Piston

Note that some of the Redstone information on this page wont be accurate for the new experimental Redstone update

Piston

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	0.5
Hardness	1.5
Luminous	No
Transparent	JE: No BE: Yes
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color (Java)	11 STONE

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A piston is a block capable of pushing most entities and blocks when given a redstone signal.

Some blocks cannot be moved, break when pushed or have other interactions with pistons. A piston can move up to twelve blocks at once.

Obtaining

Breaking

A piston can be broken using any tool with equal efficiency, and always drops itself. In Java Edition, it is faster to break them with a pickaxe. The pickaxe is also the preferred tool for breaking the head when extended.

Block	Piston
Hardness	1.5
Tool
Breaking time (sec)
Default	2.25
Wooden	1.15
Stone	0.6
Iron	0.4
Diamond	0.3
Netherite	0.25
Golden	0.2
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

Crafting

Ingredients	[hide]Crafting recipe
Any Planks + Cobblestone + Iron Ingot + Redstone Dust

Usage

Crafting ingredient

Ingredients	[hide]Crafting recipe
Slimeball + Piston

Redstone component

Pistons are always placed facing toward the player. When powered, the piston's wooden surface (the "head") tries to start extending after start delay. When it extends, it pushes at most 12 blocks. The piston makes a sound that can be heard within a 31×31×31 cube centered on the activating piston. Any entities in the path of the extending head are pushed with the blocks. If there is no place for the entities to go, the block pushes inside them, suffocating mobs if the block is not transparent when pushed into the eye height of the mob.

When a piston loses power, its head retracts. Like extending, this retraction starts after start delay. It finishes retracting 2 game ticks (1 redstone tick; 0.1 seconds) after it starts.

A piston that pushes a slime block bounces any entity that it displaces in the direction the piston is facing. In addition, when a slime block is moved by a piston, any movable blocks adjacent (not diagonally) to the slime block also moves. See the #Slime blocks and honey blocks section below for more details.

In Bedrock Edition, blocks that stick to walls (such as levers) can be placed on pistons without being destroyed when activated.

Start delay

A piston won't extend or retract immediately when it is activated: this is called start delay.

In Bedrock Edition, the start delay is fixed at 2 game ticks (1 redstone tick; 0.1 seconds), meaning that the piston starts to extend or retract 2gt after it's activated.

In Java Edition, the start delay can be 0 game ticks (0 redstone ticks; 0 seconds) (start at the same tick) or 1 game tick (0.5 redstone ticks; 0.05 seconds) (start at the next tick) depending on the game process when the piston is activated:

• If the piston is updated and activated in the scheduled tick stage, random tick stage or block event stage, the piston stage is executed in this game tick's block event stage. At this time, the start delay is 0gt, which means the piston starts at the same tick.
• If the piston is activated during the execution of entity or tile entity, or activated by player actions, the piston stage is executed in the next game tick's block event stage. At this time, the start delay is 1gt, which means the piston starts at the next tick.

Limitations

Pistons can push most blocks except those listed in the table below.

Pistons cannot push blocks into the void or beyond the top of the map. They also cannot push more than 12 blocks. If the requirements for a block to be pushed are not met, the piston simply does not extend.

