Pixel LED lighting, sometimes also referred to as Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) lighting control, has been on the rise for the past few years, having seen explosive growth in architectural, entertainment, and commercial installations.
Compared to standard LED tape without addressable pixels, you usually can get a higher resolution with addressable pixel LEDs. This improves the visual experience for viewers. Things like a high bit rate a higher frame rate makes them excellent when filmed and viewed. With addressable pixel LED tape, the entire run of LEDs can be mapped. Users can create some amazing, unique effects. This is all brought about by having complete control over every single pixel on a run.
But what exactly is addressable pixel lighting control: how does it work, and what makes a pixel installation function? A pixel on an LED tape is a tiny light. It has emitters inside, which produce colors, typically red, green, blue, and sometimes white. The brightness and color of every pixel can be controlled, as if each LED color emitter in each pixel has a dimmer connected to it. Using pixel control allows users to have complete control over their lighting experience. The mechanics of an addressable LED pixel are relatively simple. The chip inside the pixel listens to instructions, which inform the brightness and color of the emitters. Following this, it regenerates the signal it received and passes it on to the next pixel in the series.
This is how pixels are arranged in LED strips and pixel dots. The big benefit is that each pixel basically takes care of itself. You donโt have to set the address of each pixel manually. The data travels down the strip one pixel at a time. Each pixel grabs the part of that data meant for it and passes the rest along. Every pixel automatically knows what to do without you having to set anything up.
This technology enables long runs of LEDs to be controlled from a single output, with high refresh rates, allowing installations such as building facades, themed attractions, or interactive art pieces to become dynamic canvases, resulting in some seriously detailed effects. These effects can be fluid, in motion, animated. The way moving effects and images is done is through pixel mapping.
Pixel mapping is where users assign lighting data (color and brightness values) to individual LEDs based on their physical position in a design. Users literally map the digital content to real-world pixels, often using a video source. They create a virtual layout of pixels in their mapping software, then overlay the video onto the canvas. The software sends data out that reflects that video to the pixels. This allows users to be able to deliver creative video driven lighting.
To expand on what a pixel is: each LED pixel contains an integrated circuit chip. This chip is managed by a set of rules and guidelines that acts like a language the chip and the control source both understand. This is whatโs known as a pixel protocol. The pixel protocol controls how bits are timed, how colors and special features such current control are encoded, how data is passed from one pixel to the next, and how the chip latches and refreshes the LEDs. It is a language the chip speaks, not a physical component.
There is a massive number of LED pixel control protocols now being used in the market. The number of choices can be overwhelming, but itโs important to remember not all pixel protocols are created equal. Your best option is to match your need with a specific pixel protocol. Letโs look at three of the most popular pixel protocols as examples: WS2812B, SK6813-HV, and MY9231.
WS2812B originated in China, created by WorldSemi, hence the โWS.โ It is an evolution of the earlier WS2811. It integrates the control directly into the RGB (red, green, blue) package to create a compact and addressable โsmart pixel.โ Today it is one of the most widely used pixel protocols by hobbyists involved in art installations, signage, and DIY lighting. Itโs inexpensive, easy to wire, and supported by nearly every pixel controller ecosystem. However. WS2812B does have some drawbacks. Because it is a data-only pixel control and has a relatively low pulse-width-modulation (PWM) rate, when grouped together for any display that involves fast and quick changing designs, it can result in a low overall refresh rate. Your lights could look flickery, especially on camera. Lights also can have visible jumps in brightness and color, especially at low light levels, and motion effects could look jumpy and uneven.
Next up is SK6813-HV. SK6813-HV offers more features and a higher quality pixel than the previously mentioned WS2812B. The form factor of the chip is an identical size, meaning that SK6813-HV is a good type of pixel protocol for a printed circuit board (PCB). The main difference between SK6813-HV and WS2812B is that SK6813-HV has a built-in 12 V to 5 V regulator, allowing it to be driven by a 12V input source, reducing voltage drop over multiple LEDs. The overall run of pixels is more efficient and less sensitive to voltage drop. It also has a higher PWM rate, which makes flicker less visible, fades more natural, and low-level dimming smoother.
Finally, we have MY9231. This high-end pixel boasts an impressive 16-bit color resolution and a fast PWM rate. It does require an extra line to be connected to the pixel controller output because it is a clocked chip. MY9231 uses two signal lines to an output: a data line that carries color and intensity information, and a clock line that carries a timing reference, telling the pixels when to read the color and intensity data. MY9231 allows for faster refresh rates as it can be driven at a much faster speed, making it ideal for creating images to be captured by high dynamic range, high refresh rate cameras. These three pixel protocols provide a good sample of the variety that is available. Each protocol has its own benefits and detriments. But how do you control a pixel or series of pixels? Pixel control is the medium by which data from a lighting system is translated and delivered to pixels.
