The GU10 spotlight bulb is the most common type of spotlight bulb found in most homes today.
It is otherwise known as a PAR16 light bulb and is often used in places where a bright, directional light is needed, such as kitchens and workspaces.
It has the classic spotlight shape, with a narrow base that widens into a flat or slightly rounded aperture.
‘GU10’ refers to the type of cap fittings these light bulbs have.
Two short, square-ish pins protrude from the base of the light bulb. The centre of the pins are separated by a distance of 10mm.
The pins are of a ‘push-and-twist’ design. This means that when correctly installed in a fitting, the light bulb is held in place in the fitting and will not fall out (especially important to spotlight bulbs as they are often pointed downwards).
Be careful not to confuse a GU10 bulb with an MR16 light bulb. The two bulbs look almost identical, except for the cap fittings. An MR16 has much smaller, needle-like pins on and will not fit a GU10 lamp.
Energy-saving GU10 spotlight bulbs
Halogen GU10 bulbs are commonly made from plastic. An EU directive that took effect in 2016 has banned halogen GU10 spotlight bulbs from sale in the UK. However, there are a plethora of LED energy-saving alternatives available.
Long Barrel GU10 spotlight bulbs
Long barrel GU10s are a variation on the typical GU10 and are designed for the non-standard light fixtures used by some furniture and home furnishings companies. Long-barrel GU10s are around 75mm in length, compared to 50-55mm for a standard GU10.
LED GU10 spotlight bulbs
LED GU10 light bulbs have been designed to look like the halogen light bulbs they supersede. They have the classic GU10 shape and closely resemble their halogen counterparts. LED bulbs are available in a range of colour temperatures and in both dimmable and non-dimmable varieties.
Beam Angles
For a light bulb to be classified as a spotlight (known as a directional light source), regulations state that 80% of it’s light output must be directed into a cone of light measuring less than 120° across. When the size of this cone is measured – this is then known as the beam angle of the light bulb.
Narrow Beam Angles 15° to 20°
A smaller angle denotes a narrow beam angle where the light is intensified into focussed beam – well suited for display purposes such as showing off products on a shop-floor display. A typical angle for this purpose would be 15-20°.
Wide Beam Angles 35° to 45°
A larger angle denotes a wide beam angle where the light is directional and can be aimed at specific areas of a room, but is more diffuse and therefore doesn’t leave other areas of the room in complete darkness. These types of lights a best suited to kitchen lights, where the beam is directed towards a sink, counter-top or cooker. A typical angle for this purpose would be 35-45°.
To learn more about beam angles and how the height of a ceiling may effect usage – read our guide Beam Angles Explained.
Colour Temperature
Spotlight bulbs are produced in a range of colour temperatures with each colour suitable for a specific task in mind.
Without going into too much detail, here is our simplified guide to which colour temperatures you may wish to use for the different rooms in your home.
Living Room
2700K to 3000K Warm White
This is the colour temperature of traditional incandescent light bulbs and one of the most common colours used today. This is a nice, yellow glow, well suited to rooms meant for relaxing.
Kitchen
4000K Cool White
Cool white light bulbs have a neutrally white colour. They emit is much crisper light with no colour-casting. Cool white spotlights work well in kitchens. They provide a clean looking environment and make food look bright and colourful.
Bedroom
2700K Warm White
Again, a relaxing, yellow glow, is best suited to bedrooms. Additionally, you could install dimmable spotlight bulbs and have the added benefit of being able to dim the lights right down when required.
Bathroom
4000K Cool White
As mentioned, cool white’s neutral colour with no colour-casting means these bulbs are ideal for applying makeup and shaving.
Learn more about colour temperatures – read our guide Colour Temperature – What Does It Mean?
Follow our link to read more about LED dimming.
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Hi. We moved into our house 2 years ago and now the living/ dining/ kitchen area spotlights are starting to go. We’ve run out of the replacements left by the previous owner (YI brand) and find they are unusual. They have 4 small notches in the rim, or some have 3 small grooves around the outside of the upper part of the bulb. I can’t find them anywhere, help!
I don’t recoginse the notches/groove descriptionn you have supplied. But generally, spotlights either use GU10 light bulbs, or MR16 light bulbs.
i bought a 3-spot ceiling lamp fixture that takes 3 of these GU10 220-240v led bulbs. Do I need a transformer or driver for this or will they run directly off the mains?
Hi George, GU10 bulbs are mains powered and do not require a transformer or driver – you can use any GU10 in the fitting.
I am looking for for a GU10 led spotlight with a longer barrel than the standard 53mm, but not the 74mm. Ideally 69mm, do you have any of these?
Hi Gemma, no sorry, we only do long ones at 74mm
In my study and bedroom I have a 15 downlighters with M16 lamps and transformers. Some lamps have stopped working. Not tested transformers but lamps probably blown. Would it be energy efficient to change all to GU10 lamps and holders? My theory is that I would use less energy by not powering the transformers.
So theoretically the transformer could consume up to 10% of the lamp’s power. So a 5W LED lamp and transformer may collectively consume 5.5W. While not particularly significant you may find you can consume less energy by simply installing lower wattage LED MR16‘s.
Hi,
It seems the Aurora au GUF4011 has been discontinued. What would be the replacement, please?
Sorry Cecilia, we can’t seem to be able to find any suitable replacements for this type of light bulb. I think you are out of luck now that Aurora have discontinued it.
