History of textures

This page intends to document the history of textures used in Minecraft.

For more in depth information for actually used textures for each edition, refer to the following pages:

• Java Edition history of textures
• Bedrock Edition history of textures

Unused textures

Blocks

[hide]Java Edition pre-Classic
rd-161348							A duplicate grass block texture has been added in terrain.png to the right, for an unknown reason.
[hide]Java Edition Classic
0.0.12a							Added pre-release texture of water to terrain.png.
							Added currently unused grass.png.
0.0.14a							Added duplicates of the grass block side, top and bottom texture to terrain.png.
							Added an unused texture to terrain.png.
0.0.15a							Removed the grass block side, top and bottom texture duplicates and mysterious whitish texture from terrain.png.
0.0.20a							The opaque water texture in terrain.png has been replaced with the dandelion texture.
0.26 SURVIVAL TEST							Added a cobweb texture to terrain.png without an associated block.
							Added some unused variations of brick blocks to terrain.png.
							Directly below these brick variations existed what appears to be a translucent bottom half of the block of gold side texture.
							Slightly downwards and to the left existed a somewhat modified block of gold side texture, spread across four spaces.
[hide]Java Edition Indev
0.31			20091223-1457				Removed the brick variations and weird gold blocks from terrain.png.
			20100110				Replaced the duplicate grass top texture with a duplicate lava placeholder texture.
Minecraft Indev			20100206-2034				Added a duplicate texture for planks and the infamous chair textures to terrain.png.
[hide]Java Edition Infdev
Minecraft Infdev			20100607				The duplicate planks texture has been replaced by the ladder texture.
			20100618				The chair side texture has been darkened.
			20100629				Added an unused coral block texture to terrain.png.
							The unused chair textures have been removed from terrain.png.
[hide]Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.4							The unused coral block texture has been replaced by the snowy grass block side texture.
[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.2							Added unused old texture of the cake's item form to terrain.png.
1.3							Added a texture for crying obsidian to terrain.png. It was never used at this time.
1.5							The cobweb texture has been updated, and cobwebs have actually been implemented.
							The crying obsidian texture has been replaced by the grass block overlay.
1.6			Test Build 3				A duplicate grass block top texture has been added to terrain.png, potentially used as a palette for designing the adjacent grass and fern textures.
1.8			Pre-release				Added four unused textures to terrain.png.
[hide]Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3				An unused white cobblestone texture has been added to terrain.png.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4				The white cobblestone has been replaced with the end stone texture.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5				Despite being unused, the unused grass block top texture has been updated, and now has a distinct texture from the actually used grass block.
1.2.1			1.2				Two sandstone variant textures were added to terrain.png, but not used. These were indeed intended for use as sandstone block variants.
1.2.4			release				The two unused sandstone textures from before have been replaced and the replacements implemented.
1.5			13w02a				The unused old cake item texture, grass top duplicate and four unused blocks introduced in Beta 1.8 has been effectively removed with the splitting of block textures.
1.7.2			13w36a				The famous unused paeonia texture has been added to the assets/minecraft/textures/blocks/ directory.
1.9			15w31a				Added debug.png and debug2.png to the assets/minecraft/textures/blocks/ directory.
			15w34a				Added command_blocks.pdn to the assets/minecraft/textures/blocks/ directory.
			15w34b				Removed command_blocks.pdn.
1.11			16w39b				A duplicate of the blue shulker box top texture called test.png now exists directly in assets/minecraft/.
			16w39c				test.png has been removed.
Texture Update			1.0.0 and 2.0.0, potentially among others				Despite being unused, a new paeonia texture has been included in a Texture Update resource pack.
							Three extra variant textures for vines were also included, their uses unknown.
1.13			17w47a				Removed the unused paeonia texture from the assets/minecraft/textures/blocks/ directory.
1.14			18w44a				An unused texture sheet containing each texture then associated with the lectern has been added to the assets/minecraft/textures/block/ directory. It was used on the pre-release image but was split into separate textures before release.
			18w45a				The lectern sheet from above was removed from the assets/minecraft/textures/block/ directory.
1.15			19w34a				The texture for a wax block was added to the assets/minecraft/textures/block/ directory.
			19w42a				Removed the wax block texture from the assets/minecraft/textures/block/ directory.
1.16			20w06a				Two duplicate stripped warped stem textures are present in assets/minecraft/textures/block/, entitled "warped_stripped_log_top.png" and "warped_stripped_log_side.png".
			20w09a				Removed the above duplicate warped stem textures from the assets/minecraft/textures/block/ directory.
1.17			20w49a				The textures "calibrated_sculk_sensor_top.png" and "calibrated_sculk_sensor_side.png" have been added to the assets/minecraft/textures/block/ directory.
			21w05a				The texture "root_vines_head.png" has beed added to the assets/minecraft/textures/block/ directory.
			21w13a				Removed the calibrated sculk sensor textures from the assets/minecraft/textures/block/ directory.
			21w16a				Removed the root vines texture from the assets/minecraft/textures/block/ directory.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.0							The old web, cake item and crying obsidian textures are present in terrain.png.
							Due to the absence of nether portals, its placeholder texture is unused.
v0.2.0							The crying obsidian texture has been replaced by the grass block overlay, which is also unused in this edition.
v0.8.0			build 2				terrain.png was split, removing some unused textures - specifics unknown.
v0.14.2							Added early textures for the Allow and Deny blocks.
v0.16.0			build 1				The textures for allow and deny have been updated, and the blocks that use them actually implemented.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.9.0			beta 1.9.0.2				Added two unused barrel textures. Their fate remains unknown.

