Altitude

Info

Chart lining up Y-coordinate values (left) to block layers (right).

Altitude is a measurement of vertical distance, or distance along the Y-axis.

Trivia

• The highest possible altitude the player can legitimately climb to is Y=256, although explosions and elytra launchers can blast the player far beyond this limit.
• In The Nether, mushrooms can generate at Y=128, above the bedrock.

Videos

Definition

Altitude is defined as "the height of anything above a given planetary reference plane, especially above sea level on earth."

In Minecraft Minecraft Author(s) Mojang AB (Credits) Markus "Notch" Persson (Creator) Jens "Jeb" Bergensten (Lead Developer) Jon "jonkagstrom" Kågström (AI Programmer) Nathan "Dinnerbone" Adams Erik "Grum" Broes Michael "Searge" Stoyke Thomas "ProfMobius" Guimbretière Agnes "LadyAgnes" Larsson Maria , altitude is commonly expressed as the number of block layers above the bottom The void is pure black. The void is the name given to the empty space below layer 0. Contents 1 Effects 1.1 Pocket Edition 1.2 Console Edition 2 Video 3 History 4 Issues 5 Trivia of the game environment, which is layer zero (0). For instance, sea level is recognized as block layer 62, and clouds Clouds as they appear with Fancy graphics Clouds are graphical effects in the sky. They serve a solely aesthetic purpose. Contents 1 Appearance 2 Behavior 3 Video 4 History 5 Issues 6 Gallery 7 References appear at layer 127.

Altitude may also be expressed as the bottom face of the block layer, the bottom most of which is at Y-coordinate 0, or Y=0. Sea level would appear at Y=63, and cloud level would appear at Y=128. The player The Player Health points 20 () Armor points Varies Attack strength Fist: 1 () Items: Varies Size Height: 1.8 Blocks Width: 0.6 Blocks While sneaking: Height: 1.65 Blocks Width: 0.6 Blocks While gliding: Height: 0.6 can press F3 to see the Y-coordinate of the top face of the block on which they are standing, and the Y-coordinate of their eyes, which are located about 1.6 blocks above their feet. For instance, a player standing at sea level will see the Y-coordinate of their eyes as approximately 64.6.

Limits

The maximum height.

The top of the game environment is layer 255, and the top face of the highest block that can be placed is at Y=256.

The maximum height a player can possibly reach is Y=2,147,483,647, which is the largest value of a signed integer on a 32-bit system. Beyond this limit, the game may become unresponsive or even crash. The highest achievable height in Console Edition Console Edition Author(s) Mojang AB 4J Studios Platform(s) Written in C++ Latest version Xbox 360 - TU53 Xbox One - CU43 PS3 - 1.51 PS4 - 1.50 PSVita - 1.51 Wii U - Patch 23 is y=511 due to an invisible wall.

In contrast, any player who falls below the altitude of Y=-64 will receive 4 () damage every half second and eventually die, even in Creative mode Pixel art and other creations made in Creative mode. "Sandbox" redirects here. For a place to test edits to this wiki, see Minecraft Wiki:Sandbox. Creative mode is one of the main game modes in Minecraft. . Be that as it may, if a player is made invincible, they will continue to fall well beyond this limit, except in Pocket Edition where the player can spend lots of time below Y=0 without taking damage.

Natural resources and altitude

This section needs updating. Description: The graphs in this section need to be updated to the current version This is not an official version history or changelog. For the official list, please visit the Minecraft website. For versions 1.11 and prior, please check the Mojang website. For versions prior to Beta 1.8, please .

Features in the landscape of the Overworld are found at different altitudes, as shown in the graph below. There is also an interactive chart.

Note that these charts utilize the logarithmic scale, which means a slight difference in the Y-coordinate represents a large change in the relative frequency of a block type.

Some observations:

• Looking at water, the amount at layer 62 (sea level) is obvious. Moving down, the amount quickly decreases at layers 56 and 48, the usual depth of river and ocean biomes, respectively.
  • There are corresponding peaks in the amount of clay beneath them.
• Between layers 33 and 12, most water is falling down sub-ocean ravines, spreading out on the lava-filled bottom at layer 10 and producing most of the naturally-occurring obsidian.
• Ores and gravel (not shown) usually occur as a fixed percentage of the amount of stone (also not shown), tapering off at the ends of their allowed generation range.
  • This is why coal and iron follow parallel tracks between layers 5 and 60.
  • The one exception is lapis lazuli ore, which has a linear progression up to a peak at layers 13-14.

See the following table for a textual description of resources by altitude and tools needed to gather them.

