Sodium is a mod for Minecraft

What's Sodium doing?

Sodium optimizes the Minecraft Java Edition graphics engine: it reworks the rendering of chunks and allows you to increase the stability of frames on compatible configurations.

How the game is changing

Sodium is engaged in client rendering. The major change is not in the world or in the rules of survival, but in how Minecraft transfers the geometry of the chunks to the graphics card. With a large number of visible blocks, a standard renderer can spend a significant portion of the frame time on preparatory operations. Sodium reduces the overhead of these operations and reworks graphical settings, including quality and performance parameters.

Where the difference is noticeable

The difference is easier to see when driving on difficult terrain, reviewing a large number of buildings and on computers, where the rendering limits the frame rate. Installation does not speed up the network connection or eliminate server delays. If problems are caused by chanc generation or overloaded mods, Sodium alone is not enough. With shaders, it is usually combined with Iris, however, the exact set of graphical additions should correspond to the selected release.

Setting up productivity

After installation, compare not only the average FPS, but also short-term frame failures when turning the camera and loading new sections. Change graphical parameters check one by one: reducing the drawing range and disabling expensive effects will give a different result than the optimization of the render itself. A screenshot with a high FPS without specifying the build and settings says little.

Primary source: developer-page.