Minecraft:Skin

File:Friends.png

The nine default skins of Minecraft from left to right: Sunny, Minecraft:Kai, Minecraft:Makena, Minecraft:Steve, Minecraft:Alex, Minecraft:Zuri, Minecraft:Efe, Minecraft:Ari, and Minecraft:Noor.

Skins refer to the textures that are placed onto the Minecraft:player character model. Skins can be created using a skin editor or the Minecraft:Character Creator, or they can be purchased in Minecraft:skin packs from the Minecraft:Marketplace. Players can change their skin in the Minecraft:Minecraft Launcher or Minecraft:Dressing Room.

Default skins

The default skins are always available in the Minecraft Launcher or Dressing Room, including nine Minecraft Minecraft:characters. Skins can have different arm or height sizes; Ari, Kai, Steve, Sunny, and Zuri have wide arms by default, Alex, Efe, Makena, and Noor have slim arms by default.

Skins with wide arms
Minecraft:Alex	Minecraft:Ari	Minecraft:Efe	Minecraft:Kai	Minecraft:Makena	Minecraft:Noor	Minecraft:Steve	Minecraft:Sunny	Minecraft:Zuri
File:Alex (classic) JE2.png	File:Ari (classic) JE1.png	File:Efe (classic) JE1.png	File:Kai (classic) JE1.png	File:Makena (classic) JE1.png	File:Noor (classic) JE1.png	File:Steve (classic) JE6.png	File:Sunny (classic) JE1.png	File:Zuri (classic) JE1.png
File:Alex (classic texture) JE2.png	File:Ari (classic texture) JE1.png	File:Efe (classic texture) JE1.png	File:Kai (classic texture) JE1.png	File:Makena (classic texture) JE1.png	File:Noor (classic texture) JE1.png	File:Steve (classic texture) JE6.png	File:Sunny (classic texture) JE1.png	File:Zuri (classic texture) JE1.png

Skins with slim arms
Minecraft:Alex	Minecraft:Ari	Minecraft:Efe	Minecraft:Kai	Minecraft:Makena	Minecraft:Noor	Minecraft:Steve	Minecraft:Sunny	Minecraft:Zuri
File:Alex (slim) JE3.png	File:Ari (slim) JE1.png	File:Efe (slim) JE1.png	File:Kai (slim) JE1.png	File:Makena (slim) JE1.png	File:Noor (slim) JE1.png	File:Steve (slim) JE2.png	File:Sunny (slim) JE1.png	File:Zuri (slim) JE1.png
File:Alex (slim texture) JE3.png	File:Ari (slim texture) JE1.png	File:Efe (slim texture) JE1.png	File:Kai (slim texture) JE1.png	File:Makena (slim texture) JE1.png	File:Noor (slim texture) JE1.png	File:Steve (slim texture) JE2.png	File:Sunny (slim texture) JE1.png	File:Zuri (slim texture) JE1.png

Features

Skins are divided into areas that act as the surface area of the character (e.g., the front head area, left leg area, etc.) They are stored as 64×64 pixels templates, consisting of an inner and outer layer; each layer consisting 1,632 usable pixels, making 3,264 total. In Bedrock Edition, players can also use 128×128 pixels templates, consisting of two layers of 6,528 usable pixels, making 13,056 total.

The outer layer of the skin is 0.5 pixels bigger than the inner layer on the body, arms, and legs; and is 1 pixel bigger than the inner layer on the head. This layer is usually used to give the character glasses, hats, or other accessories (even a bigger head).

Skins set to "slim" model lose 25% of their arms' width, and the rightmost pixels in the skins' images are ignored. Slim skins from 64×64 templates have two layers of 1,568 usable pixels, making 3,136 total, and slim skins from 128×128 templates have two layers of 6,272 usable pixels, making 12,544 total. In Bedrock Edition, the arms of slim skins' model are lower than the torso by about 0.5 pixel.

