Light

Example of light-emitting blocks

Light (or lighting) in Minecraft affects visibility, mob spawning, and the growth of some plants. There are three aspects of Minecraft's lighting system: light level, internal light level, and rendered brightness.

Light level

The "Client Light" info line as seen in the left side of the debug screen.

Light levels can be found on the debug screen in Java Edition next to "Client Light" in parentheses. There exist two main types of light: sky light and block light. Other types of light, not present in the debug screen, are explained in the internal light level section. The term light level may be used to refer to the value of any of the light types.

There are 16 light levels, specified by an integer from 0 (the minimum) through 15 (the maximum).

The game sometimes uses the larger value of the two main light types currently at a block's location for some computations. This is what is known as client light, and its value in the debug screen after the words, "Client Light," is the number before the parentheses (formula: (max(sky light,block light))).

Block light

Block light comes from light-emitting blocks, and spreads using a flood fill algorithm.

The block light level decreases by one for each meter (block) of taxicab distance from the light source. This applies to each of the 3 coordinate axes. In other words, the light level decreases diagonally by the sum of the distances along each axis. For example:

• If a torch with light level 14 is placed on the floor, the light level of the adjacent floor blocks in all four directions is 13, while the diagonal blocks in all four directions have a light level of 12 (14 minus 1 south, minus 1 east).
• If a torch with light level 14 is placed on a wall one block above the floor, then the block on the floor that is one block southeast of and below the torch has a light level of 11 (14 - 1 ^(south) - 1 ^(east) - 1 ^(down)).

On a surface, this effect produces a diamond-shaped pattern of illumination around the light source. An image of this can be seen in the section, § Light-emitting blocks.

In Java Edition, when calculating lighting, the shapes of some blocks are detected: pistons, daylight detectors, enchanting tables, farmland, lecterns, stonecutters, dirt paths, snow, end portal frames, slabs and stairs, so that the light passing through them can spread only in specific directions. For example, dirt paths prevents the light from propagating downward, but the light can propagate in other directions.

Sky light

Sky light is a type of light that is spread by the sky. It's not a light source in the natural sense, as it is used mainly for the game's logic computations.

The sky light level for blocks vertically exposed to the sky is 15. Sky light cast onto blocks can spread to adjacent areas using a flood fill algorithm. Sky light is not reduced at night; rather, the spawning of mobs is determined by internal light values.

Opaque blocks can prevent the spread of sky light. By contrast, transparent blocks such as glass and iron bars have no effect on the sky light level. All light-filtering blocks, however, reduce the spread of sky light.

When sky light of a level of 15 spreads down through a transparent block, the level remains unchanged. When it spreads horizontally or upward, it reduces 1 light level. However, when it spreads through a light-filtering block, it does not follow the above two rules and attenuates specific light levels.

Sky light with a level less than 15 spreads as block light - when it propagates to adjacent (including top and bottom, six blocks in total) blocks, it is attenuated until it is 0.

In Java Edition, when calculating lighting, the shapes of some blocks are detected: piston, daylight detectors, enchanting table, farmland, lectern, stonecutter, grass path, snow, end portal frame, slabs, and stairs. They have directional opacity, so that the light passing through them can spread only in specific directions. For example, the dirt path prevents the light from propagating downward, but the light can propagate in other directions.

Light-filtering blocks

In Java Edition, all of the following light-filtering blocks decrease sky light by 1 level (but do not affect block light).

Light-filtering blocks in Java Edition

Icon	Block
	Water
	All transparent waterlogged blocks
	Bubble Column
	Ice
	Frosted Ice
	Cobweb
	Leaves
	Slime Block
	Honey Block
	Monster Spawner
	Lava
	Beacon
	End Gateway
	Chorus Plant
	Chorus Flower
	Any Shulker Box

In Bedrock Edition, light-filtering blocks can reduce more levels of block or sky light. The following values are the amounts by which each block decreases the light level.

Light-filtering blocks in Bedrock Edition

Icon	Block	Amount of decrease
	Beacon	14
	Anvil	3
	Hopper
	Brewing Stand
	Cauldron
	Ice
	Frosted Ice
	Water	2
	Cobweb	1
	Leaves
	Powder Snow
	Slabs (except double slabs)

Light-emitting blocks

Comparison of the different light levels that blocks emit.