Block	Effect (Java Edition)	Effect (Bedrock Edition)
Barrier Beacon Bedrock Calibrated Sculk Sensor Command Block Creaking Heart Crying Obsidian Enchanting Table End Gateway End Portal End Portal Frame Ender Chest Grindstone Jigsaw Block Jukebox Light Block Lodestone Monster Spawner Moving Piston Nether Portal Obsidian Piston (extended) Piston Head Reinforced Deepslate Respawn Anchor Sculk Catalyst Sculk Sensor Sculk Shrieker Structure Block Structure Void‌ Trial Spawner Vault	Cannot be pushed or pulled.
Allow Deny Border	N/A	Cannot be pushed or pulled.
Compound Creator Element Element Constructor Hardened Glass Hardened Glass Pane Heat Block Lab Table Material Reducer Underwater TNT		Can be pushed or pulled.
Underwater Torch Colored Torches		Breaks when pushed, turning to drops when applicable. Cannot be pulled.
Barrel Beehive Bee Nest Blast Furnace Brewing Stand Chest Chiseled Bookshelf Conduit Crafter Daylight Detector Dispenser Dropper Furnace Hopper Lectern Smoker Trapped Chest	Cannot be pushed or pulled, because these blocks hold block entities.	Can be pushed or pulled.
Large chest		Can be pushed or pulled, but separates into two chests.
Banners Hanging Signs Signs		Breaks when pushed or unsupported, turning into drops.
Campfire Soul Campfire		Breaks when pushed, turning to drops when applicable. Cannot be pulled.
Glazed Terracotta	Can be pushed, but not pulled.
Heavy Core	Can be pushed and pulled.	Can be pushed, but not pulled.
Dead Coral Dead Coral Fans	Can be pushed and pulled, but breaks if unsupported, turning to drops when applicable.	Breaks when pushed or unsupported, turning into drops.
Carpets (not moss)	Can be pushed and pulled, but breaks if unsupported, turning to drops when applicable.
Rail Powered Rail Activator Rail Detector Rail	Can be pushed and pulled, but breaks if unsupported, turning to drops when applicable.
Bell Candle Lantern Soul Lantern	Breaks when pushed, turning to drops when applicable. Cannot be pulled.	Can be pushed or pulled.
Amethyst Cluster Bamboo Beds Budding Amethyst Button Cactus Cake Carved Pumpkin Cave Vines Chorus Flower Chorus Plant Cobweb Cocoa Dead Bush Decorated Pot Doors Dragon Egg Fire Fern Flower Pot Flowers Frogspawn Heads Item Frame Jack o'Lantern Ladder Lava Leaves Lever Lily Pad Melon Melon Stem Moss Block Moss Carpet Mushrooms Nether Wart Painting Pale Hanging Moss Pale Moss Block Pale Moss Carpet Pink Petals Pointed Dripstone Pressure Plates Pumpkin Pumpkin Stem Redstone Comparator Redstone Dust Redstone Repeater Redstone Torch Saplings Scaffolding Sculk Vein Sea Pickle Short Grass Shulker Box Snow Soul Fire Structure Void‌ Sugar Cane Torch Torchflower Torchflower Crop Tripwire Tripwire Hook Turtle Egg Twisting Vines Vines Water Weeping Vines Weighted Pressure Plates Wheat	Breaks when pushed, turning to drops when applicable. Cannot be pulled.
Anvil	Cannot be pulled. Pushable only when in a falling state.	Can be pushed or pulled, but falls if unsupported. Cannot be pulled when in a falling state.
Concrete Powder Gravel Red Sand Sand	Can be pushed or pulled, but falls if unsupported. Cannot be pulled when in a falling state.
Suspicious Gravel Suspicious Sand	Breaks when pushed, unless if in a falling state. Cannot be pulled.

Pistons do not move blocks that are "attached to a block", as they detach and drop as an item.

Exceptions

• Rails: as long as they remain on top of a solid face of a block in their new position, and that block isn't moving at the same time.
  • An exception is when the rail and block supporting it are on two parallel extended pistons at which the rail remains attached. In Java Edition, the piston moving the block can be powered 1 block event after the piston moving the rail in order for the rail to successfully move without breaking. Trying to move the rail and its support block with perpendicular pistons causes the rail to break (although it visually appears to not break because of the bug MC-75716).
  • Rails re-orient themselves after being pushed, similar to when placed manually.

• Dead coral and dead coral fans: In Java Edition, they can be pushed and pulled similarly to how rails can; however in some situations the coral will both break and get moved by the piston, emitting block updates at its original position.
  • This mechanic is frequently used in tnt dupers.

Powering pistons

Pistons powered by one line of redstone.

