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Better Blur DX provides extensive configuration options to customize the blur effect to your preferences. Access these settings from System Settings → Desktop Effects → Better Blur DX (click the settings icon).

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General Settings

These settings control the basic appearance of the blur effect.

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Blur Strength

Controls how “sharp” or blurred the background appears. Higher values create a more intense blur effect.
  • Default: 15
  • Range: 1-100
  • Recommendation: Values between 10-20 provide a good balance between visibility and aesthetics
  • Subtle blur (5-10): Background remains relatively clear, good for readability
  • Moderate blur (10-20): Standard blur that provides good visual separation
  • Heavy blur (20-30+): Strong blur effect for maximum visual distinction

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Noise Strength

Adds grain/noise texture to the blurred background. This is used to hide banding artifacts that can appear in smooth gradients.
  • Default: 5
  • Range: 0-100
  • Purpose: Eliminates visible color bands in gradient backgrounds
If you notice color banding (visible “steps” in color gradients) on your blurred backgrounds, increase the noise strength. If the blur looks too grainy, reduce it.

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Brightness

Adjusts how bright the blurred background appears. Part of the contrast pass applied to the blur.
  • Default: 100%
  • Range: 0-200%
  • Effect:
    • Below 100%: Darker background
    • Above 100%: Brighter background

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Saturation

Controls the color intensity of the blurred background. Part of the contrast pass.
  • Default: 150%
  • Range: 0-300%
  • Effect:
    • 0%: Grayscale/desaturated
    • 100%: Original colors
    • 150%+: More vibrant, punchy colors
The default 150% saturation gives the blur a more vibrant appearance, which is particularly effective for visual separation from foreground content.

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Contrast

Adjusts the contrast level of the blurred background. Part of the contrast pass.
  • Default: 100%
  • Range: 0-300%
  • Effect:
    • Below 100%: Reduced contrast, flatter appearance
    • Above 100%: Enhanced contrast, more dramatic differences between light and dark areas

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Force Contrast Parameters

By default, Better Blur DX respects when windows provide their own contrast pass parameters (brightness, saturation, contrast).
  • Default: Disabled (false)
  • Use case: Enable this to force your global settings to apply to all windows, overriding window-specific values
Some surfaces, like Plasma panels and widgets, provide their own blur parameters that are designed to match the current theme. For example, Plasma surfaces in the Breeze theme have predefined values.If you prefer consistent blur appearance across all windows regardless of their theme settings, enable this option.

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Corner Radius

Rounds the corners of the blurred background region by the specified amount.
  • Default: 0.0 pixels
  • Range: 0.0 and up
  • Primary use: Fixes the “korners” bug where square blur regions leak out behind rounded windows
If you use rounded window decorations, set this to match your decoration’s corner radius (typically 8-12 pixels) to prevent blur from extending beyond the window corners.
This setting is ignored for windows that provide their own blur region, such as Plasma surfaces, as these are expected to be correctly set by the window.

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Force Blur Settings

These settings allow you to specify which windows should have blur applied, even if they don’t explicitly request it.
Better Blur DX respects blur regions set by windows themselves (e.g., Plasma surfaces). Force blur settings are ignored in these cases to prevent conflicts.

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Classes of Windows to Force Blur

Specify window classes that should have blur applied. Enter one window class per line.
  • Default: Example classes (class1, class2, class3)
  • Format: One class per line, supports regex matching
  • Example:
konsole
kate
dolphin
firefox
See the Window Classes page for detailed information on obtaining window class names.

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Blur Matching vs. Blur All Except Matching

Two modes control how the window class list is used:
BlurMatching: true, BlurNonMatching: falseOnly windows that match the specified classes will be blurred. This is the default behavior.Use this when you want to selectively blur specific applications.
BlurMatching: false, BlurNonMatching: trueAll windows will be blurred EXCEPT those matching the specified classes.Use this when you want blur on everything except certain applications (e.g., games or video players).

