How to Create a Custom Texture Pack in Minecraft

This wikiHow teaches you how to edit Minecraft textures and use them in-game on both Windows and Mac computers. To do this, you'll need a copy of Minecraft Java or Bedrock Edition, an archive program such as WinRAR or 7-Zip, and a graphics editing program that can do transparent graphics. You can use Adobe Photoshop, or GIMP, which is a free alternative to Photoshop.

Create a Minecraft Texture Pack

You can extract the base texture files from the game or download them online. Use an image editing program to modify the texture images in the “textures” folder and save over them. You’ll need to modify a short code file and add your texture pack data. Then you can import it into your game.

Section 1 of 5:

Extracting the Files You Need (Java Edition)

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1
Open the Minecraft directory folder. There are three ways you can navigate to the Minecraft directory folder.^{[1]
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Research source} They are as follows:
- Windows: Type "%AppData%" in the search bar next to the Start menu and press "Enter". Then open the ".minecraft" folder.
- Mac: Open the Finder. Click Go in the menu bar at the top. Hold Option and click Library. Click the "Application Support" folder. Click the "minecraft" folder.
- Within Minecraft: Launch Minecraft. Click Options on the title screen. Click Resource Packs. Click Open Pack Folder. Navigate back one folder.
- Alternatively, you can download default texture packs for all versions of Minecraft: Java Edition (as well as the most recent Bedrock Edition) from this website. Extract the contents of the ZIP file. You’ll find an “assets” folder inside, which contains all the files you would need to create a resource pack for the game.^{[2]
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You'll find this in the middle of the ".minecraft" folder. This contains a separate folder for all the versions of Minecraft you have installed.

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You can modify the most recent version or a previous version of Minecraft.^{[3]
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4
Copy the JAR file. The Jar file has an icon with a coffee cup on it. The filename is the latest Minecraft version number. Right-click the Jar file and click Copy.
- If your mouse or trackpad doesn't have right and left buttons, use two fingers to tap on the trackpad (or press the trackpad's button), or press the right side of the button, to simulate a right-click.
On Windows, simply click ".minecraft" in the address bar at the top of File Explorer to go back one folder.^{[4]
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6
Create a new folder for your texture pack. Use the following steps to create a new folder for your texture pack:
- Right-click a blank area in the Minecraft directory folder.
- Click New (Windows only).
- Click New folder.
- Type in a name.
- Press Enter.
Double-click the folder that you just created to open it. Then right-click and click Paste.
8
Extract the JAR file using WinRAR or 7-zip. The Jar file works a lot like a zip file.
- Right-click the JAR file.
- Click 7-zip (if you are using 7-zip).
- Click *Extract to [JAR name]* (do not click "Extract Here".)^{[5]
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Section 2 of 5:

Modifying Textures

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1
Navigate to the "Textures" folder. It's in the new folder you created when you extracted the JAR file. Use the following steps to navigate to the "Textures" folder inside the new folder you just created when you extracted the Jar file:
- Open the folder with the version number on it.
- Open the "assets" folder.
- Open the "minecraft" folder.
- Open the "textures" folder.
2
Find a texture category that you want to edit and open its folder. Each folder has a different texture category. You can find some textures in the following folders:
- The various blocks are listed in the "Blocks" folder.
- Mobs, animals, villagers, and illagers are listed under the "Entity" folder.
- Items can be found in the "Item" folder.
- Clouds, rain, snow, and the sun can be found in the "Environment" folder.
- Various effects, such as smoke, explosions, dripping, etc can be found in the "Particle" folder.
3
Open a texture in an image editing program. Find a texture that you want to edit, right-click it, select Open with. Then select an image editing program such as Paint, Photoshop or GIMP.
- The image will be very tiny. You'll need to zoom in on it to be able to edit it.
4
Edit your texture. Use Paint (or another image editor) to make any color changes to your texture. This step is up to you in terms of how you want to redesign the textures.
- If you want to make a more detailed texture, you can increase the size of the image. You just need to make sure it is square-shaped. For example, all Minecraft block textures are 16 x 16 pixels. You can increase the resolution to 64 x 64 pixels, and this will give you four times more detail to work with.
5
Save over the image file. When you are finished making your changes to the image file, just save over it. Make sure you save it as a PNG file, using the same file name and location.
- Make sure you do not change the filename for any of the files you edit or they will not work. You just need to save over them using the exact file name they already have.
Edit as many textures as you want to edit. When you are finished, you can move on to the next step.
7
Delete any textures you didn’t modify. When you are finished editing all the textures you want to edit, you should delete any default textures from your texture pack that you didn’t modify. This will improve the performance of your texture pack.
- Only do this when you are finished modifying your textures, and you are sure you do not intend to modify textures anymore.

