diff --git a/esphome/components/light/addressable_light.cpp b/esphome/components/light/addressable_light.cpp
index 6b1fa36bc1..b5dc70a083 100644
--- a/esphome/components/light/addressable_light.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/light/addressable_light.cpp
@@ -179,5 +179,101 @@ void AddressableLight::call_setup() {
 #endif
 }
 
+ESPColor esp_color_from_light_color_values(LightColorValues val) {
+  auto r = static_cast<uint8_t>(roundf(val.get_red() * 255.0f));
+  auto g = static_cast<uint8_t>(roundf(val.get_green() * 255.0f));
+  auto b = static_cast<uint8_t>(roundf(val.get_blue() * 255.0f));
+  auto w = static_cast<uint8_t>(roundf(val.get_white() * val.get_state() * 255.0f));
+  return ESPColor(r, g, b, w);
+}
+
+void AddressableLight::write_state(LightState *state) {
+  auto val = state->current_values;
+  auto max_brightness = static_cast<uint8_t>(roundf(val.get_brightness() * val.get_state() * 255.0f));
+  this->correction_.set_local_brightness(max_brightness);
+
+  this->last_transition_progress_ = 0.0f;
+  this->accumulated_alpha_ = 0.0f;
+
+  if (this->is_effect_active())
+    return;
+
+  // don't use LightState helper, gamma correction+brightness is handled by ESPColorView
+
+  if (state->transformer_ == nullptr || !state->transformer_->is_transition()) {
+    // no transformer active or non-transition one
+    this->all() = esp_color_from_light_color_values(val);
+  } else {
+    // transition transformer active, activate specialized transition for addressable effects
+    // instead of using a unified transition for all LEDs, we use the current state each LED as the
+    // start. Warning: ugly
+
+    // We can't use a direct lerp smoothing here though - that would require creating a copy of the original
+    // state of each LED at the start of the transition
+    // Instead, we "fake" the look of the LERP by using an exponential average over time and using
+    // dynamically-calculated alpha values to match the look of the
+
+    float new_progress = state->transformer_->get_progress();
+    float prev_smoothed = LightTransitionTransformer::smoothed_progress(last_transition_progress_);
+    float new_smoothed = LightTransitionTransformer::smoothed_progress(new_progress);
+    this->last_transition_progress_ = new_progress;
+
+    auto end_values = state->transformer_->get_end_values();
+    ESPColor target_color = esp_color_from_light_color_values(end_values);
+
+    // our transition will handle brightness, disable brightness in correction.
+    this->correction_.set_local_brightness(255);
+    uint8_t orig_w = target_color.w;
+    target_color *= static_cast<uint8_t>(roundf(end_values.get_brightness() * end_values.get_state() * 255.0f));
+    // w is not scaled by brightness
+    target_color.w = orig_w;
+
+    float denom = (1.0f - new_smoothed);
+    float alpha = denom == 0.0f ? 0.0f : (new_smoothed - prev_smoothed) / denom;
+
+    // We need to use a low-resolution alpha here which makes the transition set in only after ~half of the length
+    // We solve this by accumulating the fractional part of the alpha over time.
+    float alpha255 = alpha * 255.0f;
+    float alpha255int = floorf(alpha255);
+    float alpha255remainder = alpha255 - alpha255int;
+
+    this->accumulated_alpha_ += alpha255remainder;
+    float alpha_add = floorf(this->accumulated_alpha_);
+    this->accumulated_alpha_ -= alpha_add;
+
+    alpha255 += alpha_add;
+    alpha255 = clamp(alpha255, 0.0f, 255.0f);
+    auto alpha8 = static_cast<uint8_t>(alpha255);
+
+    if (alpha8 != 0) {
+      uint8_t inv_alpha8 = 255 - alpha8;
+      ESPColor add = target_color * alpha8;
+
+      for (auto led : *this)
+        led = add + led.get() * inv_alpha8;
+    }
+  }
+
+  this->schedule_show();
+}
+
+void ESPColorCorrection::calculate_gamma_table(float gamma) {