Landscape feature	Complete layer range	Most common layers	Tool needed to obtain
Coal ore	0-114	5-66	Wooden pickaxe or better
Gravel	1-115	5-56	Not required but faster with any shovel
Dirt Dirt Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 2.5 Tool Renewable No Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data value dec: 03 hex: 3 bin: 11 Name dirt See Dirt. For the similar block, see Grass block Mycelium	0-126	5-80	Not required but faster with any shovel
Sand	2-112	43-63	Not required but faster with any shovel
Water	1-111	48-62	Bucket
Iron ore	0-63	2-58	Stone pickaxe or better
Gold ore	0-31	4-29	Iron pickaxe or better
Lapis lazuli ore	0-30	11-17	Stone pickaxe or better
Lava	0-85	4-10	Bucket
Emerald ore	4-32	4-29	Iron pickaxe or better
Diamond ore	0-15	4-13	Iron pickaxe or better
Redstone ore	0-15	4-13	Iron pickaxe or better
Bedrock	0-4	0-2	Only breakable in Creative mode Pixel art and other creations made in Creative mode. "Sandbox" redirects here. For a place to test edits to this wiki, see Minecraft Wiki:Sandbox. Creative mode is one of the main game modes in Minecraft.

1. ↑ The range in which the block can be found in the map used for the graph.
2. ↑ Layers in which the resources tend to be most numerous.
3. ↑ Redstone has the same layer and line-size statistics as Diamond, but is generated 8 times per chunk as opposed to 1.

Other naturally occurring featuresSpecial attraction appear at different altitudes, but all of these features are random and will only appear in conjunction with another block and the proper environment.

Landscape feature	Requires
Grass	Dirt Dirt Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 2.5 Tool Renewable No Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data value dec: 03 hex: 3 bin: 11 Name dirt See Dirt. For the similar block, see / grass Grass Block Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 3 Tool Renewable No Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Dirt (1) Data value dec: 02 hex: 2 bin: 10 Name grass See the dirt block with and light Light (or lighting) in Minecraft affects visibility, mob spawning, and plant growth. Contents 1 Brightness 1.1 Spread 2 Sources of light 2.1 Blocks 2.2 Other 3 Light-filtering blocks 4 Effects of light 4.1 Mobs 4.2
Sugar cane	Dirt Dirt Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 2.5 Tool Renewable No Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data value dec: 03 hex: 3 bin: 11 Name dirt See Dirt. For the similar block, see / grass Grass Block Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 3 Tool Renewable No Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Dirt (1) Data value dec: 02 hex: 2 bin: 10 Name grass See the dirt block with / sand Sand Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 2.5 Tool Renewable No Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Experience Smelted: 0.1 Drops Itself Data values Sand dec: 120 hex: C0 bin: 11000 Red Sand dec: 121 hex: C1 bin: 11001 Name sand This and water Water Transparency Partial (-2 to light) Luminance No Blast resistance 500 (Flowing) 500 (Still) Tool Renewable Yes Stackable N/A Flammable No Drops None Data values Flowing Water dec: 08 hex: 8 bin: 1000 Still Water dec: 09 hex: 9 bin: 1001
Wood	Dirt Dirt Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 2.5 Tool Renewable No Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data value dec: 03 hex: 3 bin: 11 Name dirt See Dirt. For the similar block, see and light Light (or lighting) in Minecraft affects visibility, mob spawning, and plant growth. Contents 1 Brightness 1.1 Spread 2 Sources of light 2.1 Blocks 2.2 Other 3 Light-filtering blocks 4 Effects of light 4.1 Mobs 4.2
Cactus	Sand
Flowers	Dirt Dirt Transparency No Luminance No Blast resistance 2.5 Tool Renewable No Stackable Yes (64) Flammable No Drops Itself Data value dec: 03 hex: 3 bin: 11 Name dirt See Dirt. For the similar block, see and light Light (or lighting) in Minecraft affects visibility, mob spawning, and plant growth. Contents 1 Brightness 1.1 Spread 2 Sources of light 2.1 Blocks 2.2 Other 3 Light-filtering blocks 4 Effects of light 4.1 Mobs 4.2
Mushrooms	Dry land and darkness
Clay	Sand
Obsidian	Lava source and water Water Transparency Partial (-2 to light) Luminance No Blast resistance 500 (Flowing) 500 (Still) Tool Renewable Yes Stackable N/A Flammable No Drops None Data values Flowing Water dec: 08 hex: 8 bin: 1000 Still Water dec: 09 hex: 9 bin: 1001
Cobblestone	Lava and water Water Transparency Partial (-2 to light) Luminance No Blast resistance 500 (Flowing) 500 (Still) Tool Renewable Yes Stackable N/A Flammable No Drops None Data values Flowing Water dec: 08 hex: 8 bin: 1000 Still Water dec: 09 hex: 9 bin: 1001 , dungeons and jungle temples
Moss stone	Dungeons, jungle temples, and mega taiga forests

The Nether

A similar graph, showing the distribution of blocks unique to the Nether:

Video

History

Issues

Issues relating to ⃢₀ₜAltitude⃢₀₝ are maintained on the issue tracker. Report issues there.