This article is about the former mechanism used to customize the appearance of game elements. For asset customization in current versions of Minecraft, see Resource pack. For other uses, see Texture pack (disambiguation).

This page describes content that has been removed and was only present in earlier versions of Minecraft.

 

This feature was present in earlier versions of Minecraft, but has since been replaced by resource packs.

Texture packs were a way to change the in-game textures of blocks, items, mobs, and the GUI.

In Java Edition 1.6.1, texture packs were replaced with resource packs, which provide more control over textures and other game features, such as music and text.

Each custom texture pack is either a ZIP archive with a case-insensitive .zip suffix or a directory.

Texture packs are placed in the  texturepacks directory within  .minecraft. They can be chosen from the options, but only one pack can be selected at any given time.

By default, the game uses the texture pack called Default. It has the description The default look of Minecraft and a default  pack.png. It is always present and uses textures from the  client.jar. If a custom texture pack does not have a certain texture, the texture from the default texture pack is used instead.

The Default pack has block and item textures 16×16 pixels in size. 32×32, 64×64, 128×128, 256×256, 512×512, and 1024×1024 textures were referred to as "HD". Textures of different resolutions can be mixed and matched within one texture pack.

Texture packs in the older format from before 1.5 that are directories (not ZIP files) are displayed in red and marked as incompatible.

Downloading a specific texture pack can be requested by servers when joining.

 pack.txt is a UTF-8 text file with LF or CRLF line endings, which can have up to two lines used as the description of the pack on the texture pack list. The text can be formatted using formatting codes. Any extraneous lines are cut off. This file is required for a texture pack directory, but not a texture pack ZIP file, to be detected.

Texture packs using the format from before 1.5 can be converted to the 1.5 format using the Unstitcher tool.

Texture packs can be converted to resource packs using the Texture Ender tool. Converting texture packs from before 1.5 is a two-step process, requiring them to be converted to the 1.5 format first by using Unstitcher.

It has been suggested that this section be split into its own page at Tutorial:Installing a texture pack.

 ^[discuss]

If this split affects many pages, or may potentially be controversial, do not split until a consensus has been reached.
Reason: This would be better fit as a tutorial.

This section needs cleanup to comply with the style guide.

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Please help improve this section. The talk page may contain suggestions.

1. Download a texture pack. Most texture packs are in ZIP file format, but as long as it has the necessary files (pack.txt), Minecraft recognizes a directory as a texture pack. In-depth instructions on obtaining the files to make custom texture packs are located at Tutorial:Custom texture packs. However this is not necessary, as of snapshot 12w23a, for as long as pack.txt exists, it is recognized as a texture pack.
2. Run Minecraft. If Minecraft is already running, make sure to leave the world.
3. Click Texture Packs in Options.
4. Click Open Texture Pack Folder; this opens the directory where Minecraft stores all texture packs. If nothing happens, the directory must be found manually. Depending on the operating system it is located at:

• Windows XP and above: %appdata%\.minecraft\texturepacks.
• Linux: ~/.minecraft/texturepacks (this directory may be hidden in the home directory).
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/texturepacks (this directory may be hidden).

1. Minecraft does not have to be closed when placing the texture pack in the opened directory.
2. In a few seconds the texture pack appears in Minecraft. Select it and click "Done". The texture pack is now applied. If Minecraft did not update, simply exit and reopen the texture packs screen.

• Texture packs may redesign only some textures. So if the main menu looks the same after a pack is selected, it doesn't mean the pack is not working.
• Many texture packs may be installed and overlap each other. The texture pack list can be scrolled by dragging the scrollbars up or down.
• Minecraft may lock the currently used texture pack (for example, if the pack contains custom textures for user interface), so the file can't be overwritten. If the pack needs to be updated, it may be necessary to temporarily switch to the default pack and then overwrite the file.
• To get an unzipped directory to show as a texture pack in Minecraft, that directory needs a  pack.txt file in it. This, however, did not work prior to 12w23a.
• Keep in mind that, if a texture pack is downloaded in ZIP form, it may contain another directory inside of it that has the texture pack's title, this is the actual texture pack. In this case, this directory must be copied to the  texturepacks directory.
• If an older version of Minecraft (1.2.5 for example) is being used and a texture pack for a newer version is installed, the texture pack still runs properly, and ignores the unused items or blocks.
• If an older texture pack is used in a more recent version of Minecraft, then the newer blocks and items show a "missing texture" because the texture pack isn't made for newer versions.
• An editor is a great way to make a texture pack.

Current versions of Minecraft support higher resolutions of texture packs. Traditionally, textures in-game work on a 16×16 block. Bigger texture packs can go all the way up to 512×512 (32×, 64×, 128×, 256×) but require better hardware to play smoothly.

Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.2							Added official support for 16×16 and smaller resolution texture packs. Prior to this, users would have to manually replace the  terrain.png texture atlas in  client.jar files, or use a mod.
Java Edition Beta
1.8			?				Fixed a crash related to HD textures, however they still do not work correctly on a vanilla client.
Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4				Players can now reload the texture pack by pressing F3 + T.
1.3.1			12w23a				Texture packs directories are now recognized.
			12w24a				The Open texture pack folder button now works on macOS.
1.5			13w02a				The  terrain.png and  gui/items.png were replaced by individual block and item textures, allowing for HD textures and animations.
							These are respectively replaced by stitched_terrain.png and stitched_items.png.
							Texture pack directories (but not ZIP files) using the old format are marked as incompatible and displayed with a red name.
1.6.1			13w24a				Texture packs are no longer supported and are replaced with resource packs.

• The selected texture pack is saved to the options.txt file in the .minecraft folder, so the "skin:" value can be manually changed to the name of the ZIP file. This can be useful if the texture pack crashes the main menu, making impossible to change the pack using the texture selection screen. Erasing the pack name will reset it to default.
• Resource packs that only add textures are called "texture packs" in the Minecraft Marketplace.‌^{[BE only]}
• The block texture visible when the player's head is inside of a block is from the default texture pack, regardless of whether a custom texture pack is enabled or not.

• 
  First image of a texture pack prompt when joining a server.
• 
  The pack.png used for the Default texture pack.

• Tutorial:Custom texture packs

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