Pistons can be powered in various ways:

• If a redstone wire is in a line shape toward the piston. In Java Edition, the wire does not automatically curve to the piston.
• Pistons can be powered by a powered block directly adjacent to them, whether it is strongly powered or weakly powered.
• Pistons can be powered by a redstone torch directly adjacent to them.
• In Java Edition, pistons can be powered by any powered block one block above and to the side, including the "activated space" above it (if a piston, both sticky and normal were to be facing up and a block of redstone placed on its head, it extends when powered, but doesn't retract when the power it receives from the side or back turns off). However, the piston doesn't extend or retract until it receives a block update. This property is called quasi-connectivity and can be used to make a BUD switch.
• A repeater cannot transfer power through a piston, as pistons are a transparent block.
• An upward-facing piston can't be powered by a block above it, unless it is extended In Java Edition.
• In Bedrock Edition a redstone torch attached to a piston turns off whenever the piston is powered. This mechanic is called soft inversion.
• Pistons can also be powered by observers. This can create a clock if the setup is correct.

Slime blocks and honey blocks

A				B

Piston A may extend because the slime block ignores the adjacent obsidian. Piston B may not extend because the diamond block is prevented from moving by the obsidian and so the slime block also refuses to move.

When a slime block is pushed or pulled by a piston, while moving, adjacent blocks also move with the slime block, unless a non-piston movable block stops the blocks that are "grabbed" by the slime blocks. These blocks may in turn push other blocks, not just the blocks in the line in front of the piston. For example, a slime block sitting on the ground attempts to move the ground block underneath itself, which in turn has to push additional ground blocks in the direction of motion just as if it were being pushed directly by a piston.

Glazed terracotta is an exception; it does not move when adjacent slime blocks are moved. The same occurs when a slime block is moved by an adjacent slime block. For example, a 2×2×2 cube of slime blocks may be pushed or pulled as a unit by a single piston acting on any of the blocks in the cube. A slime block adjacent to a block that cannot be moved by pistons ignores the immobile block. But if an adjacent block could be moved but is prevented by the presence of an immobile block, the slime block is prevented from moving.

Slime blocks are not pulled by a non-sticky piston, nor are they moved if an adjacent (non-slime) block is moved by a piston. The maximum of 12 blocks moved by a piston still applies. For example, a 2×2×3 collection of slime blocks may be pushed by a piston as long as no other movable blocks are adjacent to it. A piston cannot move itself via a "hook" constructed of slime blocks, but self-propelled contraptions can be created with multiple pistons. For that, see the article Tutorials/Flying machines. The same happens for the honey block, but it does not stick to slime blocks.

Technical components

Pistons have 2 technical blocks that cannot be obtained. These include the piston head and moving piston blocks.

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

[hide] v t e stone sound type
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.stone.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.stone.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.stone.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.25	0.5	16
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.stone.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.stone.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition (piston):

[hide] v t e stone sound type
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.stone	0.37	0.5
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.stone	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	step.stone	0.3	1.0
	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.stone	0.12	1.0
	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.stone	0.22	1.0

Bedrock Edition (arm):

[hide] v t e normal sound type
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.stone	0.27	0.5
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.stone	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	step.stone	0.3	1.0
	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.stone	0.12	1.0
	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.stone	0.22	1.0

Unique

Java Edition:

[hide] v t e Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Piston moves	Blocks	When a piston extends	block.piston.extend	subtitles.block.piston.move​	0.5	0.6-0.85	8
	​Piston moves	Blocks	When a piston contracts	block.piston.contract	subtitles.block.piston.move​	0.5	0.6-0.8	8

Bedrock Edition:

[hide] v t e Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	When a piston extends	tile.piston.out	0.5	0.6-0.75
	Blocks	When a piston contracts	tile.piston.in	0.5	0.6-0.75

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	[hide]Translation key
Piston	piston	Block & Item	None	block.minecraft.piston

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Alias ID	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID	[hide]Translation key
Piston	piston	None	33	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	tile.piston.name

Name	[hide]Savegame ID
Piston block entity	PistonArm

Block states

The piston block uses following block states:

