Mineral spirits paint thinner. Mineral spirits is not as stinky. Paint thinner is a very generic term. As stated above paint thinners are actually a form of type ii mineral spirits. Paint thinner is cheaper.
It contains other types of solvents which makes it a lot smellier and more volatile. Paint thinner is mineral spirits but in a less refined form. In fact it is often confused to be the same as lacquer thinner or mineral spirits. Because its more refined its slightly more effective in smaller quantities than paint lacquer thinner.
This distinguishes them from products such as turpentine that are derived from living pine trees. While both paint thinner and mineral spirits are petroleum based solvents mineral spirits is the more refined of the twothis increases its effectiveness while reducing odor volatile organic. Both products are derived from minerals. It can refer to anything used to thin paint.
They will also thin oil based materials such as paints and varnishesthere are several advantages to using mineral spirits over traditional thinner in the case of paint though the differences are fairly subtle.