Items

[hide]Java Edition Indev
0.31			20091231-2255				Added studded armor and quiver sprites to items.png.
			20100110				Added a bow texture to items.png, despite there not being bows at the time.
							There is now a large purple curve in items.png.
			20100122				The quiver texture has changed.
							The bow texture has been changed, and bows have been implemented, effectively removing the unused bow texture.
			?				The purple curve has been removed.
Minecraft Indev			20100206-2034				Studded armor's sprites have been removed.
[hide]Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2				Three copies of cat and two copies of 13 have been added to items.png as placeholders for future discs.
1.3.1			12w21a				A ruby item texture has been added.
1.4.4			1.4.3				One of the extra cat discs has been replaced with the wait disc texture.
1.8			14w30a				Added banner_base and banner_overlay.
1.9			15w31a				Removed the quiver texture.
1.11			16w41a				Removed banner_base.
1.13			17w47a				Removed banner_overlay.
1.15			19w34a				The texture for crystallized honey was added to the assets/minecraft/textures/item/ directory.
			19w42a				Removed the crystallized honey texture from the assets/minecraft/textures/item/ directory.
1.17			21w13a				Removed the ruby texture.

Placeholders

[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.2							Nine identical item placeholder textures have been added to items.png.
							Total: 9
1.8			Pre-release				Ten more identical item placeholder textures have been added to items.png, and one removed due to being replaced by the melon slice.
							Total: 18
[hide]Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease				Five of the placeholder textures has been replaced with the fire charge, blaze rod, ghast tear, gold nugget and nether wart textures.
							Total: 13
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2				Twelve more identical item placeholder textures have been added to items.png, and six removed due to being replaced by the spider eye, fermented spider eye, blaze powder, magma cream and the two potion textures.
							Total: 19
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3				Three of the placeholder textures have been replaced with the brewing stand, cauldron and eye of ender textures.
							Total: 16
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4				Two of the placeholder textures have been replaced with the splash potion and glistering melon textures.
							Total: 14
1.1			11w49a				One of the placeholder textures has been replaced with the spawn egg texture.
							Total: 13
			12w01a				One of the placeholder textures has been replaced with the spawn egg overlay texture.
							Total: 12
1.2.1			12w04a				One of the placeholder textures has been replaced with the bottle o' enchanting texture.
							Total: 11
1.3.1			12w17a				One of the placeholder textures has been replaced with the written book texture.
							Total: 10
			12w21a				One of the placeholder textures has been replaced with the ruby texture.
							Total: 9
1.4.2			12w34a				Added 22 more placeholder textures to items.png.
							Four of the placeholder textures have been replaced with the flower pot, empty map, nether star and item frame textures.
							Total: 27
			12w36a				Added 11 more placeholder textures to items.png.
							Five of the placeholder textures have been replaced with the carrot on a stick, skeleton and wither skeleton skull, and player and zombie head textures.
							Total: 33
			12w37a				One of the placeholder textures has been replaced with the leather leggings overlay texture.
							Total: 32
1.4.6			12w49a				Four of the placeholder textures have been replaced with the firework rocket, enchanted book, and both firework star textures.
							Total: 28
1.5			13w01a				Three of the placeholder textures have been replaced with the comparator, nether quartz and nether brick textures.
							Total: 25
			13w02b				items.png has now been removed, also removing all item placeholder textures.
							Total: 0

