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''Minecraft'' is written in Java and C++, and although the class files are obfuscated, the community has figured out most of the inner workings of ''Minecraft''. Notch himself gave notes on a common format used by ''Minecraft'', the [[Minecraft:NBT format]]. From this, the community has derived information for the files that use the NBT format.

== NBT format ==
The [[Minecraft:NBT format]] is used by almost every file in ''Minecraft''. It is a GZipped tree structure of ''tags'', where each tag has a type, name, and payload based on the type. In 1.2 snapshot 12w07a and above, an additional tag type was added to the original tag types that existed since [[Minecraft:Indev]].

== Level formats ==
Each edition of ''Minecraft'' uses its own file format to store levels. The following information about the different level file formats can be used by software developers to create [[Minecraft:Tutorial:Programs and editors|map editors]], servers, level generators, and other programs. [[Minecraft:Blocks]], [[Minecraft:items]], [[Minecraft:data values]], and [[Minecraft:entities]] are common to all map types.

=== ''Java Edition'' ===
* [[Minecraft:Java Edition Classic level format]] used by [[Minecraft:Java Edition Classic|Classic]].
* [[Minecraft:Java Edition Indev level format]] used by [[Minecraft:Java Edition Indev|Indev]].
* [[Minecraft:Java Edition Alpha level format]] used by [[Minecraft:Java Edition Alpha|Alpha]] (previously [[Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev|Infdev]]).
* [[Minecraft:Java Edition level format]] used by [[Minecraft:Java Edition#Official release|1.0]]
** [[Minecraft:Anvil file format]] used by [[Minecraft:Java Edition#Official release|1.0]] (from [[Minecraft:Java Edition 1.2|1.2]])
*** [[Minecraft:Region file format]] used since [[Minecraft:Java Edition Beta|Beta]] (from [[Minecraft:Java Edition Beta 1.3|Beta 1.3]]).
**** [[Minecraft:Chunk format]] for the individual 16×256×16 chunks contained in regions.
** [[Minecraft:Map item format]] used to store the colors on the craftable [[Minecraft:map]] items.
** [[Minecraft:player.dat format]] used to store the state of players.
** [[Minecraft:Structure_file|Structure file format]] used to store structures saved by the [[Minecraft:structure block]].
** [[Minecraft:villages.dat format]] used to store the state of villages in a level.

=== ''Bedrock Edition'' ===
* [[Minecraft:Bedrock Edition level format]] used by ''Bedrock Edition''.

== Other formats ==
* [[Minecraft:Servers.dat format]] used to store the list of saved multiplayer servers.
* [[Minecraft:Schematic file format|Schematic files]] are NBT files used by a few 3rd party utilities to store sections of a map for later use.

== Libraries ==
These are community-created libraries to interact with the various files used by ''Minecraft''.
{| class="wikitable" width="100%" data-description="Community-created libraries"
|-
! Name/link
! Language
! Description
|-
| [https://github.com/LB--/MCModify MCModify]
| Java/C++
| Library that allows for loading, manipulating, and saving all ''Minecraft'' formats.
|-
| [https://github.com/iBuyMountainDew/nbt nbt]
| Java
| Flexible and intuitive library for reading and writing Minecraft's NBT format on the JVM, with emphasis on custom tags.
|-
| [[Minecraft:/Example NBT Class|Example NBT Class]]
| Java
| Basic brute-force Java class that reads and writes NBT structures.
|-
| [[Minecraft:/Example Minecraft Classic Level Editing Class|Example Classic Level Class]]
| Java
| Java class(es) to read and write Classic levels.
|-
| [https://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/245996-sdk-substrate-map-editing-library-for-cnet-060/ Substrate]
| C#
| C# classes to load and edit levels.
|-
| [https://github.com/SirCmpwn/Craft.Net Craft.Net]
| C#
| C# library for writing server software and messing with worlds and such.
|-
| [https://github.com/udoprog/c10t c10t]
| C++
| An open source cartography tool.
|-
| [https://github.com/ljfa-ag/libnbtplusplus libnbt++]
| C++
| C++ library to read and write NBT structures.
|-
| [https://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=35221 CNBT]
| C
| C library to read and write NBT structures.
|-
| [https://github.com/kevinbosak/Minecraft-Perl Minecraft-Perl]
| Perl
| Perl library to edit Minecraft files.
|-
| [https://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=24585 Python NBT Parser]
| Python
| Python library to edit NBT structures.
|-
| [https://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=28518 pymclevel]
| Python
| Python library to edit Minecraft levels. MCEdit was built upon this library.
|-
| [https://github.com/MorbZ/J2Blocks J2Blocks]
| Java
| A Java library for easy generation of ''Minecraft'' worlds.
|-
| [https://github.com/vberlier/nbtlib nbtlib]
| Python
| A modern python library to read and edit nbt data.
|}

== Server protocol ==
[[Minecraft:Classic server protocol]] used by the Minecraft Classic Creative Multiplayer server.

For info on the current multiplayer protocol, see the [[Minecraft:Minecraft Wiki:Projects/wiki.vg merge|wiki.vg merge project on this wiki]].

== Resources ==
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable" data-description="Resources"
!width="250"|URL
!width="150"|Program
!width="100"|OS
!width="250"|Notes

|-valign="top"
|[https://www.delorie.com/djgpp/ https://www.delorie.com/djgpp/] || Djgpp, GCC for Windows || Windows ||
|-valign="top"
|[https://www.cygwin.com/ https://www.cygwin.com/] || Cygwin the Linux-on-Windows (Unix Environment) || Windows || Good for Windows users.
|-valign="top"
|[https://code.visualstudio.com/ https://code.visualstudio.com/] || Microsoft Visual Studio Code || Windows || Free version of Visual Studio, an IDE and compiler for C++, C# and Visual Basic.
|-valign="top"
|[https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/ https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/] || Java Development Kit download || Cross-platform || Essential if you want to interpret Java code
|}

== Navigation ==
{{Navbox Java Edition technical|general}}
{{Navbox Minecraft|general}}

[[Category:Development]]

[[Minecraft:es:Recursos de desarrollo]]
[[Minecraft:fr:Aide au développement]]
[[Minecraft:hu:Fejlesztési források]]
[[Minecraft:it:Risorse per lo sviluppo]]
[[Minecraft:ja:開発技術情報]]
[[Minecraft:ko:개발 리소스]]
[[Minecraft:nl:Ontwikkelingsbronnen]]
[[Minecraft:pt:Recursos de desenvolvimento]]
[[Minecraft:ru:Для разработчиков]]
[[Minecraft:zh:开发资源]]

Minecraft:Development resources - Revision history

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