+  for (uint16_t i = 0; i < 256; i++) {
+    // corrected = val ^ gamma
+    auto corrected = static_cast<uint8_t>(roundf(255.0f * gamma_correct(i / 255.0f, gamma)));
+    this->gamma_table_[i] = corrected;
+  }
+  if (gamma == 0.0f) {
+    for (uint16_t i = 0; i < 256; i++)
+      this->gamma_reverse_table_[i] = i;
+    return;
+  }
+  for (uint16_t i = 0; i < 256; i++) {
+    // val = corrected ^ (1/gamma)
+    auto uncorrected = static_cast<uint8_t>(roundf(255.0f * powf(i / 255.0f, 1.0f / gamma)));
+    this->gamma_reverse_table_[i] = uncorrected;
+  }
+}
+
 }  // namespace light
 }  // namespace esphome
diff --git a/esphome/components/light/addressable_light.h b/esphome/components/light/addressable_light.h
index 4383b4b245..a95d70f274 100644
--- a/esphome/components/light/addressable_light.h
+++ b/esphome/components/light/addressable_light.h
@@ -189,23 +189,7 @@ class ESPColorCorrection {
   ESPColorCorrection() : max_brightness_(255, 255, 255, 255) {}
   void set_max_brightness(const ESPColor &max_brightness) { this->max_brightness_ = max_brightness; }
   void set_local_brightness(uint8_t local_brightness) { this->local_brightness_ = local_brightness; }
-  void calculate_gamma_table(float gamma) {
-    for (uint16_t i = 0; i < 256; i++) {
-      // corrected = val ^ gamma
-      auto corrected = static_cast<uint8_t>(roundf(255.0f * gamma_correct(i / 255.0f, gamma)));
-      this->gamma_table_[i] = corrected;
-    }
-    if (gamma == 0.0f) {
-      for (uint16_t i = 0; i < 256; i++)
-        this->gamma_reverse_table_[i] = i;
-      return;
-    }
-    for (uint16_t i = 0; i < 256; i++) {
-      // val = corrected ^ (1/gamma)
-      auto uncorrected = static_cast<uint8_t>(roundf(255.0f * powf(i / 255.0f, 1.0f / gamma)));
-      this->gamma_reverse_table_[i] = uncorrected;
-    }
-  }
+  void calculate_gamma_table(float gamma);
   inline ESPColor color_correct(ESPColor color) const ALWAYS_INLINE {
     // corrected = (uncorrected * max_brightness * local_brightness) ^ gamma
     return ESPColor(this->color_correct_red(color.red), this->color_correct_green(color.green),
@@ -468,23 +452,7 @@ class AddressableLight : public LightOutput, public Component {
   }
   bool is_effect_active() const { return this->effect_active_; }
   void set_effect_active(bool effect_active) { this->effect_active_ = effect_active; }
-  void write_state(LightState *state) override {
-    auto val = state->current_values;
-    auto max_brightness = static_cast<uint8_t>(roundf(val.get_brightness() * val.get_state() * 255.0f));
-    this->correction_.set_local_brightness(max_brightness);
-
-    if (this->is_effect_active())
-      return;
-
-    // don't use LightState helper, gamma correction+brightness is handled by ESPColorView
-    ESPColor color = ESPColor(uint8_t(roundf(val.get_red() * 255.0f)), uint8_t(roundf(val.get_green() * 255.0f)),
-                              uint8_t(roundf(val.get_blue() * 255.0f)),
-                              // white is not affected by brightness; so manually scale by state
-                              uint8_t(roundf(val.get_white() * val.get_state() * 255.0f)));
-
-    this->all() = color;
-    this->schedule_show();
-  }
+  void write_state(LightState *state) override;
   void set_correction(float red, float green, float blue, float white = 1.0f) {
     this->correction_.set_max_brightness(ESPColor(uint8_t(roundf(red * 255.0f)), uint8_t(roundf(green * 255.0f)),
                                                   uint8_t(roundf(blue * 255.0f)), uint8_t(roundf(white * 255.0f))));
@@ -524,6 +492,8 @@ class AddressableLight : public LightOutput, public Component {
   power_supply::PowerSupplyRequester power_;
 #endif
   LightState *state_parent_{nullptr};
+  float last_transition_progress_{0.0f};
+  float accumulated_alpha_{0.0f};
 };
 