Entities

[hide]Java Edition Classic
0.0.20a							A unused solid white player-shaped texture called 2char.png now exists in the game's files.
[hide]Java Edition Indev
Minecraft Indev			20100212-1210				Added char_2.png.
			20100214-2				char_2.png has been removed.
[hide]Java Edition Infdev
Minecraft Infdev			20100607				Added a texture called "door".
[hide]Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.0			preview				Added a pigman texture.
v1.2.2							Removed 2char.png, likely due to texture pack support implementation.
[hide]Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease				Added a "villager" texture.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4				Added some ender dragon textures. These two, entitled "body" and "dragon", are assumed unused due to being later removed.
1.4.6			12w50a				Added a texture for skis.
1.6.1			13w24a				Removed the door, pigman, weird villager, "body", "dragon" and skis textures.

Particles

[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.4							Two particles were added that visually resemble water droplets, or possibly water or blue analogues of the existing "flame" and "lava" particles.
[hide]Java Edition
1.4.2			12w34a				Added an angry villager head particle texture, which was unused.
1.14			19w06a				The three unused particle textures have been removed with the splitting of particles.png.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.0							The unused water/fire particle textures exist in this version of the game's particles.png.
							The two older splash textures also added in this version had a very high likelihood of being unused.
v0.12.1			build 1				The angry villager head particle now exists in particles.png.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.16.0			?				Added a "soul lava" particle texture to particles.png.

Miscellaneous

[hide]Java Edition Classic
0.0.14a							Added tallterrain.png to client.jar.
0.28							Removed tallterrain.png.
[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.6.6			July 26, 2011				Added humble.png to .minecraft\resources\pe.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.0			reupload				Added add.png, trash.png, sm_multi.png, sm_options.png, sm_play.png.
v0.1.1							trash.png has been removed.
v0.2.0							sm_multi.png, sm_options.png, sm_play.png have been removed.
v0.3.0							Added 123123.png.
							add.png has been removed.
v0.3.3							123123.png has been removed.
v0.16.0			build 1				Added titleOSX.png.
v0.16.0			build 2				Removed titleOSX.png.

Developer version exclusive textures

These textures appeared exclusively in development screenshots or videos. In most cases, the raw files have never been released publicly; all cases documented here are derived from recreations unless otherwise stated.

