End emitting and side emitting fibers have a slightly different look and are good for different purposes.

End Emitting Fibers (also called end glow, or end light) are the classic fiber optics, with bright points of light at the ends and very little light escaping along the strands themselves. They are usually thin, somewhere from 0.25 to 3mm in diameter. They are also generally stiffer than the side emitting fibers.

End emitting fibers are great for directing individual points of light far from a single light source.