All WLED effects explained

WLED has so many effects, many of them with their own sliders – and combined with palettes, it all gets even harder to keep track of.

Like probably everyone who uses WLED for the first time, I clicked my way through the effects one by one, played with the sliders and dropped a lot of them straight away because they seemed too flashy, too fast or just boring. If only I knew what all those sliders actually do …

That’s what Claude is for! With its help I analysed the source code of WLED 16.0.1 (wled00/FX.cpp, repo wled/WLED, licence EUPL-1.2) to describe what each effect really does. So the descriptions are derived from the code, not from watching – details of the look may differ, and now and then something may be completely off. If you spot something or have suggestions: feel free to send me an email (contact details in the German imprint).

For the 1D effects (for regular LED strips) I also recorded an animation each with the palettes Rainbow, Lava and Ocean; on the cards you can switch between them.

The official effect list is in the WLED documentation at kno.wled.ge – with a short sentence and a GIF per effect, including 2D and audio. Always worth it as a reference. Here you get the same in more detail, plus the slider labels, default palette, version history and tips on the sliders.

The three lists

The effects are spread over three pages, sorted alphabetically:

On top of that there are 4 reserved slots (ID 142, 169–171, listed as “RSVD”) that are not effects.

All effects from A to Z

Akemi · Android · Aurora · Black Hole · Blends · Blink · Blink Rainbow · Blobs · Blurz · Bouncing Balls · Bpm · Breathe · Candle · Candle Multi · Chase · Chase 2 · Chase 3 · Chase Flash · Chase Flash Rnd · Chase Rainbow · Chase Random · Chunchun · Color Clouds · Colored Bursts · Colorful · Colorloop · Colortwinkles · Colorwaves · Copy Segment · Crazy Bees · Dancing Shadows · Dissolve · Dissolve Rnd · Distortion Waves · DJ Light · DNA · DNA Spiral · Drift · Drift Rose · Drip · Dynamic · Dynamic Smooth · Fade · Fairy · Fairytwinkle · Fill Noise · Fire 2012 · Fire Flicker · Firenoise · Fireworks · Fireworks 1D · Fireworks Starburst · Flow · Flow Stripe · Freqmap · Freqmatrix · Freqpixels · Freqwave · Frizzles · Funky Plank · Game Of Life · GEQ · Ghost Rider · Glitter · Gradient · Gravcenter · Gravcentric · Gravfreq · Gravimeter · Halloween Eyes · Heartbeat · Hiphotic · ICU · Image · Juggle · Juggles · Julia · Lake · Lighthouse · Lightning · Lissajous · Loading · Matripix · Matrix · Metaballs · Meteor · Midnoise · Multi Comet · Noise 1 · Noise 2 · Noise 3 · Noise 4 · Noise Pal · Noise2D · Noisefire · Noisemeter · Noisemove · Octopus · Oscillate · Pacifica · PacMan · Palette · Percent · Perlin Move · Phased · Phased Noise · Pixels · Pixelwave · Plasma · Plasma Ball · Plasmoid · Polar Lights · Popcorn · Pride 2015 · PS 1D Balance · PS Attractor · PS Ballpit · PS Blobs · PS Box · PS Chase · PS Dancing Shadows · PS DripDrop · PS Fire · PS Fire 1D · PS Fireworks · PS Fireworks 1D · PS Fuzzy Noise · PS Galaxy · PS GEQ 1D · PS GEQ 2D · PS GEQ Nova · PS Ghost Rider · PS Hourglass · PS Impact · PS Pinball · PS Sonic Boom · PS Sonic Stream · PS Sparkler · PS Spray · PS Spray 1D · PS Springy · PS Starburst · PS Volcano · PS Vortex · PS Waterfall · Puddlepeak · Puddles · Pulser · Railway · Rain · Rainbow · Rainbow Runner · Random Colors · Ripple · Ripple Peak · Ripple Rainbow · Rocktaves · Rolling Balls · Rotozoomer · Running · Running Dual · Saw · Scan · Scan Dual · Scanner · Scanner Dual · Scrolling Text · Shimmer · Sindots · Sine · Sinelon · Sinelon Dual · Sinelon Rainbow · Slow Transition · Soap · Solid · Solid Glitter · Solid Pattern · Solid Pattern Tri · Spaceships · Sparkle · Sparkle Dark · Sparkle+ · Spots · Spots Fade · Squared Swirl · Stream · Stream 2 · Strobe · Strobe Mega · Strobe Rainbow · Sun Radiation · Sunrise · Sweep · Sweep Random · Swirl · Tartan · Tetrix · Theater · Theater Rainbow · Traffic Light · Tri Fade · Tri Wipe · TV Simulator · Twinkle · Twinklecat · Twinklefox · Twinkleup · Two Dots · Washing Machine · Waterfall · Waverly · Wavesins · Waving Cell · Wipe · Wipe Random