The following values are the brightness of the blocks themselves.

Icon	Block	Level
	Beacon	15
	Conduit (active)
	End Gateway
	End Portal
	Fire
	Sea Pickle (four, waterlogged)
	Froglights
	Glowstone
	Jack o'Lantern
	Lantern
	Lava
	Lava Cauldron
	Campfire (lit)
	Redstone Lamp (lit)
	Respawn Anchor (four charges)
	Sea Lantern
	Shroomlight
	Copper Bulb (lit)
	Cave Vines (with berries)	14
	End Rod
	Torch
	Coloured Torch ‌
	Underwater Torch‌
	Furnace (lit)	13
	Blast Furnace (lit)
	Smoker (lit)
	Vault (active)	12
	Candle (four, lit)
	Sea Pickle (three, waterlogged)
	Exposed Copper Bulb (lit)
	Glowing Obsidian‌
	Nether Portal	11
	Respawn Anchor (three charges)
	Crying Obsidian	10
	Soul Campfire (lit)
	Soul Fire (lit)
	Soul Lantern
	Soul Torch
	Candle (three, lit)	9
	Deepslate Redstone Ore (lit)
	Redstone Ore (lit)
	Sea Pickle (two, waterlogged)
	Trial Spawner (active)	8
	Weathered Copper Bulb (lit)
	Enchanting Table	7
	Ender Chest
	Glow Lichen
	Redstone Torch (lit)
	Respawn Anchor (two charges)
	Candle (two, lit)	6
	Sea Pickle (one)
	Sculk Catalyst
	Vault (inactive)
	Amethyst Cluster	5
	Large Amethyst Bud	4
	Oxidized Copper Bulb (lit)
	Trial Spawner (waiting)
	Candle (one, lit)	3
	Magma Block
	Respawn Anchor (one charge)
	Medium Amethyst Bud	2
	Firefly Bush
	Brewing Stand	1
	Brown Mushroom
	Calibrated Sculk Sensor
	Dragon Egg
	End Portal Frame
	Sculk Sensor
	Small Amethyst Bud
	Light (block)	0–15

Internal light level

Internal sky light versus time and sky light

The internal light level is used for calculations within the game. The game uses the internal light level of one block to compute aspects of the game, which include mob spawning, the growth of some plants, and daylight detector outputs. It's calculated as the maximum level of the block light and the internal sky light (formula: (max(internal sky light,block light))).

Internal sky light

The game uses sky light, time, and weather to calculate an internal sky light value (also known as darkening sky light). This value is an integer with a maximum level of 15; it can also be negative.

As the Overworld becomes darker, the internal sky light gets lower. Render brightness is what dictates the illumination of the Overworld, not internal sky light.

In other dimensions, the internal sky light level is always 0 due to the lack of sky light in them.

Below there are two charts that explain how internal sky light is affected by the time and weather at sky light level 15. To obtain an internal sky light for a sky light level s less than 15, take the internal level L at 15 and subtract from it the difference between 15 and s: L−(15−s).

Icon	Weather	Internal sky light when sky light is 15
	noon, during clear weather	15
	noon, during rain or snowfall	12
	noon, during a thunderstorm	10
	midnight, during any weather	4

