Snapshot

A list of snapshots per year.

A snapshot is the term used to describe development versions for Java Edition updates. Every major update, and many minor updates, have snapshots released roughly weekly for player feedback on in-development features and changes.

Purpose

Snapshots are unstable development versions for updates, which focus on adding features and new content to the game. Once an update is feature complete, the update cycle moves from the snapshot phase to the pre-release phase.

Availability

Snapshots are available in the Minecraft launcher under the default "Latest snapshot" profile.

Naming

Snapshots use a unique naming format, unrelated to the 1.x version numbering used elsewhere. Snapshots use the format "YYwWWn". YY is the two-digit year, "w" simply stands for "week", WW is the two-digit week number within the year, and n is a unique letter identifier – starting with "a", then "b", and so on – which increments when there is more than one release in a given week. For example, 18w10d was the fourth snapshot ("d") released in the 10th week of 2018. Currently the highest letter reached is "e", a tie between 12w30e, 13w47e and 15w35e. The naming convention is only broken by 13w12~ and April Fools' snapshots.

Release schedule

Modern "a" snapshots are typically released on Wednesdays, barring delays. The day had been Thursday until the release of 14w26a on June 25, 2014, in the middle of development for 1.8. Subsequent snapshots may occur on any day thereafter or even on the same day.

Trivia

Statistics

• The update that has the most snapshots is release 1.9, with a total of 56 snapshots.

Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Number of Snapshots	4	46	57	52	49	29	23	48	40	37	25	21	26	31	14

Promotional screenshots

Several members of Mojang staff have appeared in the promotional banners released on the blog post for each snapshot.

• Agnes Larsson (LadyAgnes) has appeared in 1.11 snapshot 16w43a.
• Erik Broes (Grum) appeared in promotional screenshots on the Mojang blog for a number of snapshots and pre-releases. He was often hiding, and occasionally simply his player head was present. These were:
  • 1.6.1 snapshots 13w19a, 13w21a, 13w22a, 13w23a, 13w24a, 13w25a, and 13w26a
  • 1.7.2 snapshots 13w36a, 13w37a, 13w38a, 13w39a, 13w41a, 13w42a and 13w43a, and 1.7.4 snapshot 13w47a
  • 1.8 snapshots 14w02a, 14w03a, 14w04a, 14w05a, 14w06a, 14w08a, and 14w10a
  • 1.9 snapshot 16w04a
  • 1.11 snapshots 16w40a, 16w41a, 16w43a, and 16w44a
  • 1.11.1 snapshot 16w50a.
  • 1.12 snapshot 17w06a.
  • 1.13 snapshot 17w50a.
• Jens Bergensten (Jeb) has appeared in:
  • Snapshot 12w23a for 1.3.1, snapshot 12w37a for 1.4.2, and snapshot 17w16a for 1.12.
• Maria Lemón (Excited) has appeared in:
  • 1.11 snapshots 16w40a and 16w42a.
  • 1.11.1 snapshot 16w50a.
  • 1.12 snapshots 17w13a and 17w15a.
• Nathan Adams (Dinnerbone) has appeared in snapshot 14w03a for 1.8

Similarly, several of the Minecraft characters have appeared.

• Alex has appeared in:
  • 1.8 pre-releases 1 through 3.
  • 1.9 snapshot 16w04a.
  • 1.19 release candidate 1 and 1.19.1 pre-release 5.
  • 1.20.2 pre-release 1, and 1.20.3 snapshot 23w45a.
• Ari has appeared in:
  • 1.20.2 snapshots 23w31a and 23w35a, 1.20.3 snapshot 23w42a, and 1.20.5 snapshot 23w51a and release candidate 2.
  • 1.21 snapshots 24w19a and 24w20a, 1.20.2 snapshot 24w38a
• Efe has appeared in:
  • 1.20.3 snapshot 23w44a and pre-release 3, 1.20.5 snapshot 24w05a, pre-release 2, and release candidate 3.
• Kai has appeared in:
  • 1.20 pre-releases 2 through 4, 1.20.2 pre-release 1, 1.20.3 snapshot 23w45a, and pre-releases 1 through 2 and 4.
  • 1.21.2 snapshot 24w33a, pre-release 2, and release candidate 2.
• Makena has appeared in:
  • 1.20.2 snapshot 23w31a, and 1.20.3 snapshot 23w46a.
  • 1.21.1 release candidate 1
• Noor has appeared in:
  • 1.19.4 snapshot 23w06a and pre-release 1.
  • 1.20 pre-releases 2 through 4, 1.20.2 snapshots 23w31a, 23w33a, 1.20.2 pre-release 4, 1.20.5 snapshots 24w03a, 24w04a, 24w05b, 24w06a, and pre-release 1.
  • 1.21 snapshot 24w18a and pre-releases 1 through 4, 1.21.2 snapshot 24w34a, and release candidate 1.
• Steve has appeared in:
  • 1.15 snapshot 19w46a.
  • 1.19 pre-release 1, 1.19.1 release candidate 1, and 1.19.4 snapshot 23w05a.
  • 1.20 pre-releases 1 through 4, 1.20.2 snapshot 23w31a, 1.20.3 snapshot 23w46a, 1.20.5 snapshot 24w05a.
  • 1.21.2 snapshots 24w34a through 24w37a.
• Sunny has appeared in:
  • 1.20.2 snapshots 23w32a and 23w33a, 1.20.3 snapshot 23w40a and release candidate 1, 1.20.5 pre-release 3 and release candidate 1.
  • 1.21 snapshot 24w21a, pre-release 1, and release candidate 1.
• Zuri has appeared in:
  • 1.20.5 pre-release 5.
  • 1.20.2 pre-release 1 and 1.20.4 snapshot 24w45a.

Other

• The week number used in snapshots is not the same as the ISO week number defined in the ISO 8601 standard.

History

[hide]Java Edition
1.1			11w47a				The first "snapshot" is released.
"1.10"			15w14a				The first April Fools' snapshot is released.