 }  // namespace light
diff --git a/esphome/components/light/addressable_light_effect.h b/esphome/components/light/addressable_light_effect.h
index 9cdc9628c6..78ae41baad 100644
--- a/esphome/components/light/addressable_light_effect.h
+++ b/esphome/components/light/addressable_light_effect.h
@@ -318,11 +318,16 @@ class AddressableFlickerEffect : public AddressableLightEffect {
     const uint8_t inv_intensity = 255 - intensity;
     if (now - this->last_update_ < this->update_interval_)
       return;
+
     this->last_update_ = now;
     fast_random_set_seed(random_uint32());
     for (auto var : it) {
       const uint8_t flicker = fast_random_8() % intensity;
-      var = (var.get() * inv_intensity) + (current_color * flicker);
+      // scale down by random factor
+      var = var.get() * (255 - flicker);
+
+      // slowly fade back to "real" value
+      var = (var.get() * inv_intensity) + (current_color * intensity);
     }
   }
   void set_update_interval(uint32_t update_interval) { this->update_interval_ = update_interval; }
diff --git a/esphome/components/light/light_state.cpp b/esphome/components/light/light_state.cpp
index 2b16319ddb..9d698e644e 100644
--- a/esphome/components/light/light_state.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/light/light_state.cpp
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ LightColorValues LightCall::validate_() {
     this->transition_length_.reset();
   }
 
-  if (!this->has_transition_() && !this->has_flash_() && !this->has_effect_() && supports_transition) {
+  if (!this->has_transition_() && !this->has_flash_() && (!this->has_effect_() || *this->effect_ == 0) && supports_transition) {
     // nothing specified and light supports transitions, set default transition length
     this->transition_length_ = this->parent_->default_transition_length_;
   }
diff --git a/esphome/components/light/light_state.h b/esphome/components/light/light_state.h
index c460be09be..07a0e3147b 100644
--- a/esphome/components/light/light_state.h
+++ b/esphome/components/light/light_state.h
@@ -277,6 +277,7 @@ class LightState : public Nameable, public Component {
  protected:
   friend LightOutput;
   friend LightCall;
+  friend class AddressableLight;
 
   uint32_t hash_base() override;
 
diff --git a/esphome/components/light/light_transformer.h b/esphome/components/light/light_transformer.h
index 91a406f425..222be7802c 100644
--- a/esphome/components/light/light_transformer.h
+++ b/esphome/components/light/light_transformer.h
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ class LightTransformer {
   LightTransformer() = delete;
 
   /// Whether this transformation is finished
-  virtual bool is_finished() { return this->get_progress_() >= 1.0f; }
+  virtual bool is_finished() { return this->get_progress() >= 1.0f; }
 
   /// This will be called to get the current values for output.
   virtual LightColorValues get_values() = 0;
@@ -29,11 +29,11 @@ class LightTransformer {
   virtual LightColorValues get_end_values() { return this->get_target_values_(); }
 
   virtual bool publish_at_end() = 0;
+  virtual bool is_transition() = 0;
+
+  float get_progress() { return clamp((millis() - this->start_time_) / float(this->length_), 0.0f, 1.0f); }
 
  protected:
-  /// Get the completion of this transformer, 0 to 1.
-  float get_progress_() { return clamp((millis() - this->start_time_) / float(this->length_), 0.0f, 1.0f); }
-
   const LightColorValues &get_start_values_() const { return this->start_values_; }
 
   const LightColorValues &get_target_values_() const { return this->target_values_; }
@@ -61,12 +61,14 @@ class LightTransitionTransformer : public LightTransformer {
   }
 
   LightColorValues get_values() override {
-    float x = this->get_progress_();
-    float v = x * x * x * (x * (x * 6.0f - 15.0f) + 10.0f);
+    float v = LightTransitionTransformer::smoothed_progress(this->get_progress());
     return LightColorValues::lerp(this->get_start_values_(), this->get_target_values_(), v);
   }
 
   bool publish_at_end() override { return false; }
+  bool is_transition() override { return true; }
+
+  static float smoothed_progress(float x) { return x * x * x * (x * (x * 6.0f - 15.0f) + 10.0f); }
 };
 
 class LightFlashTransformer : public LightTransformer {
@@ -80,6 +82,7 @@ class LightFlashTransformer : public LightTransformer {
   LightColorValues get_end_values() override { return this->get_start_values_(); }
 
   bool publish_at_end() override { return true; }
+  bool is_transition() override { return false; }
 };
 
 }  // namespace light