Dimming lamps enables the brightness of individual luminaires or groups of luminaires to be regulated It changes the lighting atmosphere and permits adjustments to suit different room uses (comfort dimming). Increasingly, dimming is also used to save energy (power dimming), e.g. in daylight-dependent office or factory lighting systems.

Incandescent lamps and halogen lamps (230 Volt) can be dimmed with leading phase angle control dimmers, as can low-voltage halogen lamps operated by magnetic transformers. Lagging phase angle control dimmers are used mainly for dimming low-voltage halogen lamps on electronic transformers. They are also suitable for incandescent lamps and halogen lamps (230 Volt).

Compact fluorescent lamps and tubular fluorescent lamps require dimmable electronic ballasts (EB).