How to use ThatTeslaLightshow
From your song to a show running on your Tesla in a few minutes. Build it here, put it on a USB drive, and play it in the car.
Looking for custom wraps instead? See the wrap template guide or how to apply a custom wrap.
In the app
1 · Build your show
A
Upload your song
Click + New Show, then upload any audio file (MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG, FLAC…). We automatically convert it to the Tesla-ready format and detect the beat for you.
B
Pick your Tesla & a vibe
Choose your model (Model 3, Y, S, X, or Cybertruck) and the engine choreographs the lights to your song automatically. It auto-detects a Music Vibe for the genre (EDM, Hip-Hop, Rock, Pop, Country, Cinematic, or Balanced), and you can switch it any time. Watch it animate live in 3D.
C
Customize (optional)
Switch to Edit mode to paint individual lights beat-by-beat in the timeline, or place closure commands (windows, doors, charge port). Then preview against your song.
D
Export
Click Export. You'll get a ZIP file (or a download link by email). Inside is a folder named
LightShow containing lightshow.fseq (your choreography) and a short setup note. The song itself isn't included: you add your own copy of it in step 3, which keeps your show 100% legal and the music on the right side of the artists who made it.⚡ Skip steps 2 & 3: we'll load your USB for you. In Chrome or Edge on a computer, plug in your USB stick and click 🔌 Write it to my USB drive for me right after exporting. We create the
LightShow folder, write the show and your song with the exact names Tesla expects, and verify every byte. Most USB sticks work out of the box: no formatting, no unzipping, no file naming. On other browsers, the manual steps below work great.On your computer
2 · Format a USB drive
Your USB drive must be exFAT or FAT32, not NTFS. It also must not contain a
TeslaCam folder. Formatting erases the drive, so back up anything on it first.On Windows
- Plug in the USB drive and open File Explorer.
- Right-click the drive → Format…
- Set File system to exFAT (or FAT32 for drives 32 GB or smaller).
- Leave Quick Format checked, click Start, then OK.
On macOS
- Plug in the USB drive and open Disk Utility (Applications → Utilities, or search with Spotlight).
- In the sidebar, click View → Show All Devices, then select the top-level drive (the device, not the volume under it).
- Click Erase.
- Format: ExFAT (or MS-DOS (FAT) for FAT32). Scheme: Master Boot Record.
- Click Erase, then Done.
On your computer
3 · Add your song & copy to the drive
A
Unzip the export
Double-click the ZIP you downloaded. You'll get a
LightShow folder with lightshow.fseq and a short setup note inside.B
Add your copy of the song
Find your copy of the song (the same file you uploaded works perfectly) and rename it to
lightshow.wav or lightshow.mp3. Make sure it's 44.1 kHz so it stays perfectly in sync (most MP3s already are), then put it in the LightShow folder right next to lightshow.fseq. You can delete the setup note: your Tesla doesn't need it.C
Drag the LightShow folder to the USB root
Copy the entire
LightShow folder to the top level of the USB drive (not inside another folder). The folder name must be exactly LightShow (capital L, capital S).D
Check the contents
Inside should be
lightshow.fseq and your renamed song, and the names must match each other. You can keep multiple shows on one drive (e.g. summer.fseq + summer.wav).In your Tesla
4 · Run it on your Tesla
A
Plug in the drive
Insert the USB into a front USB/USB-C port or the glovebox port, then wait a few seconds.
B
Open Light Show
On the screen, go to Toybox → Light Show and tap Schedule Show. Use the car's screen rather than the phone app: on a 2025 or newer Model Y, owners report that a show started from the app can skip the front lights.
C
Select your show
Pick your show from the drop-down and enjoy. Put the car in Park with the doors closed for the full effect.
Troubleshooting: if the popup says "Light Show" instead of "Custom Light Show," the USB format or folder isn't right. Re-check the format (exFAT/FAT32), the
LightShow folder name, and that there's no TeslaCam folder. The USB drive guide has the full checklist for the drive itself. Still stuck? The troubleshooting guide walks every failure mode, and .fseq files explained covers the sequence format itself.Want to sequence it by hand? xLights is the official route and it is free. Making a show in xLights is the full setup, including the one export setting that causes most rejected files.
More than one Tesla? A show can run across a line of 2 to 8 cars, each with its own part. Multi-car shows covers how the cars stay in step and how much room to leave between them.
Driving a Cybertruck? It is the only Tesla whose lights genuinely dim rather than switch, which changes what a show can do. Cybertruck light shows covers the light bar, the closures it can move, and why a sedan's show looks wrong on it.
Which Tesla do you have? All five run custom shows and they all share the same 46 light zones, but the closures differ, and that is what changes what a show can do. Supported Teslas has the per model list.
Show sliding out of time? That is the audio, not the show: a 48 kHz file plays fine and drifts. The audio guide covers 44.1 kHz, MP3 encoder padding, and how to fix a file you already have.
Stuck on what song to use? Some tracks turn into a show almost by themselves and it is rarely the ones you would guess. What makes a good light show song covers the four things that decide it, with the tempo and length that actually work.
Designing a custom wrap instead? Different product, same kind of trap: the template is an exploded die-cut, so art that looks upright on the sheet lands sideways on the car, and a Model Y has four different templates. The wrap template guide has the PNG spec and the per model sizes.
Doing this for an occasion? Halloween light shows covers running one for trick or treaters, and Christmas light shows covers picking a carol and the driveway version across several cars.