Glossarium Lect

Understanding LED terminology is the first step to choosing the right LED strip lights for your project. This glossary explains the most important terms — from brightness and color to chips and waterproofing — in plain English.

Articuli Guide

Fundamentals
Light & Color
AC / DC
Chips & Binning
IP Ratings
Product Showcase

Fundamentals

LED

A Light Emitting Diode (LED) is a solid-state semiconductor device that converts electrical energy directly into light.

Solid-State Lighting

Lighting devices with no moving parts — no filaments or gases that can break, rupture or leak, making them durable and safe.

Light & Color

Lumen (lm)

The measurement of brightness as perceived by the human eye. Today we use lumen instead of watts — the higher the number, the brighter the light.

CRI

Color Rendering Index measures how colors look under a light source compared with sunlight. High CRI means colors are accurately represented.

CCT

Correlated Color Temperature defines the appearance of white light in degrees Kelvin — from warm candle-like light (below 3000K) to cool blue-tinted light (above 6500K).

TM-30

Fidelity Index measures how closely light renders colors like the sun using 99 samples; Gamut Index measures how saturated colors appear.

Color Vector Graphic

Measures which colors are saturated or desaturated and whether there is a hue shift in any of the 16 color bins.

CQS

Color Quality Scale — an alternative to CRI using 15 highly-saturated colors to compare chromatic discrimination, human preference, and color rendering.

Luminous Efficacy

Lumen output divided by watts. Example: 300lm/ft at 3W/ft gives an efficiency of 100lm/W.

AC / DC Power

AC

Alternating Current — the electricity used in most homes and commercial spaces (line voltage). US line voltage is typically 90V–220V; Europe often averages higher.