A spotlight’s beam angle is one of its most important characteristics, yet often one of the most commonly overlooked.

In short, a light bulb’s beam angle denotes how wide its light spreads. It is measured in degrees, and the bigger the number, the wider the beam of light.

Different beam angles are better for certain uses. For example, a retailer might need a spotlight with a very narrow, focused beam in order to show off products on a shop-floor display. A spotlight with a beam angle of 15-20Ā° would be ideal in this instance.

Such a narrow beam would be no good, however, for someone who just wanted to light their kitchen. It would be highlight specific areas, such as the sink or a certain counter-top, very well, but it would leave much of the room in the dark. In this case, a spotlight with a much wider beam would be more suitable.

This can sometimes be hard to visualise without examples, so use our interactive switches below to see how spotlights with different beam angles illuminate a room.


Beam Angles

You can find spotlights with beam angles anywhere between 15-110Ā°. If you’re looking for light bulbs just to use for general lighting purposes, those at the higher end of the scale are ideal.

You may also find other types of light bulbs and fittings that specify a beam angle. Anything that is referred to as a directional light source (a lamp emits light in a specific direction, rather than all directions) should be labelled with its beam angle. Fluorescent tubes, surface mounted bulkheads and integrated downlights all fall into this category.

The principle is exactly the same in all these cases; the bigger the beam angle, the wider the light spread.


You can read more about LED Spotlights in our article LED Spotlights ā€“ All You Need to Know

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Bernadette

Hi there šŸ‘‹.

I have a wall hanging on a pole with brackets. Iā€™ve applied very small jewels to the hanging and would like these highlighted but Iā€™ve
no idea what sort of spotlight ( or possibly other lighting ) would be suitableā€¦The beauty of the gold ( not real gold šŸ¤­) thread and jewels really isnā€™t being metā€¦the artist in me isnā€™t happy šŸ˜” I can send photos if it will help you to help me ā˜ŗļø Thanks, Bernadette

Peter

Is there a GU10 Bulb with a narrow angle like 5Ā° available to buy? Or a trick to create such narrrow angle?

Pat Atkinson

I need a spotlight for out doors that will provide a beam width of about 8′, from 30′ feet away. Suggestions?

susan thomas

what is the best bulb to use for artist indoors