Every addressable LED package, from 5050 down to 1111 (and the through-hole ones)
A package name is a nominal size, not a footprint. A tour of the package names in the catalogue, from 5050 down to 1.1 mm and the through-hole domes, and where one name hides different pinouts and drive currents.
An addressable LED's package name tells you roughly how big it is and very little else. The catalogue now holds 230 parts under 49 package names, and the table below is built from those parts when the site is generated, so every size, pin count and protocol in it comes straight from the data. This post walks down the table from the large 5050 to the 1.1 mm parts, then the through-hole domes, and points out where the name misleads.
Reading the table#
The package number is the nominal length and width in tenths of a millimetre: a 5050 is about 5.0 × 5.0 mm. The real outline is whatever the datasheet says, and where parts under one name differ, the table shows a range rather than choosing one. Dimensions are stated per datasheet; 11 parts have no outline in the catalogue because their sheets carry only a bitmap drawing, and the table says "not stated" instead of copying a neighbour's.
The count is a measure of what the catalogue has covered, not of what is sold. It is built from the WorldSemi and OPSCO parts stocked on LCSC when it was surveyed, plus a few older entries, and the repository's DATA-QUALITY notes list what is still missing.
5050: the one everything is compared to#
The 5050 holds more protocols than any other package here, from the one-wire WS2812B and SK6812 to the SPI parts like the APA102, and from RGB to the RGBW SK6812 RGBW. Heights run from 1.4 mm (the APA102 datasheet) up to 1.7 mm, and the "5.0 × 5.0" is not even universal. The WorldSemi datasheet outline of the WS2812B is 5.0 × 5.4 × 1.57 mm, a 5.0 mm body whose pads stick out 0.2 mm at each end, and the SK6812 is catalogued at 5.4 × 5.0 × 1.6 mm (its 2015 sheet titles the package "5.5x5.0x1.6").
Pin count is the first thing that varies. Four pins is the plain one-wire part. Six pins means the SPI parts, which add a clock in and out, or the WS2813 and WS2815, which add a backup data line. But four pins does not rule the backup line out: the WS2815-4P is a 12 V part that drops it.
The package also does not fix the current. Per-channel drive in the 5050 parts ranges from 5 mA for the WS2812C-5050 (the part's own note calls it much dimmer per die than a 12 mA WS2812B) to 16.5 mA for the WS2812S. The commonly quoted 20 mA per channel for the WS2812B and SK6812 is not what their datasheets state (12 mA); the part pages show the sheet figure and list the disagreement.
4020: the side-view package#
The 4020 emits from a long face rather than the top, which is why the table says "side". It is a 4-pin package, about 4.0 × 2.0 mm, with the four pads in a row along the mounting edge. WorldSemi's WS2812B-4020 is 3.98 × 2 × 1.7 mm and OPSCO's SK6812-4020 side is 4.0 × 2.0 × 1.6 mm; the WS2815B-4020 puts a 12 V part in the same shape. The sheets never say in words which axis is the height. The SK6805-EC3210R, 3.2 × 1.0 mm, is the other side-emitting package in the catalogue.
3535 and its neighbours: one name, several footprints#
The 3535 name covers the widest spread of real footprints. The parts catalogued as 3535 run from 3.5 to 3.7 mm long, with heights from 0.95 to 1.9 mm, and one of them, the WS2812B-MINI-V3J, is 6.2 mm long overall because its J-leads stick out of the body. Across WorldSemi and OPSCO the datasheet pad patterns for "3535" minis come in at least three different arrangements, so the name does not tell you whether a board layout fits.
The neighbouring names are the same story. The SK6812MINI is catalogued as a 3535 but its outline is 3.7 × 3.5 mm, the same outline size as parts the catalogue names 3735, like the SK6812MINI-HS. The SK6812MINI-E is 3.2 × 2.8 mm with a different pin order (1 GND, 2 DIN, 3 VDD, 4 DOUT, against the MINI's 1 DIN, 2 VDD, 3 DOUT, 4 GND), and there are one-off sizes besides: a 3.5 × 2.8 mm SK6812SMINI-ER and a six-pin 3.6 × 4.2 mm SK6812MINI-KA. The six-pin 3535 parts add a backup line (the WS2813 and WS2815 minis) or, for the SK6812MINI-RGBW-P6, a fourth colour.