Internal sky light	Clear		Rain or snowfall		Thunder
	Time ↓	Time ↑	Time ↓	Time ↑	Time ↓	Time ↑
4	13,670–(Midnight/18,000)-22,330 (8,660 Gtk/7:13)		13,670–(Midnight/18,000)-22,330 (8,660 Gtk/7:13)		13,670–(Midnight/18,000)-22,330 (8,660 Gtk/7:13)
5	22,331–22,491 (160 Gtk/8 sec)	13,509–13,669 (160 Gtk/8 sec)	22,331–22,565 ()	13,436–13,669 ()	22,331–22,671 ()	13,330–13,669 ()
6	22,492–22,652 (160 Gtk/8 sec)	13,348–13,508 (160 Gtk/8 sec)	22,566–22,798 ()	13,203–13,435 ()	22,672–23,010 ()	12,990–13,329 ()
7	22,653–22,812‌ 22,653–22,813‌J: (159 Gtk/7.95 sec) B: (160 Gtk/8 sec)	13,188–13,347 (159 Gtk/7.95 sec)	22,799–23,031 ()	12,969–13,202 ()	23,011–23,352 ()	12,648–12,989 ()
8	22,813‌–22,973 22,814‌–22,973 J: (160 Gtk/8 sec) B: (159 Gtk/7.95 sec)	13,027–13,187 (160 Gtk/8 sec)	23,032–23,266 ()	12,734–12,968 ()	23,353–23,700 ()	12,300–12,647 ()
9	22,974–23,134 (160 Gtk/8 sec)	12,867–13,026 (159 Gtk/7.95 sec)	23,267–23,504 ()	12,497–12,733 ()	23,701-(Dawn/24,000/0)–59 (240 Gtk/12 sec)	11,941‌–(Dusk/12,000)-12,299 11,942‌–(Dusk/12,000)-12,299 J:(358 Gtk/17.9 sec) B:(357 Gtk/17.85 sec)
10	23,135–23,296 (161 Gtk/8.05 sec)	12,705–12,866 (161 Gtk/8.05 sec)	23,505–23,745 ()	12,256–12,496 ()	60–(Noon/6,000)-11,940‌ 60–(Noon/6,000)-11,941‌J: (11,880 Gtk/9:54) B: (11,881 Gtk/9:54)
11	23,297–23,459 (162 Gtk/8.1 sec)	12,542–12,704 (162 Gtk/8.1 sec)	23,746–23,991 ()	12,010–12,255 ()	N/A
12	23,460–23,623‌ 23,460–23,624‌J: (163 Gtk/8.15 sec) B: (164/8.2 sec)	12,377–12,541 (164 Gtk/8.2 sec)	23,992–(Dawn/24,000/0)(Noon/6,000)(Dusk/12,000)-12,009 (12,017 Gtk/10:00.85)		N/A
13	23,624‌–23,790 23,625‌–23,790 J: (166 Gtk/8.3 sec) B: (165 Gtk/8.25 sec)	12,210–12,376 (166 Gtk/8.3 sec)	N/A		N/A
14	23,791–23,960 (169 Gtk/8.45 sec)	12,041–12,209 (168 Gtk/8.4 sec)	N/A		N/A
15	23,961–(Dawn/24,000/0)(Noon/6,000)(Dusk/12,000)-12,040		N/A		N/A

Effects of light

Light affects various things in the world: from crop growth, to mob spawning and behavior, and so on. Below, there are charts that depict the effects of light on various mobs and blocks.

Keep in mind that light level is only one of the considerations that apply to mob spawning and plant growth. Check the corresponding articles for more information.

Mobs

Passive mobs, and some friendly neutral mobs, do not spawn at night. They require a minimum internal light level of 9‌ or 7‌ to spawn, while mooshrooms, polar bears, and rabbits require an internal light level of 12‌.

Most hostile mobs spawn in the Overworld when it gets dark at night or in caves, but torches and other light-emitting blocks prevent the mobs' spawn. These mobs need a maximum internal sky light level of 7 and a block light level of 0 to spawn.

Several undead mobs are set on fire for 8 seconds when hit by sunlight; these mobs try to avoid such areas and do not burn while in water, in the rain, wearing a helmet, or in the shade.

The following chart describes the spawning and behavior of various mobs in function of the block light.

