LED technology developments over the past decade have enabled the use of LEDs in a variety of colored and white lighting applications. With further improvement LEDs appear to have the potential to become an important technology for large area general illumination. White LEDs with outputs of more tha 100 lumens are already available commercially. LEDs are expected to save energy, be environmentally friendly, and provide a variety of other features, including long lifetime, compact size, and programmable color control, which enable design options for new approaches to lighting. In this presentation the LED technology status and trends will be described and LEDs will be compared to conventional lighting technologies. Developments that will need to occur for LEDs to be a viable contender for large area general illumination will be discussed.