended: Fancy for all systems.
Held Item Tooltips / Dropped Items / Entity Shadows
What it does: Visual details for items and entity rendering.
FPS impact: Very low individually.
Recommended: ON for all systems.
Performance Settings
Navigate to Video Settings > Performance. These settings have the most direct impact on FPS.
Render Regions
What it does: Uses VBOs (Vertex Buffer Objects) for chunk rendering. Modern GPU optimization.
FPS impact: Moderate positive impact. Should always be ON.
Recommended: ON for all systems. There is no reason to disable this on any modern system.
Smart Animations
What it does: Only animates textures that are currently visible on screen.
FPS impact: Moderate. Saves GPU work by not updating off-screen animated textures (water, lava, fire, prismarine, etc.).
Recommended: ON for all systems. Pure free performance.
Smooth FPS
What it does: Stabilizes frame times by flushing the GPU pipeline each frame.
FPS impact: Can reduce average FPS slightly but makes frame times more consistent, reducing stuttering.
Recommended: OFF for most systems. Try ON if you experience stuttering or inconsistent frame pacing.
Chunk Updates
What it does: Controls how many chunks update per frame. Higher values = faster world loading but more frame drops.
FPS impact: Moderate. Higher values cause more microstutter.
Recommended: 1 for low-end. 1-3 for mid-range. 5 for high-end. Setting this to 1 gives the smoothest frame times at the cost of slower chunk loading when moving quickly.
Lazy Chunk Loading
What it does: Loads chunks one at a time instead of all at once when a new area loads.
FPS impact: Reduces loading spikes but makes terrain pop in more slowly.
Recommended: ON for low-end. OFF for mid-range and above. Helps prevent freezing when teleporting or loading new areas on weak hardware.
Fast Math
What it does: Uses simplified math functions for rendering calculations.
FPS impact: Low. Saves a few FPS at the cost of very minor rendering imprecision.
Recommended: ON for low-end and mid-range. OFF for high-end (the visual artifacts, while rare, are not worth the small gain when you already have plenty of frames).
Fast Render
What it does: Skips some rendering passes for a speed boost.
FPS impact: Moderate (5-10% gain).
Recommended: ON for all systems, unless it causes visual glitches with specific shaders or mods.
Animations Settings
Navigate to Video Settings > Animations.
Every animation (water, lava, fire, portal, redstone, explosions, etc.) can be individually toggled. Each animation costs a small amount of GPU time.
Recommended approach:
- Low-end: Click “All OFF” and only re-enable water and lava animations (the most visually important).
- Mid-range: Leave “All ON.”
- High-end: Leave “All ON.”
Disabling all animations on a low-end system can recover 10-20 FPS combined, which is significant when you are already at 40-50 FPS.
Preset Configurations
Low-End Preset (Targeting 60 FPS)
Designed for integrated graphics, old laptops, and systems with under 8GB RAM. If you need help with RAM, see our RAM allocation guide.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Render Distance | 6-8 |
| Graphics | Fast |
| Smooth Lighting | Minimum |
| Antialiasing | OFF |
| Anisotropic | OFF |
| Trees | Smart |
| Rain | Fast |
| Dynamic Lights | OFF |
| Clouds | Fast or OFF |
| Chunk Updates | 1 |
| Smart Animations | ON |
| Render Regions | ON |
| Fast Math | ON |
| Fast Render | ON |
| Animations | All OFF except water/lava |
Mid-Range Preset (Targeting 100+ FPS)
For dedicated GPUs like GTX 1060/1660, RX 580/5600, or similar.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Render Distance | 12-16 |
| Graphics | Fancy |
| Smooth Lighting | Maximum |
| Antialiasing | OFF |
| Anisotropic | 2 |
| Trees | Smart |
| Rain | Fancy |
| Dynamic Lights | Fancy |
| Clouds | Fancy |
| Chunk Updates | 3 |
| Smart Animations | ON |
| Render Regions | ON |
| Fast Math | ON |
| Fast Render | ON |
| Animations | All ON |
High-End Preset (Maximum Quality)
For RTX 3070+, RX 6800+, or equivalent.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Render Distance | 20-24 |
| Graphics | Fancy |
| Smooth Lighting | Maximum |
| Antialiasing | 2-4 |
| Anisotropic | 8 |
| Trees | Fancy |
| Rain | Fancy |
| Dynamic Lights | Fancy |
| Clouds | Fancy |
| Chunk Updates | 5 |
| Smart Animations | ON |
| Render Regions | ON |
| Fast Math | OFF |
| Fast Render | ON |
| Animations | All ON |
Biggest FPS Gains (Priority Order)
If you only have time to change a few settings, these have the largest impact:
- Render Distance — lower by 4-6 chunks for 30-50% FPS gain
- Antialiasing — turn OFF for 20-30% gain if currently enabled
- Smart Animations — turn ON for 5-15% gain
- Graphics: Fast vs Fancy — Fast gives 10-20% gain
- Trees: Smart — 5-10% gain in forested areas
- Animations: All OFF — 10-20% gain on low-end
Everything else is fine-tuning. Nail these six first, then adjust the rest to taste.
Settings That Do Not Affect FPS
These settings are safe to enable regardless of your hardware because they have zero or negligible performance impact:
- GUI Scale
- Custom Fonts
- Custom Colors
- Connected Textures (very low cost)
- Better Grass
- Better Snow
- Emissive Textures
- Held Item Tooltips
Shaders and Settings
If you are using shaders, some OptiFine settings are overridden by the shader pack. The shader controls its own lighting, shadows, sky, and fog. However, render distance and most performance settings still apply on top of the shader.
When running shaders, reduce render distance by 4-8 chunks compared to your non-shader setting. Shaders multiply the cost of every visible chunk because they add additional rendering passes for shadows, global illumination, and reflections.
Monitoring Your FPS
Press F3 to open the debug screen. Key values to watch:
- fps — your current frame rate (top left)
- C: — chunk render info; the first number shows rendered chunks vs total loaded
- E: — entity count; high numbers (1000+) mean lots of mobs or items causing lag
- GPU — GPU usage percentage (if shown)
If your FPS is good but you experience stuttering, the issue is likely frame time spikes from chunk loading (lower Chunk Updates) or garbage collection pauses (allocate more RAM).
If you have tuned every OptiFine setting and still want more FPS, Sodium provides significantly higher performance than OptiFine through a fundamentally different rendering approach. See our OptiFine vs Sodium comparison for details.