Light level Mob	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Bats	Spawn at y: 0–62				Do not spawn
Blazes	Spawn in nether fortresses												Do not spawn
Wither skeletons	Spawn in nether fortresses								Do not spawn
Zombified piglins	Spawn in the Nether												Do not spawn
Slimes (slime chunk)	Spawn in slime chunks at Y: -64–40
Slimes (swamp)	Spawn in swamp biomes at Y: 50–70								Do not spawn
Skeletons	Spawn in the Overworld	Spawn in the Nether							Do not spawn							Do not spawn, burn in sunlight
Zombies Chicken jockeys	Spawn in the Overworld	Do not spawn														Do not spawn, burn in sunlight
Drowned	Spawn in oceans and rivers	Hostile, do not spawn														Burn in sunlight, ignore player outside water when in sunlight
Creepers Witches	Spawn in the Overworld	Do not spawn
Phantoms	Spawn in the Overworld if player hasn't entered a bed in over 3 in-game days								Do not spawn							Burn in sunlight
Spiders Cave spiders Spider jockeys	Spawn in the Overworld	Hostile, do not spawn											Do not spawn, neutral unless provoked
Silverfish	Spawn from monster spawners in Stronghold or Trial Spawner in Trial Chambers												Spawn from monster spawners on top of stone type block it can enter
Endermen	Spawn in all three dimensions	Spawn in the Nether							Do not spawn, teleport randomly in Overworld

Blocks

In Java Edition, most types of plants can grow at night, even if not supplied sufficient light from a light-emitting block, as long as plants of certain types are receiving a sufficient sky light value. This is because those types use the client light formula. In other words, those types do not grow in extremely dark areas where the value of sky light that reaches them is not sufficient. Unlike internal sky light, regular sky light used by the client light formula does not change with the time of day or weather. In Bedrock Edition, more types of plants need a light-emitting block to grow throughout the night than the amount of types that need light at night in Java Edition.

In Java Edition, insufficiently illuminated crops break (uproot) in the next block update, and planting crops is not possible in such conditions. In Bedrock Edition, crops don't break and can always be planted due to a bug.

Light level is checked at the block's position, even for crops and ice blocks. The block above is checked instead for bamboo, saplings, grass blocks, and mycelium.

Below is a chart that explains how various blocks react to different types of light (see § Light level and § Internal light level, above). It is intended for Java Edition. The main differences with Bedrock Edition not seen in the chart are:

• All plants and mushrooms in the chart are affected in Bedrock Edition by internal light instead of client light.
• Mycelium in Bedrock Edition is affected by client light instead of internal light.

Blocks and plants that are not listed on the chart (for example, sugar cane and cactus) are considered to not be affected by any type of light.

Block	Level 0–3	Level 4–7	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10	Level 11	Level 12	Level 13–15
Affected by block light
Snow	Forms				Neither forms nor melts‌ Forms‌		Melts
Ice	Forms				Neither forms nor melts‌ Forms‌	Melts
Affected by client light
Mushrooms	Spread							Uproot unless on mycelium, podzol, or nylium
Pumpkin or melon stems Bamboo	Does not grow			Grows
Wheat Carrots Potatoes Beetroots	Uproot‌ Does not grow‌		Does not grow	Grows
Affected by internal light
Saplings	Does not grow			Grows
Grass Block Mycelium	Becomes dirt if opaque block or partially transparent block on top	Does not spread		Spreads to nearby dirt
Frosted ice	Further information: Frosted Ice § Usage
Affected by internal sky light
Daylight detector (inverted)	Output = 15 - Current light level

Rendered brightness

Examples of the internal lightmap texture (the game's brightness setting is at the default of 50). Horizontal axis is block light, vertical is sky light.

The game uses the light level (instead of internal light level), time, and weather to compute the rendered brightness of a given block or an entity. Light is completely monochromatic and cannot be truly colored.

As mentioned above, sky light is not reduced at night, instead, the brightness curve itself changes based on the time. Entities cast circular‌ or tridecagonal‌ shadows; however, these are unrelated to the rendering of blocks.

In general, lighting due to blocks results in a higher brightness, which is balanced by the fact that light due to blocks effectively starts at 14 (solid light source blocks emit a level of 15, but that applies to the light source block itself) while sky light brightness is 15 outdoors. Light due to blocks also tends toward orange in the middle ranges, while sky light in the Overworld daytime is white.

In the Overworld with the "Moody" brightness setting, full daylight reaches 98% brightness, while at night brightness is reduced to about 17% and is shaded blue. Full darkness is about 5% brightness.

In the Nether, sky lighting doesn't play a role since there is no source of sky light (although if there were, it would reach about 99% brightness.) Full darkness with the "Moody" brightness setting is at about 25% brightness, slightly darker than a block light level of 7 and no sky light in the Overworld, and is shaded orange like block light.

