Color temperature is the color characteristic of light. Color temperature can change the feel or mood of any room or work space in any multifamily, commercial, or institutional setting. Purchasing light bulbs with the right color temperature can help you create consistent and inviting lighting effects in any room.

dimmable: Able to be dimmed; able to have illumination decreased in brightness

Globe Base

Modern Light Bulbs: Shapes And Sizes

These are the eight most common light bulb shapes you’ll find in your home:

• Arbitrary (A)
• Bulged Reflector (BR)
• Candle (C)
• Globe (G)
• Quartz Reflector Lamp (MR)
• Parabolic Aluminized Reflector (PAR)
• Blown Reflector (R)
• Twist

It’s important to note that while these names are fairly common throughout the industry, there is no universal set of terms to describe the shape of a light bulb. For example, a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will be described as a “twist” or “spiral” shaped bulb. Because of this, we recommend that you bring your old light bulb with you to the store so you can compare it with your new light bulb to ensure it’s the proper shape and size.

The following graphic should help to give you a better idea of what these bulb shapes look like:

In simple terms, Lumens (denoted by lm) are a measure of the total amount of visible light (to the human eye) from a lamp or light source. The higher the lumen rating the “brighter” the lamp will appear.

Wattage (watts)