Skip to content

Glossary

LED & Lighting Glossary

TermDefinition
Addressable LEDLED with built-in driver IC; each pixel has its own address
Art-NetRoyalty-free DMX-over-Ethernet protocol
CCTCorrelated Color Temperature (measured in Kelvin)
COBChip on Board — many LED dies in one package
CRIColor Rendering Index — how accurate colors appear
DALIDigital Addressable Lighting Interface — building lighting standard
DDPDistributed Display Protocol — low-latency pixel protocol
DMX512Digital Multiplex 512 — stage lighting protocol
DuvDelta uv — green/magenta tint of white light
E1.31sACN (Streaming ACN) — ANSI DMX-over-IP standard
ESP32Popular microcontroller for LED control (WiFi + BLE)
FastLEDArduino library for controlling addressable LEDs
FPPFalcon Pi Player — show playback software
GDTFGeneral Device Type Format — fixture profile format
HUB75Standard interface for RGB LED matrix panels
I2SInter-IC Sound — digital audio interface
ICIntegrated Circuit — the driver chip in a pixel LED
IGMPInternet Group Management Protocol — needed for sACN
IPxxIngress Protection — dust/water resistance rating
LEDLight Emitting Diode
Li-FiLight Fidelity — data transmission via LED light
MatterSmart home interoperability standard (CSA)
MiniLEDSmall LEDs used as backlight in LCD displays
MicroLEDSelf-emissive LED display technology
MQTTMessage Queuing Telemetry Transport — IoT protocol
nDisplayUnreal Engine multi-viewport renderer for LED walls
NeoPixelAdafruit’s brand name for WS2812B LEDs
NRZNon-Return-to-Zero — single-wire data encoding
OLEDOrganic LED — emissive display technology
OPCOpen Pixel Control — protocol for pixel data
PixelAn individual addressable LED
PSUPower Supply Unit
PWMPulse Width Modulation — dimming method
QD-OLEDQuantum Dot OLED — Samsung’s emissive display tech
QLEDQuantum Dot LED — Samsung’s LCD-based TVs
RDMRemote Device Management — bidirectional DMX
RGBRed Green Blue — color model
RGBWRGB + White channel
RGBCCTRGB + Warm White + Cool White (tunable)
sACNStreaming ACN — see E1.31
SELVSafety Extra Low Voltage (<60V DC)
SPISerial Peripheral Interface — 2-wire (clock + data)
TLCITelevision Lighting Consistency Index
TM-30IES color rendering standard (Rf + Rg)
TPM2Texas Pixel Mapping protocol
Universe512 DMX channels
VCSELVertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser
WLEDPopular open-source LED control firmware
xLightsFree holiday light show sequencer

More terms available in the full research documents.