In the End, sky lighting wouldn't play a role even if there were a source of sky light; this can also be seen if lightning is summoned in the End (there is no flash of brightness like there is in other dimensions). Full darkness in the End with the "Moody" brightness setting is about 28% brightness, and is shaded toward a bluish-green rather than the orange of the Nether and of block lighting.

In Java Edition 20w14∞, most unique dimensions have unique lighting system. However, most of the Easter egg dimensions do not have darkness at all. Instead, they are fully bright, but in an Easter egg dimension called gallery has the blue lighting nearly identical to the Overworld at night (only significantly brighter). Easter egg dimensions that resembles the Overworld with just world generation modifications (namely busy, chess, decay, holes, pillars, rooms, slime, and zone) have the same lighting as in the Overworld. blacklight has the inverted lighting system derived from the Overworld. colors, red, green, and blue dimensions resembles the Overworld with lighting mixed with dimensional tinting, and darkness is blended with darkness at higher distances far away from the origin. Its darkness cannot be fixed with Night Vision effect.

Light level of daylight/biome

Light level > Biome/time of day v	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Overworld (day)
Overworld (night, approximate)
Blacklight (day)
Blacklight (night, approximate)

Smooth lighting

The difference between Smooth Lighting on and off.

Smooth lighting is a lighting engine that blends light levels across block faces and darkens corners using ambient occlusion to add semi-realistic shadows and glowing from light sources. It affects only rendered brightness, not the light level, so it has no effect on mob spawning or crop growth. It is set on by default. Paintings, item frames and water surfaces are unaffected.‌

Smooth lighting can be turned on or off in the video settings.

Ambient occlusion in Minecraft

In many newer games, ambient occlusion is mainly generated dynamically by the GPU. But Minecraft calculates ambient occlusion in the code based on voxel placement and brightness levels.

Ambient occlusion is responsible for adding shading to an ordinary texture. It is a layer of translucent textures, on top of the normal textures. Overlaying these AO textures onto a texture is called AO mapping. There are about five AO texture patterns used in Minecraft's smooth lighting, excluding flips and rotations, and only three patterns algorithmically. Strictly speaking, it's probably more than that. That's when the intensity changes with the brightness level. But they are solved by tint.

AO texture pattern

If AO mapping is selected only to the northwest of the voxel, the following pattern is possible.

Number	Image
0
1
2
3

These classifications allow one the ability to deduce a pattern from the placement of each voxel. The following function can then be used to compute the opacity of the voxels' vertices, depending on the presence of the side and corner voxels.

function vertexAO(side1, side2, corner) {
  return 3 - (side1 + side2 + corner)
}

This generates a 2×2 pixel image using the values of each vertex. The pixels are small, but when zoomed in using anti-aliasing, it gradates.