Legend

Each effect has its own card with its ID and symbols. For almost all 1D effects, a recording shows what the effect looks like with its default values on a strip of 63 LEDs – first with the palette Rainbow, with a click also with Lava and Ocean. Below that:

• Since – the WLED version from which the effect exists under this ID (see Version history); “before 2022” = already included in 0.12 (2021).
• Sliders – the labels WLED gives the sliders for this particular effect (e.g. Duty cycle instead of Intensity), in the order of the symbols.
• Palette – the palette WLED sets when you select the effect. Default means: the effect has no palette of its own – depending on the effect, it then uses colour slots 1–3 (typical for the classic effects such as Blink or Wipe) or, where the effect accesses a palette directly (fire, noise, particles), the palette Party.

Under More you will find, where available, tips on the sliders and the authors.

Terms

• Color 1 / 2 / 3 – the three colour slots in the WLED interface (often labelled Fx, Bg, Cs). Color 1 is usually the effect colour, Color 2 the background (black by default).
• “Color 1/palette” – most effects use the selected palette if one is set; with palette Default or * Color 1, Color 1 is used instead.
• Sliders – the sliders and checkboxes (☑) in the interface for the respective effect. Speed and Intensity are the two standard sliders (stopwatch and flame symbol), Custom 1–3 the additional ones (star, gear, eye). Sliders not listed are hidden for that effect.
• 🎵 – audio reactive: needs a microphone or the AudioReactive module. Without sound, not much happens with these effects; without the module, WLED partly simulates sound.
• Particle system (PS) – newer effects by DedeHai with physical simulation (gravity, collisions, friction). Smoother and more versatile, but more demanding on the processor.
• 2D – needs an LED matrix; on a regular strip these effects only show plain single-colour light.

Version history

Determined by comparing FX.cpp/FX.h of all stable versions since 0.12.0 in the official repo.

• 0.12.0 (04/2021, 118 effects) – starting point.
• 0.13.0–0.13.3 (03/2022–08/2022, 118 effects) – ID 49 Police All → Fairy, ID 51 Two Areas → Fairytwinkle, ID 52 Circus → Running Dual; renamed: Running 2 → Chase 2, Tri Chase → Chase 3.
• 0.14.0–0.14.4 (10/2023–05/2024, 179 effects) – +63 effects: the 2D matrix effects and the audio reactive effects (ID 118–186, including Matrix, GEQ, Game Of Life, Gravimeter); ID 48 Police → Rolling Balls; removed: ID 53 Halloween, ID 114 Candy Cane.
• 0.15.0–0.15.5 (12/2024–04/2026, 180 effects) – +1: Rotozoomer (ID 114, reassigned).
• 16.0.0–16.0.1 (05/2026–07/2026, 216 effects) – +36: all particle effects PS … (ID 187–217), Image (53, reassigned), PacMan (151), Shimmer (161), Color Clouds (218), Slow Transition (219); ID 77 Meteor Smooth → Copy Segment (Meteor Smooth is now the Smooth checkbox of Meteor).

Careful with IDs: effect IDs are not unique across versions. Reassigned were 48, 49, 51, 52 (0.13/0.14), 53 and 114 (after a gap) and 77 (16.0). Presets with an fx number can therefore start a completely different effect on a device with different firmware.

Further changes in 16.0 (compared to 0.15):

• New default palettes: Fire 2012, Sunrise and Noise 3 (Fire), Colorwaves and Noise 4 (Beech), Glitter and Flow Stripe (Rainbow), Noise 1 (Pastel), Noise 2 (Yelblu), Railway (* Colors 1&2). In 0.15 these effects start with Default.
• Additional sliders: e.g. Dissolve (☑ Complete), Meteor (☑ Smooth), Ripple (Blur), Twinklecat (☑ Reverse), GEQ (Bin) as well as blur/smear options for many 2D effects.
• Look: 16.0 reworked the gamma correction; in many places the code notes that the “look before 16.0” is being reproduced. Small differences in brightness and colour between versions are still possible.