Transparency

On both editions, a pixel on the skin's outer layer can be completely transparent. Semitransparent pixels, which are pixels with opacity between 0 and 255, and inner layer's transparency are dictated by each of the editions' color calculation:

In Java Edition, the skin's inner layer cannot be transparent. Any pixels that are semitransparent are forced to be fully opaque while reducing their color detail, matching its original opacity level; instead of having 256 possible shades of RGB colors, the pixel is rounded to a smaller set of values by parts per the opacity value. For example, with an opacity of 2, the RGB color values are rounded to parts per two, as one of 0/2, 1/2, or 2/2 of 255, that is 0, 128, and 255; if we apply this to an RGB colors of (255, 13, 142), it becomes (255, 0, 128), with an opacity of 255. An exception to this mechanic is a pixel with an opacity of 0, simply becoming a solid black.
In Bedrock Edition, if players set any of their skin's outer or inner layer pixels opacity to 25 (≈10%) or lower, those pixels appear invisible, otherwise, for opacity to 26 or greater, they appear visible.

Character Creator

Template:Main Template:Exclusive

File:Character creator.png

The Character Creator menu

In Bedrock Edition, there are two types of skin which the players can choose from: the Character Creator skins and the "Classic Skins".

Character Creator skins are made in the Dressing Room with a range of cosmetic items that can be applied to specific parts of the character's model, such as facial features or individual body parts, or clothing items. There are two types of cosmetic item depending on the parts they are applied: body items, which apply to their body parts/features; and style items, which are worn like accessories or apparels. They can appear three-dimensional, that is, they are built on top of the character's body in 3D space, or completely replace specific body parts (like the arms or legs) with custom models. The eyes part of Character Creator skins also blink occasionally.

Cosmetic items are usually made by Minecraft:Marketplace creators, and are obtained from the featured items or the Minecraft:Marketplace Pass selection on the Character Creator menu, which can be free or paid costing Minecraft:Minecoins (or Tokens on PlayStation versions). Body items are mostly reserved by Minecraft and can be equipped for free, except the arms and legs, which are obtainable like previously mentioned. Some cosmetic items can be earned by completing certain Minecraft:achievements, and historically, limited-time challenges and in-game live events, which make these items only obtainable during specific time periods.

File:Heights.png

The available options for skin heights

Players can adjust the character's height and arms size of Character Creator skins, where the character's model gets resized along with the texture pixels. It has no effect on the Minecraft:hitbox size, although the camera eye height does change.Template:Info needed

The "Classic Skins" are standard wide or slim character models with a skin texture applied from a Minecraft:skin pack (from Marketplace or a custom skin pack), or a custom PNG image imported from the player's device. They do not have an ability to use 3D models, as this feature is restricted to the Character Creator skins, and for imported skins, they have limited visibility for players with "Only Allow Trusted Skins" option turned off in the Minecraft:Settings.

In other tabs, all skin types can be modified in the Dressing Room using Minecraft:capes, and Minecraft:emotes can be selected and obtained similarly to body or style items.

Skin signature

Template:Exclusive In order for a skin to be displayed in the game, the player's GameProfile data containing the skin's texture URL and signature is sent by the server through Player Info Update packet. The signature is then validated by vanilla clients to be displayed properly in their game; this ensures that no custom skin outside the ones uploaded through the Minecraft services can be used or tampered. As a side effect, it also makes offline mode players unable to use a skin, at least without using Minecraft:mods.

When a player wears a new skin, the signature for that skin is generated alongside the texture URL. This data is stored permanently in Minecraft services, even when the skin is no longer used by the original player, and can be traced back by third-party services, such as NameMC or MineSkin. Notably, MineSkin has utilize this quirk to generate multiple valid signatures for user-uploaded custom skins with a limited set of accounts.<ref>https://docs.mineskin.org/docs/wiki/faq/</ref> Furthermore, these custom skins can be applied to Minecraft:mannequins or Minecraft:player heads through the Template:Nbt tag or Template:Cd Minecraft:data component respectively.

Changing player skins

Java Edition

Only players who have purchased Minecraft can change their character's skin. This is done on the profile page or in the Minecraft Launcher by uploading a valid PNG image that is 64×64 pixels, or a legacy texture that is 64×32 pixels, which then replaces the default skin.

Minecraft.net website
The Minecraft website's profile page.

The Minecraft website's profile page.
The Change Skin page on the Minecraft website

The Change Skin page on the Minecraft website

Minecraft Launcher
The Launcher's Skin tab

The Launcher's Skin tab
Adding a new skin in the Launcher

Adding a new skin in the Launcher

Skins also have the option of having either 3 or 4 pixel wide arms, which can be changed on the profile page as well.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref>

The Template:Cd and Template:Cd files in Minecraft:client.jar can also be changed and replaced via a resource pack, but the effects are visible only to players using the resource pack, and affects all players with the default skin.