2427, 2724, 2121, 2020, 2018: the 2 mm class#
The package names in this band overlap. The WS2812B-2427 and the SK6805-MICRO-J are both 2.7 × 2.4 × 1.1 mm, one catalogued as a 2427 and one as a 2724.
The 2020 is not 2.0 × 2.0 mm for the WorldSemi parts. The WS2812B-2020 is 2.2 × 2.0 × 1.12 mm with half-moon pads, two on each of two edges, while OPSCO's SK6805-EC20 is 2.0 × 2.0 × 0.65 mm. The same name also holds six-pin SPI parts: the APA102-2020 and the SK9822-EC20, so a 2020 can be one wire or two.
The 2121 is six-pin only in the catalogue (WS2812C, WS2813, WS2815 and WS2816 variants) and has no dimensions stated, because the WorldSemi sheets give a bitmap drawing; LCSC lists the size as 2.1 by 2.2 mm.
1111, 1313, 1414, 1515: the tiny ones#
The smallest parts in the catalogue are OPSCO's SK6805 family. The SK6805-EC10 is 1.1 × 1.1 × 0.33 mm, the SK6805-EC14 1.4 × 1.4 × 0.4 mm and the SK6805-EC15 1.5 × 1.5 × 0.65 mm. All three drive 5 mA per channel and have a 160 degree viewing angle. In the catalogue's words, the 5 mA IC is the one used in the very small packages where a 12 mA die would be too bright and too hot.
WorldSemi's smallest are the 1.3 mm parts, 0.65 mm tall: the WS2812B-1313, the WS2812E-1313 and the six-pin WS2816-1313. Their pads are four small squares at the corners, and, unlike the SK6805s, the WS2812B-1313 is catalogued with the full 12 mA per channel.
Through-hole: F5 and F8#
The domes are named by diameter. The F5 is the 5 mm LED: the WS2812D-F5 has a 5.0 mm dome, a 5.8 mm flange with a flat on one side, and is 8.7 mm tall to the underside of the flange. The F8 is the 8 mm version, the WS2812D-F8: 8.0 mm dome, 9.2 mm flange, 11.0 mm tall. There is also a low-profile WS2812D-F5-12mA-C1 at 4.8 × 4.8 × 6.1 mm. Two non-WorldSemi 5 mm parts, the APA106-F5 and the PL9823-F5, are catalogued at 5 × 5 × 8.6 mm.
All of them have four legs, and the order is where people get hurt. The WorldSemi sheets give the WS2812D pins as 1 DOUT, 2 VDD, 3 GND, 4 DIN. An earlier version of this catalogue had VDD and GND swapped, which would have reversed the supply for anyone wiring from it; that was corrected against the datasheets. The APA106 and PL9823 have no datasheet in the catalogue, so their pinouts should be treated as suspect for the same reason. The WS2812D V6, F8 and C1 sheets also state the colour order as RGB where the SMD WS2812B is GRB, which has not been checked on hardware; the viewing angles for the clear and diffused domes are the conventional 5 mm figures, not datasheet values.
What to take from this#
- Treat the package name as a hint. It does not fix the outline, the pad pattern, the pin order, the pin count or the drive current. The same name holds one-wire and SPI parts (2020, 5050), 5 V and 12 V parts (5050, 4020) and pads in different arrangements (3535).
- Measure against the datasheet outline, not the name. 2020 is 2.2 × 2.0 mm for WorldSemi; 5050 is 5.4 × 5.0 mm once the pads are counted.
- Check pin one in the sheet you actually have. The same pads can be numbered differently in different generations of one datasheet, as with the SK6812.
- Do not substitute across a name without comparing pinouts. The compare tool puts two parts side by side, pinout included.
If a size or pinout here is wrong or missing, tell us.