Nick DeRiso of the music website "Something Else!" considers "The Inner Light" to be one of its composer's "most successful marriages of raga and rock" and, through Harrison's introduction of instruments such as sarod, shehnai and pakhavaj, a key recording in the evolution of the 1980s world music genre. Although it appeared on "Por Siempre Beatles", a 1971 Spanish compilation album, the song was not available on a British or American album until its inclusion on "Rarities", which was originally issued as a disc in the 1978 box set "The Beatles Collection" before receiving an independent UK release. The 1980 US compilation titled "Rarities" also featured "The Inner Light", again in its mono form. The stereo mix was first released as the opening track on a bonus EP, titled "The Beatles", issued in the UK in December 1981 as part of "The Beatles EP Collection". The song was issued on CD in 1988, in stereo, on "Past Masters, Volume Two". The mono mix was subsequently included on the Beatles' "Mono Masters" compilation.