Bedrock Edition

File:Dressing Room (Bedrock).png

The Dressing Room

Players can choose one of the nine default skins upon first launch or in the Minecraft:Dressing Room when creating from an empty slot. The Dressing Room, accessible from the Minecraft:main menu, Minecraft:profile, and game menu, can also be used to switch skins, change, or remove skins from five available slots.

In the "Classic Skins" tab, players can switch to a downloaded or owned skin. Skins can be obtained as part of Minecraft:skin packs in the Minecraft:Marketplace, purchased using Minecraft:Minecoins. The player has to sign in to their Microsoft (or their respective console account on PlayStation/Nintendo) to access all the skins they owned and bought from the Marketplace, on any device.

On Windows and mobile devices, custom skin files can be imported in the "Classic Skins" tab, or manually in Template:Cd. The player must select a valid skin image file from their file explorer/photo gallery (a Template:Cd texture from 64x32, 64x64, or 128x128 pixels), and must choose between the two model sizes (classic/slim). Players can also make their own skin packs, which must include a Template:Cd file, a Template:Cd file, and all the desired skins. An additional Template:Cd file can be added inside a folder labeled Template:Cd to display the skin names, but the game can register the skins without it.

Skin packs

Template:Main

Skin packs are collections of multiple wearable skins and available Template:In as downloadable content. They can be acquired through:

The Minecraft:Marketplace, which officially hosts a large number of skin packs by Mojang Studios and their partners. Most of them cost Minecoins (Tokens on PS4), but some have been released for free.
The Template:Cd files put in the Template:Cd or Template:Cd folder in the game files (inaccessible on consoles).
External sources such as community hosted repositories for skin packs, which are automatically imported with .mcpack files (not on consoles). For information about the contents of a custom skin pack, see Template:Slink.

Java Edition skin packs

The following skin packs were released on minecraft.net by Mojang Studios for certain events. These are technically not "skin packs" but simply collections of skin files marketed together. Although designed for Template:JE, they can also be imported Template:In, except console ports.

Image	Name	Description	Release date
width=150x150	Minecraft:MINECON Earth 2017 Skin Pack	Realeased in promotion of Minecraft:MINECON Earth 2017. It was also released as a skin pack for Template:Els.	November 13, 2017
width=150x150	Builders & Biomes	A tie in to the Minecraft: Builders & Biomes board game. It was also released as a skin pack for Template:BE.	October 13, 2020
File:Striding Hero SP.jpg	Minecraft:Striding Hero	A tie-in to the Minecraft:Striding Hero DLC, featuring characters from the map.	December 14, 2020
	The Garden Awakens	A tie-in to Minecraft:The Garden Awakens.	December 5, 2024
	Chase the Skies	A skin pack tie-in to Minecraft:Chase the Skies.	June 26, 2025
	The Copper Age	A tie-in to Minecraft:The Copper Age.	October 8, 2025
	Mounts of Mayhem	A tie-in to Minecraft:Mounts of Mayhem.	December 15, 2025
	Tiny Takeover	A tie-in to Minecraft:Tiny Takeover.	April 6, 2026
	Minecraft:Dandelion Onesie	A tie-in to Minecraft:Tiny Takeover.	April 6, 2026

Templates

Many players prefer their own unique skin. While premade skins can be found online, players may prefer to create their own.

A custom skin is a way to personalize the player model and can be done either by using a variety of community-made skin editors, or by editing the Template:Cd or Template:Cd file manually with an image editor like Photoshop, GIMP, Paint.net or similar image editors. The Template:Cd file can be downloaded here and the Template:Cd file here. When editing the Template:Cd or Template:Cd file manually, be sure to keep the original image dimensions and make the background of the skin (the unused pixels) completely transparent. Otherwise, Minecraft may fail to recognize the skin as intended.

Alternatively, some may find it easier to use a program, either downloadable or in-browser, which provides a live view of their character on a three-dimensional model as they are editing the skin. For example, programs may further assist players by providing them with a wide variety of pre-made selections (such as hats, boots, sweaters, etc.) to give the skin creator exactly what they want, even if the creator has little to no artistic skill.