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Blur Window Decorations

Controls whether window decorations (titlebars, borders) are blurred.
  • Default: Disabled (false)
  • Enable when: Your window decoration theme doesn’t support blur natively
  • Effect: Overrides the blur region specified by the decoration
Enabling this option will override blur regions set by the window decoration itself. Only enable if your decoration doesn’t have built-in blur support.

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Blur Menus

Allows context menus and application menus to be blurred.
  • Default: Disabled (false)
  • Note: This only allows menus to be blurred; you still need to add them to the force blur window classes or enable “Blur all except matching”
Common menu window classes:
  • plasmashell (Plasma menus)
  • Application-specific menu classes

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Blur Docks

Allows docks and panels to be blurred.
  • Default: Disabled (false)
  • Note: This only allows docks to be blurred; you still need to add them to the force blur window classes or enable “Blur all except matching”
Common dock window classes:
  • plasmashell (Plasma panels)
  • latte-dock
  • plank
Plasma panels typically handle their own blur and don’t need force blur. Only enable this for third-party docks that don’t implement blur themselves.

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Refraction Settings

Refraction creates a glass-like distortion effect at window edges, simulating light bending through glass.

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Refraction Strength

Controls the intensity of the refraction effect.
  • Default: 0 (disabled)
  • Range: 0-100
  • Effect: Higher values create more pronounced edge distortion
Refraction creates a subtle distortion at window edges that mimics how light bends when passing through glass. The background appears slightly warped near the edges, creating a more realistic glass effect.Set to 0 to disable refraction entirely.

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Refraction Mode

Selects the refraction calculation method.
  • Default: 0
  • Available modes: Different algorithms for calculating the refraction effect
  • Recommendation: Experiment with different modes to find the visual style you prefer

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Refraction Edge Size

Controls the width of the refraction effect from the window edge.
  • Default: 20 pixels
  • Range: 1 and up
  • Effect: Larger values extend the refraction effect further from the edges

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Refraction Normal Power

Adjusts the falloff curve of the refraction effect.
  • Default: 2
  • Range: 1 and up
  • Effect: Higher values create a sharper falloff (refraction concentrated at edges)

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Refraction Corner Radius

Controls how refraction handles window corners.
  • Default: 8 pixels
  • Recommendation: Match this to your window corner radius for consistent appearance

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Refraction RGB Fringing

Adds chromatic aberration (color separation) to the refraction effect, simulating how glass can split light into colors.
  • Default: 1
  • Range: 0 (disabled) to higher values
  • Effect: Creates subtle color separation at edges for a more realistic glass effect

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Refraction Texture Repeat Mode

Controls how the background texture is sampled at window edges.
  • Default: 0
  • Available modes: Different texture sampling methods
  • Effect: Changes how the distorted background is rendered at edges

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Configuration File Location

Settings are stored in: 
~/.config/kwinrc
Under the section [Effect-better-blur-dx].
It’s recommended to use the System Settings GUI to change configuration. Manual editing of the config file requires restarting KWin to take effect.

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Example Configurations

Blur Strength: 10
Noise Strength: 3
Brightness: 100
Saturation: 120
Contrast: 100
Refraction Strength: 0
Good for older hardware or maximizing performance.
Blur Strength: 15
Noise Strength: 5
Brightness: 95
Saturation: 160
Contrast: 110
Refraction Strength: 0
The default-ish configuration with enhanced colors.
Blur Strength: 20
Noise Strength: 8
Brightness: 105
Saturation: 140
Contrast: 105
Refraction Strength: 30
Refraction Edge Size: 15
Creates a realistic frosted glass appearance.
Blur Strength: 18
Noise Strength: 6
Brightness: 80
Saturation: 130
Contrast: 120
Refraction Strength: 0
Great for dark themes, reduces background brightness.

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Next Steps

Window Transparency

Learn how to make windows transparent to see the blur effect

Window Classes

Discover how to obtain and use window classes for force blur

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