Cull Leaves
by Motschen
Cull Leaves, by Motschen, adds culling to leaf blocks so that hidden leaves are skipped during rendering, a change players can turn on without touching the world.
What it does
Leaf blocks that players cannot see are left out of the rendering work, which the author describes as a large performance gain over vanilla. The feature recreates the Smart Leaves option found in OptiFine. The mod needs Fabric API and MidnightLib, and it runs on the client alone, so servers do not install it. It is published for Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt across 36 release versions, 1.16 – 26.3, and the code is under the MIT License, so it is open source.
Key features
Hidden leaf culling
Leaf faces that sit inside the canopy and cannot be seen are skipped when the scene is drawn.
Smart Leaves recreation
The behavior copies the Smart Leaves option from OptiFine, so players used to it find the same effect.
Resource pack pairing
The author notes the mod can be combined with a companion leaves resource pack to raise frame rates further.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
26.x5 of 5 versions with builds
1.21.x12 of 12 versions with builds
1.20.x3 of 3 versions with builds
1.19.x5 of 5 versions with builds
1.18.x3 of 3 versions with builds
1.17.x2 of 2 versions with builds
1.16.x6 of 6 versions with builds
This mod also publishes snapshot builds. Snapshots are not shown in the matrix.
Requirements
Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.
Required 1
How it compares
Cull Less Leaves is a client-side mod for Fabric and Quilt covering 1.18.2 – 1.21.1, released under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 only. Sodium Leaf Culling Unofficial is client-side and open source under the MIT License, with files for Fabric, Forge and NeoForge across 1.16.3 – 26.3.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cull Leaves | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.16 – 26.3 | Client-side only | 2026-10-10 |
| Cull Less Leaves | Fabric and Quilt | 1.18.2 – 1.21.1 | Client-side only | 2024-10-25 |
| Sodium Leaf Culling Unofficial | Fabric, Forge and NeoForge | 1.16.3 – 26.3 | Client-side only | 2026-10-09 |
Questions
Does Cull Leaves need Fabric API?
Do servers need Cull Leaves installed?
Is Cull Leaves compatible with other rendering mods?
In the catalog
Cull Leaves is one of 3,545 Optimization mods on ModsFinder, and one of 2,575 Optimization mods for Fabric. 8,071 mods support Minecraft 26.3.
More from Motschen
Similar mods
What the author says
Adds culling to leaf blocks, providing a huge performance boost over vanilla. This mod can also be used to increase framerates with my Better Leaves Resourcepack
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/cull-leaves
- Owner
- Motschen
- Published
- 2021-01-01
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-10-10
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15