Section 3 of 5:

Creating the Resource Pack

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After you are done editing all the textures and you are ready to test them, return to the folder you created when you extracted the Jar file. It has the version of Minecraft you are currently using.
2
Create and open a new text file. Use the following steps to create a new text file:
- Windows:
- Mac:

Enter the resource pack code. Type the following code into your text document. You can add whatever description you want for your texture pack after "Description". Making sure that each line of code is on its own line:^{[6]
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{
    "pack": {
      "pack_format": 89.0,
      "description": "[Any description you want to give your pack]"
    }
  }

The number behind pack_format is different for different versions of Minecraft. The following table lists the number code for each version:

pack_format	Minecraft version
1	1.6.1 – 1.8.9
2	1.9 – 1.10.2
3	1.11 – 1.12.2
4	1.13 – 1.14.4
5	1.15 – 1.16.1
6	1.16.2 – 1.16.5
7	1.17x
8	1.18.x
9	1.19 – 1.19.2
11	22w42a – 22w44a
12	1.19.3
13	1.19.4
14	23w14a – 1.20 release candidate 1
15	1.20 – 1.20.1
16	23w31a
17	23w32a – 23w35a
18	1.20.2 pre-release 2
19	23w42a
20	23w43a - 23w44a
21	23w45a - 23w46a
22	1.20.3 pre-release 1 - 1.20.3
23	Unknown, somewhere between 1.20.3 and 23w51b
24	24w03a - 24w04a
25	24w05a/b
26	24w06a
27	Unknown, 24w07a or 24w08a ?
28	24w09a - 24w10a
29	24w11a
30	24w12a
31	24w13a - 1.20.5 Pre-Release 3
32	1.20.5 Pre-Release 4 - 1.20.6
33	24w18a - 24w20a
34	1.21 - 1.21.1, 24w21a
35	24w33a
36	24w34a - 24w35a
37	24w36a
38	24w37a
39	24w38a - 24w39a
40	24w40a
41	1.21.2 Pre-release 1 & 2
42	1.21.2 - 1.21.3
43	24w44a
44	24w45a
45	24w46a
46	1.21.4
47	25w02a
48	25w03a
49	25w04a
50	25w05a
51	25w06a
52	25w07a
53	25w08a - 25w09a
54	25w10a
55	1.21.5
56	25w15a
57	25w16a
58	25w17a
59	25w18a
60	25w19a
61	25w20a
62	25w21a
63	1.21.6 & all pre-releases
64	1.21.7 - 1.21.8
65	25w31a
65.1	25w32a
65.2	25w33a
66	25w34a - 25w34b
67	25w35a
68	25w36a - 25w36b
69	1.21.9 -1.21.10, 25w37a
70	25w41a
70.1	25w42a
71	25w43a
72	25w44a
73	25w45a
74	25w46a
75	1.21.11 all pre-releases

4
Save your text file as a ".mcmeta" file. Use the following steps to save the file as a ".mcmeta" file:^{[7]
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- Windows:
- Mac:
5
Add an icon for your resource pack (optional). If you want to add an icon for your pack, make sure you create an image that is square-shaped (i.e., 16 x 16, 64 x 64, 100 x 100) and save the image as a PNG file. Minecraft will not accept JPEGs or other file types. Save the file as “pack.png” (no capital letters). Put it in the same folder as your resource pack.
6
Create your resource pack. Use the following steps to create a resource pack zip file:^{[8]
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- Hold "Ctrl" or "Option" and select the "assets" folder and the "mcmeta" file.
- Right-click either file.
- Click Compress 2 items (Mac only).
- Click 7-zip (if you are using 7-zip).
- Click Add to Archive.
- Change the file name to whatever you want to name the texture pack.
- Ensure "ZIP" is selected under "Archive format".
- Click Ok.
7
Copy the resource pack zip file to the "resourcepacks" folder. Once you copy the zip file over, you are ready to access the texture pack in Minecraft. Use the following steps to copy the zip file over to the Resource Packs folder:^{[9]
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- Right-click your resource pack zip file.
- Navigate back to the ".minecraft" folder on PC or "minecraft" folder on Mac.
- Open the "resourcepacks" folder.
- Right-click any black space.
- Click Paste.

Section 4 of 5:

Accessing Texture Packs In-Game

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1
Open Minecraft. Re-open the launcher if you closed it, then click PLAY.
- If you didn't close the launcher, click the News tab before clicking PLAY.
It's in the bottom-left corner of the Minecraft start screen.^{[10]
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You'll find this option in the lower-left side of the page.^{[11]
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Click your resource pack's image. Doing so will move it from the left-hand column into the right-hand column.^{[12]
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- If you want to play the game without your resource pack, click your resource pack icon in the right-hand column to move it back to the left-hand column.
It's at the bottom of the page. This will load your resource pack into the game, after which point you can play any existing (or new) world to experience your updated texture pack.
Once the resource pack is activated, you can start any game of Minecraft. Your texture packs will be active in the game.

