Screenshot 1 of 5. Blocky garden with bamboo, pink flowers and a wooden porch under warm, soft lighting in the Aerial shader.
What Aerial works with.
| Platform | Java Edition |
|---|---|
| Loaders | Iris, OptiFine |
| Minecraft versions | 1.17, 1.17.1, 1.18.2, 1.19.4, 1.20.6, 1.21.11, 26.1.2, 26.2, 26.3 |
Aerial is a realistic, vanilla-like shader pack for Java that spends its effort on the sky and the distance. It runs on Iris and OptiFine, keeps vanilla textures intact, and renders on the player's own machine only, so a dedicated host gains nothing from it.
Shader loaders and versions
- Iris and OptiFine: Minecraft 1.17 to 26.3.
What Aerial changes
Aerial does not restyle blocks. Distant mountains fade into the horizon, sunlight is softer, and shadows keep their detail instead of collapsing to black. The aim is mood, not spectacle.
- Sky with soft colour transitions, atmospheric haze, warm sunrises and visible stars at night.
- Volumetric clouds that take up space overhead, with darker and heavier storms.
- Water with reflections, depth colouring and subtle underwater effects, still clear enough to read.
- Exposure that adapts when you move between bright outdoors and dark caves or interiors.
Settings and materials
Resource packs with PBR support let stone, wood and metal react to light more naturally. Vanilla textures work without them. The pack exposes these options.
- Cloud quality and coverage
- Atmospheric density
- Shadow quality
- Water appearance
- Exposure behaviour
- Material effects and post-processing strength
Installing Aerial
- 1.Install Iris or OptiFine for your Java setup.
- 2.Place the Aerial .zip in the shaderpacks folder.
- 3.Open Video Settings, then Shader Packs, and select Aerial.
The shader install guide walks through each loader. If the pack refuses to load, try fixing shaders that are not working. Iris and OptiFine are Java mods, so Bedrock cannot run Aerial.
Questions about Aerial.
4 questions
Does Aerial work with Iris and OptiFine?
Yes. Aerial lists both Iris and OptiFine as supported loaders, and its newest release for each requires no additional dependency. Pick whichever loader you already use, drop the .zip into the shaderpacks folder, and select it in the shader menu.
How do I install Aerial?
Install Iris or OptiFine, put the Aerial .zip in your shaderpacks folder, then open Video Settings and choose Shader Packs. Select Aerial from the list and apply it. Iris users find the same menu under Video Settings.
Does Aerial support PBR resource packs?
Yes. Compatible resource packs with PBR support let materials such as stone, wood and metal react to light with more detail. Vanilla textures also work, so a PBR pack is optional rather than required.
Is Aerial available for Bedrock?
No. Aerial is a Java shader pack that needs Iris or OptiFine, and neither loader runs on Bedrock. Bedrock uses a different shader format, so this pack cannot be converted by simply copying files.