After making a custom skin, either by using a skin editor or by editing the Template:Cd file directly, one still needs to upload the Template:Cd file at the Skin section of the Profile page on Minecraft:Minecraft.net (found here) before the skin is applied. Other players in multiplayer can also see this skin. Note that players cannot see the custom skin if they are not logged in or when playing offline.

Official skin templates

Minecraft Help Center Article

Slim Layout Skin

Alex Template
Classic Layout Skin

Steve Template
Classic Layout

4px Arms Template
Slim Layout

3px Arms Template
Skin sample from the Minecraft:Tutorial Skin Pack.

Skin sample from the Minecraft:Tutorial Skin Pack.

Other templates

The modern layered skin template; every body part can have a second layer, marked by the darker palette areas.

The modern layered skin template; every body part can have a second layer, marked by the darker palette areas.
An adaptation of the previous template, color-coded to match the appropriate faces of the skin: front, back, left, right, top and bottom. The checked areas represent the secondary layer.

An adaptation of the previous template, color-coded to match the appropriate faces of the skin: front, back, left, right, top and bottom. The checked areas represent the secondary layer.
A template for the slim arms/"Alex" model.

A template for the slim arms/"Alex" model.
An adaptation of the slimmer arms template, color-coded to match the appropriate faces of the skin: front, back, left, right, top and bottom. The checked areas represent the secondary layer.

An adaptation of the slimmer arms template, color-coded to match the appropriate faces of the skin: front, back, left, right, top and bottom. The checked areas represent the secondary layer.
Another skin template.

Another skin template.
Color-coded old skin template with all faces labeled.

Color-coded old skin template with all faces labeled.
Another skin guide, but on a black background. For the arm and leg sections only, "right" indicates those facing outward, and "left" indicates inward.

Another skin guide, but on a black background. For the arm and leg sections only, "right" indicates those facing outward, and "left" indicates inward.
A skin guide for wide skins using simple colors and marking the arms and legs as R and L, checkerboard pattern represents second layer

A skin guide for wide skins using simple colors and marking the arms and legs as R and L, checkerboard pattern represents second layer
A skin guide for slim skins using simple colors and marking the arms and legs as R and L, checkerboard pattern represents second layer

A skin guide for slim skins using simple colors and marking the arms and legs as R and L, checkerboard pattern represents second layer
A skin guide for pre-1.8 skins using simple colors, checkerboard pattern represents second layer

A skin guide for pre-1.8 skins using simple colors, checkerboard pattern represents second layer
A skin guide for deadmau5's skin using simple colors, checkerboard pattern represents second layer

A skin guide for deadmau5's skin using simple colors, checkerboard pattern represents second layer
Deadmau5's skin (not a guide).

Deadmau5's skin (not a guide).
Template for deadmau5's ears. Use other templates listed here for the skin.

Template for deadmau5's ears. Use other templates listed here for the skin.

Videos

Template:Yt Template:Yt

History

Historical images

The first skins being tested in Minecraft Classic.

The first skins being tested in Minecraft Classic.
A camouflage skin in Minecraft Classic.

A camouflage skin in Minecraft Classic.
The first image of a skin's hat layer, from Notch's blog.

The first image of a skin's hat layer, from Notch's blog.
First image of the slim arms option.

First image of the slim arms option.
Second image of the slim arms option.

Second image of the slim arms option.
Third image of the slim arms option.

Third image of the slim arms option.
Fourth image of the slim arms option.

Fourth image of the slim arms option.
Fifth image of the slim arms option.

Fifth image of the slim arms option.
The old Pocket Edition error message for attempting to upload (as a skin) a file that is not a skin.

The old Pocket Edition error message for attempting to upload (as a skin) a file that is not a skin.

Issues

Template:Issue list

Trivia

File:Malicious Minecraft skins.png

An example of three of the skins that were infected by malware

In April 2018, Template:WP code was discovered inside of several downloadable user-made Minecraft image skins for use with the Template:JE of the game.<ref name="avastmalware">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="pcgamermalware" /><ref name="varietymalware1" /> Template:WP stated that nearly 50,000 accounts were infected, and when activated, the malware would attempt to Template:WP the user's hard drive.<ref name="varietymalware1">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="pcgamermalware">Template:Citation</ref> Mojang promptly patched the issue, and released a statement stating that "the code would not be run or read by the game itself",<ref name="pcgamermalware" /> and would run only when the image containing the skin itself was opened.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Number of skins

The total number of possible unique player skins varies immensely, depending on version, as well as what is considered unique. Below are tables with the number of unique skins on Java and Bedrock Edition, with cells within rows and columns that correspond to different rules. Cells in the left columns consider all completely transparent pixels to be the same, while the ones on the right consider them to be unique.