I have a small study with 4 x 20W 36 degrees halogen MR16 downlights as the main lighting. I’m planning to replace them with GU10 LEDs. To most closely match the light quality of the halogens should I go for 4000k or 6000k? And should I consider the CRI value in my choice?
Thanks
Hi Matt, the halogen MR16 probably has a colour temperature of around 2800K, so an LED of 2700K-3000K will give a similar colour – however, we generally advise a cool white 4000K colour temperatures for offices, as this gives a neutral but bright feel. You don’t need to worry about CRi; unless accurate colour rendering is a high priority for you, such as painting or crafts. Generally LED’s have CRi >80 which for standard use is more than adequate. For info, you may find 6000K to be too blue if you are trying to match to a halogen light bulb. Try our Crompton Lamps LED MR16 Spotlight 5W Cool White 36°
Hi, I have several track lighting fixture that were from a big box store. They have frosted bell shaped globes. The fixture came with gu-10 halogen 50w bulbs that allow light through the side of the reflector to illuminate the globe. Is there a special name for these. I have bought several different type bulbs Halogen and LED, but the light is uni-directional. I would like to get away from halogen. But I don’t want to sacrifice the look of the light coming through the globe. also looking for warm color so as not to wash out the antique color of the frosted globe. Any help with this would be most appreciated. Paul
Hi Paul, We don’t stock anything like that, and I have no idea why a fitting manufacturer would use that cap type for an omni-directional light bulb. The nature of a GU10 is designed for spotlighting! Either way, a quick google search for ‘gu10 globe’ looks like it produces some bulbs by other vendors which may match what you are looking for.
Hi, I have some Aurora AU-GUF4011/30 CFL GU10 lamps that I would like to replace with LED. The length of the lamp is 88mm and the diameter is 64mm. Can you recommend an LED lamp with same dimensions please?
No sorry, we do not stock such a lamp. However, if do a google search for Aurora AU-GUF4011/30 and you will find a few Amazon listings that may interest. For info, those types of CFL lightbulbs will be banned next year, so you may decide now is a good time to update your light fittings?
Hi can I replace osram 65821 with osram 64821?
I can’t find much info on those two product codes, but if they are both 240V GU10’s but running at different wattages, then so long as the wattage does not exceed that of your fitting it should be fine. You should be able to find a label on your fittings that state what the maximum wattage they can accommodate.
Is a par16 gu10 bulb the same size as a gu10.
Yes, they are the same thing. A PAR16 is the old name for a halogen GU10 where PAR=Parabolic Mirror and 16=16/8ths of an inch (i.e. 50mm)
Sorry, should have been 460lm
Hi, I’m trying to replace a Lumilife GU10 – 5w -CW
480lm,6000k, 60degree. Any suggestions (also what does 6000k mean?).
Hi Colin, 6000K relates to the colour temperature of the light produced, i.e. <3000K is called Warm white (and is yellow-ish in colour), 4000K is called cool white (and is white in colour) and >6000K is called daylight and is blue-ish in colour – Daylight is designed to mimic a the light of a sunny day at 12noon. We have a daylight 6000K GU10 that emits 450lm which should be a suitable replacement for your GU10.
One of the bulbs on my bathroom celling has just blown. The details listed are LGU104CWCOB, 4W, 40mA, 240V-50Hz, 4000K Cool White, 43 13. Can you point me to the correct replacement please?
Hi Steven, that product has unfortunately been discontinued by the manufacturer. They are recommending Crompton part number 6119 as a replacement. But as any new GU10 will not be exactly like for like, you may want to browse our LED GU10 category, where any light bulb you choose will be suitable for your bathroom. If you have more than one GU10 in your bathroom, you may want to consider replacing all of them for aesthetic consistency.
I have a Christmas decoration indoor light up house. The Mr8 12v 8 watt light bulb has blown. I am having difficulty finding a replacement. I see you sell 12 v 10 watt bulbs. I was wondering if this would be a suitable replacement.
No sorry, we do not sell MR8 light bulbs. You will need to specifically replace your lightbulb with an MR8, as any other size such as an MR11 or MR16 will be too big for your fitting. Searching the web for ‘8W MR8’ yields many results.
Hi I am wanting to replace 1 dead Crompton LED GU10 WWSMD Bulbs which have died in kitchen fire rated ceiling downlights. I have 20 lights and don’t want to replace them all if I end up with an odd light. Struggling to find them and wondering if they have been discontinued. If they have can you recommend an alternative. Thanks.
Hi Maureen – we have quite a few warm white GU10 lightulbs – do you know exactly which old lightbulbs you had?
Can anyone advise me, I have been asked to source a GU10 LED Bulb LCL 461 – I cannot find any reference anywhere as to what LCL461 refers to – please can you help me?
LCL461 just sounds like a manufacturer’s part code, but I cannot identify which manufacturer. Are you sure that a standard GU10 will not fit- GU10’s are pretty standard across all manufacturers?
Can you help. I need Gu 10 light bulbs desperately but all I can find is a long barrel bulb and I’m trying to get the round bulb with a short barrel. Can I get these? Will the long barrel fit in a light that has a short barrel?
We stock all manners of gu10 lightbulbs but we are not sure of a round GU10?
That’s what I’m looking for, too. I installed several in my kitchen soffit about 5 years ago. Got them from Home Depot. Then they stopped carrying the fixtures and the bulbs.