History

[hide]Java Edition pre-Classic
Cave game tech test							The lighting engine in Classic was simple, with only two light levels, bright and dark. Brightness of the "dark" level is about 40%. "Sunlight" is emitted by the top edge of the map and hits any block that is under it, regardless of distance. It passes through transparent blocks to light blocks underneath. Blocks that do not receive light are in a dim shadow that remains at the same level of brightness no matter how far they are from a light source.
[hide]Java Edition Classic
May 26, 2009							Notch discussed the feasibility of having dynamic lighting with limited range, allowing possibilities like defining blocks like lava to emit light.
[hide]Java Edition Indev
0.31			20091223-0040				Added 10 degrees of brightness, with a maximum of 9 for full daylight and a minimum of 0 for almost complete darkness. Brightness is a linear scale and represents its value divided by 8; for example 8 is 100% (8⁄8) and 7 is 87.5% (7⁄8)..
			20100109-1939				There are now 16 degrees of brightness, with a maximum of 15 for full daylight and a minimum of 0 for almost complete darkness.
							Sunlight now has a maximum light value of 15.
			20100204-2027				Passive mobs now spawn only in higher light levels, and hostile mobs spawn only in the dark.
20100212-1210							Sunlight's light value steadily decreases from dusk, until it reaches a night-time minimum value of 4, representing moonlight.
[hide]Java Edition Alpha
?							Lighting is no longer linear.
							Each brightness value below 15 is 80% as bright as the one above it. For example, 14 is 80% as bright as 15, and 13 is 64% as bright as 15.
							Sunlight now has its own light array and optimizations to make dawn and dusk smoother. During dusk, nighttime, and dawn, a "darkness" value is subtracted from the sky to create the effects of different times of day.
v1.2.0			preview				Added the Nether, where light decreases by 10% each level, rather than the normal 20%.
							Hostile mobs could spawn in higher light levels at lower depths, using the formula 16 − (Layer / 8). At level 8 and below, mobs could spawn even in sunlight.
v1.2.1							Notch reverted mob spawning to the original method, saying, "It was way too annoying. I have plans on what to do with this."
[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.3							Smooth lighting engine added with the help of MrMessiah.
1.8			Pre-release				Implemented a new lighting engine. The lighting on a block is given a tint based on the most prominent source of light.
							Day/night cycles no longer require chunk updates and have a smooth transition.
							Artificial light now gives a subtle "flicker."
[hide]Java Edition
1.4.2			12w39a				Dinnerbone fixed black patches in world generation, and began overhauling the lighting systems such as changing the lighting of blocks to allow for directional lighting.
1.5			13w05a				Improved lighting interaction with stairs.
			13w06a				Several lighting optimizations.
			13w09a				Added three different levels of smooth lighting: Off, Minimum, and Maximum. Minimum uses the old Smooth Lighting, and Maximum fixes a bug with stairs.
1.7.2			13w36a				Black patches in world generation and structure generation were made a lot less common.
1.8			14w30a				The lighting engine was significantly improved, removing most black spots present in world generation.
1.13			18w06a				Various crops can now grow at night after they stopped requiring internal light in favor of client light.
1.14			18w43a				The lighting system has been rewritten.
			18w46a				Added support for directional opacity of blocks.
			19w09a				Wheat, carrots, potatoes, and beetroots now check for necessary light to grow and survive in the crop's block. Previously, growth was checked above the crop, and survivability in the crop itself
			19w11a				Pumpkins and melons now check for necessary light to grow in the stem's block. Previously, growth was checked above the stem.
1.14.2			pre4				All light is now re-calculated the first time a world saved in a previous version is opened.
1.17			21w13a				Added light blocks, which helps the placement of light.
1.17			21w18a				Slightly reduced light brightness.
			Pre-release 2				Smooth lighting now works properly underwater.
1.18			Experimental Snapshot 1				Hostile mobs spawn only in areas where the light level is equal to 0. This change affects only block-light and not sky-light.
1.19.3			Release Candidate 1				The "Maximum" and "Minimum" settings for smooth lighting have been merged, since there is no difference between them.
1.21.2			24w33a				The lightmap texture is now rendered by a Shader instead of being hardcoded.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.7.0							Added toggleable smooth lighting.
v0.8.0			build 2				Removed the ability to toggle smooth lighting.
[hide]Pocket Edition
1.1.0			alpha 1.1.0.0				Readded the Smooth Lighting toggle to Video options.

Issues

Issues relating to "Light" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• In Minecraft's source code, the luminescences are defined using the floating point values in the third column. These floating point numbers are fractions of 16, but are multiplied by 15 to get the integer light value. This means that both 0/16 and 1/16 (0.0 and 0.0625) correspond to the integer light value 0.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 

  Lighting, the wool block is exposed to sunlight ("Moody" brightness setting).

• 

  Lighting, the wool block is exposed to sunlight ("Bright" brightness setting).

• 

  Lighting in the void. Particles and entities are illuminated based on the light level at level 0.

• 

  Light being emitted from sea pickles, a sea lantern, and to a lesser extent, magma blocks.

• 

  Only the flowing water is lighted by a magma block.

• 

  A teaser from Notch showing the new lighting system for the Adventure Update.

• 

  Lighting during the day.

• 

  Lighting during the night.

• 

  Bugged light from a torch.

• 

  Bugged light creating stripes similar to the stripe lands.

• 

  Light underground.

• 

  Light underground.