Pixel controllers come in all shapes and sizes. Some have a single port, which allows for a single run of LEDs from the controller, while others boast tens of ports and can deliver control to thousands of individual pixels. A pixel controller performs two key functions. The first is data parsing. The pixel controller creates and orders a queue of information for the pixels. The second is signal generation. The controller outputs precise waveforms to pixels at the correct timing, ensuring each pixel knows exactly when to shine.
Pixel controllers also come in two main categories when it comes to distance: direct connect or long range. Direct connect pixel controllers are those where the LED pixel string is directly connected to the controller. In this case, pixels can only be managed, depending on the controller, up to a maximum distance of 15 meters, depending on which controller is used. The pixel control signals are not designed to travel long distances. Pixel data is low voltage, timing sensitive, and relatively high frequency. It degrades quickly over distance. Anything beyond the maximum distance may result in flickering, data being missed, or pixels beginning to behave poorly. You could use a direct connect controller for a large installation, but it would require the controller to be close to the pixels themselves. Pixels can be controlled at a longer distance with additional equipment: a transmitter and receiver pairing.
The transmitter is the controller. The transmitter takes the lighting data and transforms it into a differential signaling format that can maintain data integrity over a long distance. It transmits the data up to 300 meters (about 1,000 feet) away to the receiver. The receiver then transforms the data it receives back into single-ended pixel signals. This sort of pixel system can provide a lot of benefits in certain scenarios, but it is not inherently superior to direct connect systems. Itโs purely based on what is best suited to the job at hand.
Once either direct connect or a long-range system and a pixel protocol is selected there are a few things a user needs to consider. The first is refresh rate. Refresh rate refers to the maximum speed at which all the pixels can be updated. Refresh rate is usually quantified as frames per second (FPS). It varies up to hundreds of FPS at the high end. Itโs important to remember that the process is really about determining what the lowest acceptable frame rate is for the project. 60 FPS or higher is often a goal that lighting designers will target. This is because most average cameras capture content at 30-60 FPS. FPS directly influences how smooth, stable, and refined lighting appears. Once content starts moving, fading, or transitioning, this becomes even more important. At the low end of FPS, motion effects such as chases, wipes, or scrolling can appear stepped or erratic. Youโre effectively seeing fewer snapshots of movement per second, which means motion jumps from position to position rather than flowing.
How do you manage refresh rate to ensure you donโt have any FPS issues? There are several factors that influence refresh rate, but the main one is pixel limitations. The more pixels you have on an output, the longer it will take to update them all. Usually, controllers will send data to all outputs simultaneously. The controller can only send the next frame when all data has been transmitted. This means that the time it takes a frame to be fully transmitted will largely depend on the output that has the highest pixel count. Thus, itโs very important to have an even distribution of pixels.
This is the key to speeding up your refresh rate. Data and clocked pixel protocols can also heavily affect refresh rate. Clocked pixel protocols are usually faster, because clocked pixel protocols separate timing and data, rather than combining them into one signal. When considering pixel controllers, they will usually list how many โuniversesโ the controller can manage.
What is a universe? Each pixel has what are called channels. These channels correspond to the specific colors that the pixel can produce. So, a pixel that can generate red, green, or blue colors has three channels. While a pixel that can generate red, green, blue, or white (RGBW) has four channels. These channels, when grouped together, equal universes. Each universe can hold 512 channels. So, when you see a number of universes listed by a controller, with a quick bit of math, you can also see the number of pixels it can control. The number of universes a controller can do shouldnโt be your only consideration though. Stability and frame rate should also be considered. For example, if a controller says it can do eight universes per output, but the frame rate is 24 FPS or lower, with your desired pixel protocol, itโs probably not fit for purpose. Keep this in mind when doing your research.
All in all, users can use this information to determine whether they need multiple pixel controllers. What does a basic pixel system look like? Pixels controllers are vehicles for lighting data, and that data comes from various lighting software that can be managed from a computer or lighting desk. That information is then sent to the controller, which sends information to the pixels themselves. A relatively simple three-stage process. Long-range systems are a little more complex because they add in the receiver step.
With all the information about pixels, their protocols and controllers presented one question remains, why use pixel lighting at all? The answer is โflexibility.โ Pixel LED allows for a lighting medium that is not only powerful, but also flexible. Pixels are highly versatile due to the many form factors of SPI products. They can be perfectly molded to almost any space, providing high impact visuals that are capable of displaying rich colors, smooth animations, and dynamic effects, bringing a level of flexibility and impact that traditional lighting simply canโt match. Hospitality spaces, such as restaurants and nightclubs, can move between different presets that are themed for different services. Healthcare locations can run their lighting on circadian rhythms. Sporting venues can change old concrete walls into scoreboards. The sky is the limit with pixel LED.
This unparalleled flexibility provides almost infinite customization. Different colors, effects, and displays can be easily placed into the same installation, providing a completely new vibe with minimal effort, and the power to reinvent a space time and time again. This customization also is simple. It can be achieved with software tools rather than expensive and time-consuming remodels and renovations. Significant transformations can be achieved with little effort. This is all thanks to the power and flexibility of pixel LED.
This article was originally published in Protocol Summer 2026