Java Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	[hide]Description
extended	false	false true	If true, the piston is extended.
facing	north	down east north south up west	The direction the piston head is pointing. The opposite from the direction the player faces while placing the piston.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	[hide]Description
facing_direction	0x1 0x2 0x4	0	0 1 2 3 4 5	0 1 2 3 4 5	The direction the piston is pointing. 0: facing down 1: facing up 2: facing south 3: facing north 4: facing east 5: facing west

Block data

In Bedrock Edition, a piston has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

Achievements

[hide]
Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Inception	Push a piston with a piston, then pull the original piston with that piston.	—	20	Silver

History

[hide]Java Edition Classic
May 21, 2009							Notch shows interest in adding blocks that can pull and push other blocks when a pulse from a wire is received; he called them "Pulley1", which would pull a block down, and "Pulley2", which would push a block up.
[hide]Java Edition Beta
?							The original piston was a mod posted on the Minecraft Forums by Hippoplatimus. The code for that version was given to Jeb, who then worked on implementing pistons into vanilla Minecraft; Hippoplatimus is in the game's credits under "Additional Programming", like other modders whose work made it into vanilla Minecraft.
							Another user, DiEvAl, privately submitted code as well, including the idea of block entities to track moving blocks.
June 7, 2011							Jeb tweets an image of pistons in development.
							The piston texture as screen-captured while in development had iron bands running over the head. The bands were removed for the release, leaving only iron brackets around the corners and edges.
1.7							Added pistons, alongside associated head and moving blocks.
[hide]Java Edition
?							The wireframe hitbox of the moving piston block is now halfway aligned.
1.2.4			release				Spruce planks, birch planks, and jungle planks can now be used to craft pistons.
1.3.1			12w27a				Pistons have been changed to make them less error-prone, thus they also appear to update slower. This also alters the way pistons work, so the player might have to adapt their repeater delays and similar.
1.7.2			1.7.1				Acacia planks and dark oak planks can now be used to craft pistons.
1.8			14w17a				The models for piston and related blocks when facing up and down have been changed.
			14w18a				Slime blocks now push and pull blocks adjacent when connected to sticky pistons.
							Extending a piston with a slime block on top of it launches the entity (mobs, players, items, launched arrows, etc) into the air.
			14w19a				Slime blocks can now push entities sideways and downward when attached to a piston.
			14w29a				There are now "short" piston heads. Their use is unknown.
			14w32a				The moving piston block no longer has a hitbox.
1.9			15w38b				Retracting pistons can now pull entities through them. This was known as "piston translocation" by the community.
			15w49a				Unextended pistons, downward-facing pistons, and upward-facing piston heads are now considered to have a solid top surface, like upside-down stairs and top slabs.
1.11			16w40a				Retracting pistons can no longer pull entities through them. "Piston translocation" has been removed.
1.12			17w16a				When pistons move slime blocks, they do not move glazed terracotta attached to the side of the slime block.
			pre3				Slime blocks can no longer pull glazed terracotta attached to any side of a piston, whatsoever.
1.13			17w47a				Pistons now can push note blocks.
1.14			18w43a				The textures associated with pistons have been changed.
							While the texture for oak planks was later updated in subsequent snapshots, the piston texture is yet to be changed to reflect this.
			18w44a				Pistons are no longer transparent.
			18w46a				Extended pistons now allow light to pass through certain faces.
1.15			19w41a				Added honey blocks, which have multiple different types of interactions with pistons.
1.16			20w06a				The hardness of pistons has been increased from 0.5 to 1.5.
							Pickaxes are now the tool for breaking pistons.
							Pistons no longer pop off redstone components placed on the back when retracting.
							Crimson planks and warped planks can now be used to craft pistons.
1.17			20w45a				Particles now appear if a block is broken by a piston.
1.19			22w11a				Mangrove planks can now be used to craft pistons.
			22w17a				Changed piston textures, to match the color of the oak planks on the piston head.
1.19.3 Experiment Update 1.20			22w42a				Bamboo planks can now be used to craft pistons.
1.19.4 Experiment Update 1.20			23w07a				Cherry planks can now be used to craft pistons.
1.21			24w20a				Piston sounds have been updated to be quieter and less harsh.
			24w21a				Piston sounds have been reverted to what they previously were, but the attenuation distance and sound level has been halved.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.15.0			build 1				Added pistons.
							Pistons have a version exclusive animation and the ability to push block entities.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of pistons has been changed.
1.20.30			Preview 1.20.20.21				Increased the hardness and blast resistance of pistons from 0.5 to 1.5.
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU3	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added pistons.
TU14		1.04					Pistons have been changed to make them less error-prone, thus they also appear to update slower. This also alters the way pistons work, so the player might have to adapt their repeater delays and similar.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Retracting pistons can now pull entities through them. This was known as "piston translocation" by the community.
TU54	CU44	1.52	1.52	1.52	Patch 24	1.0.4	Retracting pistons can no longer pull entities through them. "Piston translocation" has been removed.
TU57	CU49	1.57	1.56	1.56	Patch 27	1.0.7	Pistons can now move daylight detectors.
TU60	CU51	1.64	1.64	1.64	Patch 30	1.0.11	Pistons can no longer move cauldrons.
TU62	CU52	1.66	1.66	1.66	Patch 31	1.0.12	Pistons can now move small chests but only if the new position would have been valid for players to place a new chest. This limitation can however be bypassed by moving the chests simultaniously.
							Pistons can move cauldrons again.
			1.90				The texture of pistons has been changed.
[hide]New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added pistons.