*Java Edition*
		Allowing Upper Layer Translucency (o_t = 256), Not Allowing Bottom Layer Transparency (o_b = 1)
		All 0-Opacity Pixels Same (s = False)	All 0-Opacity Pixels Different (s = False)
64×64 (t = 4)	Slim	(2²⁴ × 255 + 1)¹⁵⁶⁸ × 2³⁷⁶³² ≈ 1.501 746 863 × 10²⁶⁴³⁰	2⁸⁷⁸⁰⁸ ≈ 6.947 991 250 × 10²⁶⁴³²
64×64 (t = 4)	Wide	(2²⁴ × 255 + 1)¹⁶³² × 2³⁹¹⁶⁸ ≈ 9.105 734 170 × 10²⁷⁵⁰⁸	2⁹¹³⁹² ≈ 5.412 073 956 × 10²⁷⁵¹¹

*Bedrock Edition*
		Not Allowing Upper Layer Translucency (o_t = 2), Allowing Bottom Layer Transparency (o_b = 2)
		All 0-Opacity Pixels Same (s = True)	All 0-Opacity Pixels Different (s = False)
64×64 (t = 4)	Slim	(2²⁴ + 1)³¹³⁶ ≈ 5.268 352 583 × 10²²⁶⁵⁶	2⁷⁸⁴⁰⁰ ≈ 5.644 949 436 × 10²³⁶⁰⁰
64×64 (t = 4)	Wide	(2²⁴ + 1)³²⁶⁴ ≈ 3.060 728 626 × 10²³⁵⁸¹	2⁸¹⁶⁰⁰ ≈ 1.115 953 711 × 10²⁴⁵⁶⁴
128×128 (t = 8)	Slim	(2²⁴ + 1)¹²⁵⁴⁴ ≈ 7.703 699 416 × 10⁹⁰⁶²⁶	2³¹³⁶⁰⁰ ≈ 1.015 407 167 × 10⁹⁴⁴⁰³
128×128 (t = 8)	Wide	(2²⁴ + 1)¹³⁰⁵⁶ ≈ 8.776 054 301 × 10⁹⁴³²⁵	2³²⁶⁴⁰⁰ ≈ 1.550 903 312 × 10⁹⁸²⁵⁶

The formulae below can be used to find the number of skins with a given width, template dimensions, etc. It essentially finds the number of potential states for pixels on the bottom layer, multiplies that by the number of potential states for pixels on the top layer, then sets that to the power of the total number of pixels on each layer.

<math>\left(v_b\times v_t\right)^{\left(86+16A\right)\times t^2}</math>, where:

<math>v_b=\begin{cases} 2^{24}\left(\alpha_b-1\right)+1 & \text{if } s\land \alpha_b\ne1 \\ 2^{24}\alpha_b & \text{otherwise} \end{cases}</math> is the number of possible values for each bottom layer pixel

<math>v_t=\begin{cases} 2^{24}\left(\alpha_t-1\right)+1 & \text{if } s\land \alpha_t\ne1 \\ 2^{24}\alpha_t & \text{otherwise} \end{cases}</math> is the number of possible values for each bottom layer pixel

<math>\alpha_b</math> is the number of possible opacity values for each bottom layer pixel

<math>a_t</math> is the number of possible opacity values for pixels on the top layer.

<math>t</math> is the thickness, equal to the number of pixels wide legs are: 4 for 64×64, 8 for 128×128

<math>A</math> is the arm thickness/thickness ratio: 1 for wide, 0.75 for slim

<math>s</math> is the "sameness" of 0-alpha pixels: True if all 0-alpha pixels are considered the same regardless of color, False otherwise

In an AntVenom video, he calculated a total of 2⁸¹⁶⁰⁰ × 5³²⁶⁴ (≈3.060 133 2201 × 10²⁶⁸⁴⁵) skins. The rules he used were to include only wide skins, allow transparent pixels only on the top layer, consider all fully transparent pixels to be unique, and include only 100 possible opacity values (α_b = 1, α_t = 100, t = 4, A = 1, s = 0).