OptiFine 1.20: download and installation

Is OptiFine 1.20 available?

Yes. OptiFine has full, stable support for the 1.20 series. The key builds are HD U I6 for Minecraft 1.20.1 (by far the most popular version in modpacks and on servers) and HD U I8 for 1.20.4. Builds for 1.20.2 and 1.20.3 also exist, but most players either stay on 1.20.1 or jump straight to 1.20.4.

The 1.20 series was the last one where OptiFine was the undisputed optimization standard. Since then development has clearly slowed, and the Sodium + Iris duo on Fabric has caught up with OptiFine in features too (connected textures, zoom, shaders). If you play 1.20.1 solo or on a vanilla server, OptiFine is still a great choice. In setups with a lot of mods, consider the alternatives.

How to download OptiFine 1.20

Download OptiFine 1.20 only from the official site, optifine.net/downloads. Clones on other domains are sometimes infected with malware. OptiFine is not officially distributed through CurseForge or Modrinth.

• Open optifine.net/downloads.
• Find the section for your game version: Minecraft 1.20.1, 1.20.4 and so on.
• Click "Download" next to the build marked (Recommended). For 1.20.1 that's HD U I6, for 1.20.4 it's HD U I8.
• After 5 seconds, click Skip or Download on the ad screen.
• You'll get a file named OptiFine_1.20.1_HD_U_I6.jar (or a similar name).

The file is usually 7-9 MB. If the name or size is clearly different, don't run it.

Installing OptiFine 1.20 step by step

OptiFine has its own installer. You don't need Fabric or Forge to install OptiFine on its own.

Step 1: Launch vanilla Minecraft 1.20

In the official launcher, run version 1.20.1 once (or 1.20.4, depending on which one you're installing). The launcher downloads the base game files that OptiFine adds its code to.

Step 2: Check Java

Minecraft 1.20 requires Java 17 (Java 21 is the better choice for 1.20.4). The official launcher supplies the right Java automatically. If you launch the file from a terminal, install 64-bit Java from adoptium.net.

Step 3: Run the installer

Double-click the downloaded .jar file. If your system opens it with an archive tool instead of running it, launch it from a terminal:

java -jar OptiFine_1.20.1_HD_U_I6.jar

In the installer window, click Install. The message "OptiFine is successfully installed" confirms that it worked.

Step 4: Choose the profile

In the launcher, select the new "OptiFine" profile (sometimes "OptiFine 1.20.1") and click Play. Check Options → Video Settings: if you see the Shaders, Quality, Details, Performance and Animations sections, OptiFine is working.

OptiFine 1.20 with Forge

Install Forge 1.20.1 (or 1.20.4), then drop the OptiFine .jar file into the .minecraft/mods/ folder. OptiFine will run as a Forge mod. In that case you launch the Forge profile, not a separate OptiFine profile. Full guide: how to install mods for Minecraft.

Alternatives to OptiFine 1.20

In the 1.20 series the Fabric alternatives are very mature and often give better results than OptiFine. They are worth considering.

• Sodium - a rewritten Minecraft renderer, typically about twice the FPS of OptiFine at the same visuals. Open source and actively developed.
• Iris Shaders - support for OptiFine-format shaders on Fabric. In 1.20 virtually all the popular shaders (BSL, Complementary, SEUS, Sildur's) work without problems.
• Fabric - a lightweight loader, the base for Sodium and Iris. See the Fabric guide.
• Forge - a popular loader used by most big modpacks (ATM9, Create). OptiFine 1.20 works with Forge 1.20.1 once you drop the .jar file into the mods folder.
• Lithium + FerriteCore - Fabric mods that optimize CPU and memory use, a complement to Sodium on weaker hardware.

You'll find more about shader packs on the shaders page.

Common problems

"This Java instance does not support a 64-bit JVM"

You have 32-bit Java. Install 64-bit Java 17 or 21 from adoptium.net and run the installer again.

OptiFine 1.20 crashes on launch

The most common cause is a corrupted shader or a mismatched version. Delete everything in the .minecraft/shaderpacks folder. Make sure OptiFine HD U I6 goes with Minecraft 1.20.1 (not 1.20.4) and the other way around: the versions have to match down to the last digit.

Shaders "don't match" the version

Some shaders written for 1.19 don't work in 1.20 (changes to the lighting and skybox API). Download an updated version of the shader: BSL, Complementary Reimagined and Sildur's Vibrant have dedicated releases for 1.20.

OptiFine conflicts with other mods

OptiFine 1.20 hooks deeply into the renderer, so it can clash with Create, Embeddium, Rubidium and big shader mods. In Forge 1.20 modpacks the recommended replacement for OptiFine is Embeddium (a Sodium port for Forge). Don't run OptiFine and Sodium/Embeddium at the same time.

Low FPS despite OptiFine 1.20

Allocate 4 GB of RAM in the launcher (-Xmx4G). Set Graphics: Fast, Render Distance: 8-10, Smart Animations: ON, Fast Render: ON, Chunk Loading: Multi-Core. See also the FPS boost guide.