• 

  First screenshot of pistons.

Data history

[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.7							Six-sided pistons exist as extreme metadata variants of pistons.
[hide]Java Edition
1.8			14w26a				Pistons now use block states instead of metadata. As such, weird pistons have been removed.
			14w29a				Added the "short=true/false" block state to piston_head.
1.11.1			16w50a				Added a new byte tag source for the piston_extension block entity, which is true if the block represents the piston head itself, and false if it represents a block being pushed. Pistons moving entities to the other side has been fixed.
1.13			17w47a				The moving block ID of pistons has been changed from piston_extension to moving_piston.
							Prior to The Flattening, these blocks' numeral IDs were 29, 33, 34 and 36.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.15.0			build 1				Weird pistons also existed, but they didn't look six-sided.
v0.16.0			build 5				The movingblock block for pistons can no longer be placed using commands.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.13.0			beta 1.13.0.1				Weird pistons have been removed.
1.18.30			beta 1.18.30.26				The ID of pistonarmcollision is changed to piston_arm_collision
							The ID of movingblock is changed to moving_block
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
?							Weird pistons definitely existed at one point.

Issues

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

Trivia

• Mojang stated that the 12-block push limit for pistons would not be changed, because "the current limitations are by design".
• When toggled between on and off rapidly with a gravity affected block (such as sand) above it, a piston can eventually break the block, which can be picked up as a resource. However, gravel broken this way never drops flint.
• Carpet can be placed on the piston extension block, and remains even if it is replaced with a solid block using /setblock.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 

  Fundamental logic gates, implemented purely with pistons and redstone repeaters, clockwise from upper left: AND, OR, XOR, and NOT.

• 

  Slow clock generator with pistons and redstone.

• 

  An example of a piston-controlled waterflow.

• 

  Light shining through an extended piston.

• 

  Redstone connecting to pistons in Bedrock Edition.

• 

  A piston being crafted with a fish.

• 

  "Makena tinkering with a Redstone contraption made up of Pistons pushing a Lime Wool block."

Concept artwork

• 

  Notch's explanation on how the rod (a full block long when extended) fits into the piston box (whose depth is a block minus the face's thickness).

In other media

• 

  Artwork of a piston connected to a lever.

See also

• Slime block
• Redstone
• Tutorials/Piston uses
• Tutorials/Headless pistons
• Mechanics/Redstone/Piston circuits

External links

• Block of the Week: Piston – Minecraft.net on October 13, 2017