Blocks

[hide]Java Edition Beta
June 7, 2011							Showed pistons. The texture had an extra band around the face, and smaller edge buckles.
[hide]Java Edition
September 30, 2011							A prototype version of the brewing stand is revealed.
September 30, 2011							A prototype enchanting table is revealed.
September 30, 2011							A second prototype enchanting table is revealed. The top texture is now identical to the released texture.
April 24, 2013							Showcased an image featuring colored wood planks, which ultimately never made it into the game.
June 8, 2014							This texture was shown for wet sponges.
January 23, 2017							Jeb showcased updated wool colors. The Light Blue, Purple and Pink Wool colors shown didn't make it into 17w06a, the Black, Red, Green, Cyan and Blue Wool colors shown might have also not been released, however this is currently unknown.
November 18, 2017							Prototypes for coral were shown in a clip on MINECON Earth.
November 9, 2018							LadyAgnes tweeted an image of a lantern.
January 11, 2019							Showed campfire with unanimated texture.
September 28, 2019							This honey block texture was showcased at MINECON Live 2019.
Minecraft Live 2020 (October 3, 2020)			30:08				This version of the spore blossom was shown at at Minecraft Live 2020.
			33:06				This dripleaf texture was shown.
			38:10				The sculk sensor, sculk, and the sculk jaw were shown off at Minecraft Live 2020.
			38:14				This sculk veins texture was shown.
			38:14				This sculk catalyst texture was shown.
			41:32				Deepslate was shown unnamed as part of deep dark caves biome at Minecraft Live 2020.
			1:47:51				Amethyst clusters are shown at Minecraft Live 2020.
			1:50:44				These textures were used for the reveal of copper related blocks.
November 13, 2020							This sculk sensor texture was shown.
November 13, 2020							This sculk catalyst texture was shown.
November 13, 2020							This sculk veins texture was shown.
November 13, 2020							The sculk block has a new texture in a tweet from Brandon Pearce.
1.17			October 19, 2020				Henrik Kniberg shows this modified dandelion texture for testing purposes.
			November 18, 2020				JAPPA tweets an image of an alternate tuff texture.
			November 23, 2020				Showed new animated texture of active tendril.
			November 27, 2020				The big dripleaf has a new texture in a tweet from Agnes Larsson.
			February 5, 2021				JAPPA tweets an image of alternate hanging roots and rooted dirt textures.
			February 9, 2021				Showed early design of glow lichen.
			February 17, 2021				Henrik Kniberg shows grimstone variants of overworld ore.
			February 18, 2021				JAPPA shows new textures of iron ore, gold ore and updated grimstone variants of overworld ore.
			February 18, 2021				JAPPA shows a new texture for the grimstone variant of diamond ore.
			February 22, 2021				JAPPA shows updated iron ore, copper ore, redstone ore and updated grimstone variant of overworld ore.
			March 4, 2021				JAPPA showed a new texture of deepslate.
			April 4, 2021				Showed block of raw iron.
			May 7, 2021				xilefian shows one of 18 different concepts of pointed dripstone created in October 2020, and early textures of dripstone block.
October 16, 2021							Mud was announced at Minecraft Live 2021.
June 16, 2022							Showed early textures for mud.
July 22, 2022							Showed more early textures for mud.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
May 2, 2016							A rejected observer texture was shown.
[hide]Texture Update
July 18, 2017							Jeb tweeted the first image containing updated textures. Included are unreleased obsidian and birch log textures.
July 19, 2017							Jeb showed new textures of obsidian and block of diamond, which also shows unreleased grass block and dirt textures in the background.
July 19, 2017							Jeb replied with an image of all the new logs.
July 19, 2017							JAPPA tweeted an image of a less blurry birch log.
July 19, 2017							Jeb tweeted an image of an unreleased oak and jungle planks textures.
July 20, 2017							JAPPA tweeted an image of a second new texture of block of diamond.
July 21, 2017							Showed new texture of block of emerald.
July 22, 2017							JAPPA tweeted an image of new crafting table textures. The oak wood texture might have also changed, but this is unknown.
August 2, 2017							Showed new textures of chorus flower and end stone.
August 9, 2017							Showed new texture of cracked stone bricks.
August 10, 2017							Compared new textures from previous post with old one.
August 22, 2017							Showed new second textures of oak planks and oak log.
August 30, 2017							Showed new textures of hay bale and spruce wood.
August 30, 2017							Showed new textures of dead bush and cactus.
September 4, 2017							Showed new texture of cobblestone.
September 18, 2017							Showed new textures of cobblestone and spruce planks.
September 28, 2017							Showed new textures of skeleton and mossy cobblestone.
September 28, 2017							Compared new texture of oak planks and old one.
October 16, 2017							Showed new texture of glowstone.
October 16, 2017							Showed new second texture of glowstone.
October 16, 2017							Showed new texture of oak planks.
October 18, 2017							Showed new texture of sand
October 30, 2017							Showed new textures of zombie and carved pumpkin.
November 8, 2017							Showed maybe new textures of grass block, oak leaves, and new third texture of oak log.
November 8, 2017							Same textures from previous post, but all items dropped from inventory.
November 9, 2017							Showed new textures of wolf, stone, andesite and coal ore. Updated textures of apple and feather.
November 13, 2017							Showed new textures of cake and spruce planks.
November 13, 2017							Showed closer textures of cake in block form.
November 13, 2017							Showed closer texture of totem of undying.
November 17, 2017							Showed new textures of block of gold, block of emerald and third new texture of block of diamond.
November 17, 2017							Showed closer textures from previous post.
November 30, 2017							Showed closer texture of spawner.
November 30, 2017							Showed new textures of pig, spider, chicken, melon, gravel, birch leaves, rose bush and dandelion.
December 12, 2017							Showed new textures of sheep and snow.
January 2, 2018							Showed new texture of snow golem.
January 9, 2018							Showed new second textures of birch leaves and birch logs.
January 9, 2018							Showed new third texture of oak planks.
January 11, 2018							Showed new textures of redstone lamp and acacia leaves.
February 1, 2018							Showed new second texture of jungle boat in item form.
January 22, 2018							Showed new second textures of block of gold, block of emerald and fourth texture of block of diamond.
February 1, 2018							Showed new second texture of jungle boat in item form.
March 8, 2018							Showed new third texture of block of emerald.
July 11, 2018							JAPPA tweeted an image of updated obsidian.
July 11, 2018							JAPPA tweeted an image of updated diorite and andesite.
August 28, 2018							Showed new textures of oak log, stone, cobblestone, glass and hay bale. "This is just soms tests, exploring. Not V3."
August 28, 2018							Showed new textures of oak log, stone, and cobblestone. "Sometimes, to explore options and things I try drastic changes like this:"
August 30, 2018							Showed new second textures of stone and granite.
September 6, 2018							Showed new texture of obsidian.
September 7, 2018							Showed new textures of obsidian and golden sword.
September 10, 2018							Showed new textures of spruce log and spruce planks.
September 10, 2018							Showed new textures of swords.
September 25, 2018							Showed new textures of ice, packed ice and new second texture of snow.
September 25, 2018							Compared textures from previous post and the old ones.
October 26, 2018							Showed new textures of sand and cactus.
October 27, 2018							Showed new textures of sandstone, cut sandstone, chiseled sandstone and cactus.
November 15, 2018							Something was revealed.
November 19, 2018							Showed new textures of oak log and oak planks.
November 29, 2018							Jasper Boerstra tweeted an image from the boat texturing process. A new (probably experimental) cobblestone and mossy cobblestone can be seen atop the background.