Section 5 of 5:

Using Bedrock Edition

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1
Download the Bedrock Samples main file. This file contains all the texture and other files you need to make your own resource pack for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. Use the following steps to download and install it.
- Go to the official GitHub page in a web browser.
- Click the green Code button at the top of the page.
- Click Download ZIP.
- Unzip the zip file in your Downloads folder.
2
Create a new folder for your texture pack. Right-click and click New followed by Folder. Name the folder anything you want. This will be the folder for your texture pack.
3
Copy the texture pack files into your pack folder. Go to the folder you extracted from the bedrock-samples-main zip file. Then open the resource_pack folder. Copy the following files and folders into your texture pack folder.
- The entire “textures” folder.
- The “manifest.json” file.
- The “pack.png” file.
  - Alternatively, you can create your own “pack.png” icon. Make sure it has square-shaped dimensions, a PNG file, and save it as “pack.png” (no capital letters).
4
Edit the texture files. Open the “textures” folder and then open the folder named after the category of texture you want to edit. Open a texture file in an image editing program (i.e., MS Paint, Photoshop, or GIMP). Edit the image as you want. Then save over the image file.
- If you want to make a more detailed texture, you can increase the size of the image. You just need to make sure it is square-shaped. For example, all Minecraft block textures are 16 x 16 pixels. You can increase the resolution to 64 x 64 pixels, and this will give you four times more detail to work with.
- Make sure you do not change the filename for any of the texture images you edit, or they will not work. You just need to save over them using the exact file name they already have.
5
Open the “manifest.json” file in a text editor. You can use any text editor you wish. Right-click the “manifest.json” file in your texture pack folder and click Open with. Select a text editor, such as NotePad, NotePad++, or TextEdit.
6
Enter a name for your pack. To do so, delete “Vanilla Resource Pack” in between the quotation marks next to “name” (keep the quotation marks). You can enter any name for your pack you want.
7
Generate and paste new UUIDs into the Manifest file. A UUID is a universally unique number ID used to identify your texture pack. You will need to generate two UUIDs and paste them into the manifest file. Use the following steps to do so:
- Go to an online UUID generator in a web browser.
- Click Generate Version 4 UUID.
- Click Copy next to the UUID at the top of the page.
- Highlight the current UUID number below the “header” in the Manifest file.
- Right-click the UUID and click Paste (do not delete the quotation marks).
- Return to the online UUID generator website and generate a new UUID.
- Click Copy to next the UUID at the top of the page.
- Highlight the UUID below “modules” and click Paste (do not delete the quotation marks.
- Click File and Save to save the manifest.json file (make sure it saves as a “.json” file and not a “.txt” file).
8
Compress the texture pack files into a ZIP file. To do so, hold Ctrl (or Command on Mac) and click the “textures” folder, the “manifest.json” file, and the “pack.png” file. Right-click one of the files and click Compress. Click the option to compress the files as a zip file.
9
Change the zip file to an mcpack file. To do so, make sure you have file extensions visible in File Explorer on Windows or Finder on Mac. Right-click the ZIP file you just created and click Rename. Delete the “.zip” file extension, and replace it with “.mcpack.” Click Yes to indicate that you want to change the file type. The file should change from a zip file icon to a Minecraft icon.
10
Double-click the mcpack you just created. This should automatically launch Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. It should say “Import started” at the top of the window. Then it will say “Successfully imported [texture pack]” when it is done.
11
Activate your texture pack. To do so, click Settings on the Minecraft title screen. Then click Global Resources in the menu bar to the left. Click your texture pack, and click Activate below your service. Your texture pack will now be activated when you play Minecraft.^{[13]
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Community Q&A

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Question

Will this work on a 12-year-old computer?

Community Answer

Most likely, yes, but if you are making big changes and you want the FPS to run smoothly you will most likely want to use it on a newer computer to avoid lag/crash issues.

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Can I make a Minecraft texture pack without owning Minecraft?

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Yes, you can. Just run the demo, close the demo, and then look in the game directory. Open the version jarfile (versions\1.11.2\1.11.2.jar etc.) with WinRar or some archive opener. Then extract the assets folder from the archive to a folder, where you will edit the textures. Then copy the whole folder into gamedirectory\resourcepacks\, go into the game, go to options, go to resource packs, and it should work.

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Can something go wrong and cause me to lose the original textures?

Goodvillain034

Community Answer

Yes, but it's unlikely. One thing you can do is copy the texture file/folder and save it somewhere else on your PC in case the texture file or folder accidently gets deleted, destroyed, or improperly edited.

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To change the size of your crosshair, go to the menu, click on the video settings, then adjust the gui scale. Keep in mind that this will change the size of all the guis.
Instead of installing WinRAR or 7zip, you can rename the "(current version of minecraft).jar" file to "(minecraft version).zip" file, then unzip the zip file.
Make sure to copy your original texture in case something goes wrong!

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