Block

**Blocks** are the basic units of structure in *Minecraft* that can be directly placed in the game world.

## Behavior

A variety of different blocks occurring in an underwater coral reef; sand can be seen lining the ground, cut sandstone in underwater ruin structures, and various forms of coral.

Blocks are arranged in a three-dimensional grid of 1-cubic-meter cells. Each cell usually contains exactly one block; exceptions exist in the form of slabs, vines, snow layers, turtle eggs and sea pickles.

Together, blocks and fluids build up the in-game environment, and most can be harvested and utilized in various fashions. Some blocks, such as dirt and sandstone, are opaque and occupy their entire cubic meter, while other blocks, such as glass and flowers, are transparent or non-solid. Explosions destroy some blocks more easily than they destroy others.

Air is a special blocks. It is an unbreakable transparent block, as a substitute for the absence of blocks. in *Java Edition*, it has two variants: cave air and void air.

Some blocks, such as torches and glowstone, emit light. The amount of light they emit varies widely; see this table of light values for further information. Opaque blocks completely block light, while transparent blocks can have no effect on light, block the light, or merely weaken it.
Almost all blocks ignore gravity, with the exception of sand, red sand,gravel,anvils,dragon eggs,concrete powder,scaffolding and snow{*Bedrock Edition only}*

Almost all blocks ignore gravity, with the exception of sand, red sand, gravel, anvils, dragon eggs, concrete powder, scaffolding, and snow.‌[*Bedrock Edition only*]

When broken, blocks emit sounds and particles associated with themselves, except in the following cases:

* When the block is removed by a piston.
* If the block is affected by gravity and falls into an invalid space.‌['**Java Edition *only*]**
* Anvils that are destroyed by running out of durability or falling. Only particles are missing.
* If the block can be washed away and is washed away by a flowing fluid.
* If the block can be replaced by other blocks and is replaced.
* If the block is supported by another block and its supporting block is removed.
* If the block is leaves and decays

## Block height

Main article: Solid block § Height

Most solid blocks are 1 meter high (3.28084 ft), but certain blocks (especially slabs and stairs) have non-standard block heights.

A player can automatically step up from a lower to a higher height if the difference is at most 0.6 (3⁄5) of a block or 1.9685 feet.

## Textures

The textures on the faces of blocks are 16×16 pixels. Most blocks are proportionately one cubic meter by default, but their shape can be changed using models.

Most blocks have static textures, but these blocks are animated: water, lava, Nether portal, End portal, End gateway, prismarine (slab; stairs; wall), sea lantern, magma block, seagrass, kelp, fire, lantern, lit campfire and their soul variants, lit blast furnace, heat block‌[*BE &* EE *only*], stems, hyphae, lit smoker, stonecutter and command block.

Using resource packs, the player can change the textures and resolution of blocks, including whether their texture is animated. They can also change the shapes of blocks using models and the size of blocks to any size with equal width and height, though sizes that are a power of two tend to work better.

List of blocks

### Bedrock Edition

These blocks can be accessed only in Bedrock Edition. In this edition, item frames work as block entities, old stonecutters are obtainable only by inventory editing, and glowing obsidian, invisible bedrock, and nether reactor cores are not obtainable at all but continue to exist in old worlds.

* 248
* 249
* Glowing Obsidian
* Invisible Bedrock
* Item Frame (as a block)
* Nether Reactor Core
* reserved6
* Stonecutter (legacy)

### Education Edition only

These blocks can be accessed only in *Education Edition* and in Bedrock Edition when education options are enabled. (Elements are not listed here.)

* Allow
* Blue Torch
* *Blue Wall Torch*
* Board
* Border
* Compound Creator
* Deny
* Element Constructor
* Green Torch
* *Green Wall Torch*
* Heat Block
* Lab Table
* Material Reducer
* Poster
* Purple Torch
* *Purple Wall Torch*
* Red Torch
* *Red Wall Torch*
* Slate
* Underwater TNT
* Underwater Torch
* *Underwater Wall Torch*

### Removed blocks

Removed blocks no longer exist in current versions of the game.

* Cyan Flower
* Locked chest
* Potted Rose
* Rose

## Technical blocks

Technical blocks up to Java Edition 1.6.1. Blocks in this image are no longer available in the current *Minecraft* version, except farmland and spawner.