Items

[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.2							Leftovers of old dye textures can be seen in items.png with 100% opacity.
April 9, 2011							An alternate iron shovel texture was shown in a Mojang test video.
July 19, 2011							A prototype texture for cooked chicken was revealed by Jeb.
[hide]Java Edition
May 21, 2012							Jeb released a screenshot of himself testing the trading system. At this time, what would become emeralds were rubies.
August 15, 2012							Dinnerbone showed an item frame in item form.
August 5, 2014							Searge tweeted an image of an armor stand.
September 28, 2019							A piglin spawn egg was shown.
October 3, 2020							Lightning rods were revealed at Minecraft Live 2020. Inventory model was different.
October 3, 2020							Brushes and ceramic shards were shown at Minecraft Live 2020.
October 3, 2020							A bucket of axolotl was shown at Minecraft Live 2020.
							On the live event, it has an untranslated name: item.minecraft.axolotl_bucket.
October 6, 2020							Kingbdogz showed a warden spawn egg.
April 16, 2021							JAPPA showed new raw iron, raw gold and raw copper textures.
October 16, 2021							Frog and tadpole spawn eggs were shown.
February 14, 2023							The item form of Pink Petals was shown.
February 20, 2024							A video about bugs shows the netherite items with early textures.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
June 11, 2017							The Super Duper Graphics Pack was announced. Inventory icons of several items can be seen in some of the released screenshots and videos.
[hide]Minecraft Education
Beta							Showed unreleased version of NPC spawn egg.
[hide]Texture Update
November 8, 2017							Showed new textures of cauldron items, apple, saddle, iron ingot and feather.
November 13, 2017							Showed new textures of cake in block and item forms, carrot in item form and cookie.

Miscellaneous

[hide]Java Edition Classic
August 18, 2009							A pre-release half heart icon was shown.
[hide]Java Edition
2020							Showcased vibration particles for the hollowed, which would later become the warden.