**Technical blocks** are blocks whose main functions are strictly tied to the usage of other blocks. They cannot be acquired through normal gameplay. Most of them cannot be obtained with commands and even external editors,‌['**Java Edition *only*]** **but others require commands or mods to obtain. They serve various purposes during events within the game. If acquired, they usually have a missing texture.**

Many of these blocks have different representations in the inventory; flint and steel is used to place fire, water and lava can be placed with their respective buckets, and blocks such as beds, doors, cake and flower pots have separate inventory items.

## History

Java Edition pre-Classic rd-132211Added blocks that can be placed and destroyed. Added air, but internally isn't a block. rd-160052There is now support for different block types. New particles are now shown when destroying a block.New support for dynamic blocks.Added pick blocks functionality. Java Edition Classic ?Added multiple sounds for blocks. August 4, 2009Breaking blocks allows picking them up and place them, thus adding and removing them from the inventory. August 14, 2009The requirement to have to hold down the mouse button to break blocks, creating a block-breaking animation, was first shown. 0.27 SURVIVAL TESTThe player now begins with 10 TNT blocks and can now obtain dirt, cobblestone from stone, wooden planks from wood, gold blocks from gold ore, iron blocks from iron ore, stone slabs from coal ore, and white wool from sheep. 0.28Right click now adds blocks and left click now removes them. The player can now build with naturally occurring blocks.The player can now use bookshelves, sponges, colored wools, bricks, obsidians and mossy cobblestones.Operators of servers can now also build bedrock. Some custom servers can now give the ability to place grass blocks and fluid blocks, too.All new block types have been added. Java Edition Indev 0.31 (December 23, 2009, 2)Blocks can now be dropped on the ground. Blocks that are thrown on the ground can now also be picked up. 0.31 (January 22, 2010)Blocks can now be placed on resource items. As a result, resource items are now pushed off. 0.31 (January 25, 2010, 1)Added new block particles. Java Edition Infdev 20100227It is now possible to place blocks inside the player. 20100413It is now impossible to place blocks inside the player. 20100617-2Solid blocks now cause suffocation. Java Edition 1.7.213w37aThe ability to obtain the item form of 26 technical blocks has been removed. These were the bed (26), piston head and extension (34 & 36), redstone wire (55), wheat crops (59), standing and wall sign (63 & 68), wooden and iron door (64 & 71), lit redstone ore (74), unlit redstone torch (75), sugar cane (83), cake (92), unpowered and powered repeater (93 & 94), pumpkin and melon stem (104 & 105), nether wart (115), brewing stand (117), cauldron (118), lit redstone lamp (124), tripwire (132), flower pot (140), skull (144), and unpowered and powered comparator (149 & 150). 13w38bAir is now internally a block and can be kept in the inventory. It has a missing texture, . 13w38cAir can no longer be kept in the inventory anymore. 1.814w25aThe ability to obtain the item form of 12 technical blocks has been removed. These blocks were flowing and stationary water and lava blocks (8, 9, 10 & 11), double stone and wooden slabs (43 & 125), fire blocks (51), nether and end portal blocks (90 & 119), cocoa pods (127), and potato and carrot crops (141 & 142). Blocks now show the closest item form to themselves as the icon in the superflat settings menu. 14w26bAll technical blocks, except for the monster spawner (52) and farmland (60), now have a missing texture in the inventory, , due to their item models being nonexistent. 1.915w49aThe ability to obtain the item form of lit furnaces (62) has been removed. Pocket Edition Alpha Pre-releaseAdded exclusive cyan flowers and invisible bedrock. Blocks were also 2D in the inventory 0.2.0Breaking blocks now allows the player to pick them up and place them, thus adding and removing them from the inventory. Blocks are now 3D in the inventory 0.2.1Added block breaking animation. 0.5.0Added exclusive nether reactor core and glowing obsidian. 0.6.0Added exclusive stonecutter. 0.9.0?Removed cyan flower. 0.12.1build 1Nether Reactor Core is no longer obtainable in survival or creative. 0.13.0build 1Removed crafting recipe and functionality of the stonecutter. It can still be found in the creative inventory.

## Issues

Issues relating to "Block" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues to me Username: WolfxHunter

## Trivia

* Certain blocks may interpret positions they cannot be placed in by normal means as a valid position. For example, a sign placed in midair via `/setblock` or through bugs remains in midair even when updated, until either it is broken, or a block is placed below it and broken.