Java Edition version history/Development versions

Starting in the period between Beta 1.7.3 and Beta 1.8, Mojang began to publicly release testing versions of full updates in order to get major feedback, especially for bug reporting. This enabled the official updates to be considerably more stable.

Mojang generally releases snapshots on Wednesday. The day had been Thursday, until the release of 14w26a on June 25, 2014, in the middle of development for 1.8.

Availability
These versions are publicly available, though they are not auto-installed by the launcher unless the Enable experimental development versions ('snapshots') checkbox is ticked in the profile editor, and then it will only download the current version's development's set of snapshots and pre-releases. You are able to change to other snapshots through the profile editor.

For instructions on how to install a snapshot, read this tutorial.

Naming
Late in Beta development, Mojang began to issue pre-release versions, specifically for Beta 1.8 and what then was known as Beta 1.9. As Beta 1.9 came to be redesignated as release version 1.0, candidates subject to release were designated with the prefix "RC#".

The weekly snapshots for release 1.1 and onward are named by using the format YYwWWx. YY is the two-digit year, w simply stands for "week", WW is the two-digit week number within the year, and x is a unique letter identifier – starting with "a", then "b", and so on – for when there is more than one release per week.

Promotional screenshots
Erik Broes (_Grum) appeared in promotional screenshots on the Mojang blog for a number of snapshots and pre-releases. He was often hiding, and occasionally simply his player head was present. These were:
 * 1.6.1 snapshots 13w19a, 13w21a, 13w22a, 13w23a, 13w24a, 13w25a, 13w26a and the 1.6 pre-release
 * 1.7.2 snapshots 13w36a, 13w37a, 13w38a, 13w39a, 13w41a, 13w42a and 13w43a, and 1.7.4 snapshot 13w47a
 * 1.8 snapshots 14w02a, 14w03a, 14w04a, 14w05a, 14w06a, 14w08a, 14w10a, the 1.8 pre-release and the 1.8.2 pre-release
 * 1.9 snapshot 16w04a
 * Release 1.10.
 * 1.11 snapshot 16w40a

Jens Bergensten (Jeb_) has appeared in several promotional screenshots as well:
 * Snapshot 12w23a for 1.3.1, snapshot 12w37a for 1.4.2, the 1.6 pre-release, the 1.8 pre-release and the 1.10 release.

Nathan Adams (Dinnerbone) has appeared in:
 * The 1.6 pre-release, snapshot 14w03a for 1.8 and the 1.8 pre-release

Maria Lemón has appeared in snapshot 16w40a.

1.11

 * View all
 * 16w40a
 * 16w39a • 16w39b • 16w39c
 * 16w38a
 * 16w36a
 * 16w35a
 * 16w33a
 * 16w32a • 16w32b

1.10

 * View all
 * 1.10-pre1 • 1.10-pre2
 * 16w21a • 16w21b
 * 16w20a

1.9.3

 * View all
 * 1.9.3-pre1 • 1.9.3-pre2 • 1.9.3-pre3
 * 16w15a • 16w15b
 * 16w14a

1.9.1

 * View all
 * 1.9.1-pre1 • 1.9.1-pre2 • 1.9.1-pre3

1.9

 * View all
 * 1.9-pre1 • 1.9-pre2 • 1.9-pre3 • 1.9-pre4
 * 16w07a • 16w07b
 * 16w06a
 * 16w05a • 16w05b
 * 16w04a
 * 16w03a
 * 16w02a
 * 15w51a • 15w51b
 * 15w50a
 * 15w49a • 15w49b
 * 15w47a • 15w47b • 15w47c
 * 15w46a
 * 15w45a
 * 15w44a • 15w44b
 * 15w43a • 15w43b • 15w43c
 * 15w42a
 * 15w41a • 15w41b
 * 15w40a • 15w40b
 * 15w39a • 15w39b • 15w39c
 * 15w38a • 15w38b
 * 15w37a
 * 15w36a • 15w36b • 15w36c • 15w36d
 * 15w35a • 15w35b • 15w35c • 15w35d • 15w35e
 * 15w34a • 15w34b • 15w34c • 15w34d
 * 15w33a • 15w33b • 15w33c
 * 15w32a • 15w32b • 15w32c
 * 15w31a • 15w31b • 15w31c

1.8.8

 * 1.8.8-pre

1.8.2

 * View all
 * 1.8.2-pre1 • 1.8.2-pre2 • 1.8.2-pre3 • 1.8.2-pre4 • 1.8.2-pre5 • 1.8.2-pre6 • 1.8.2-pre7

1.8.1

 * View all
 * 1.8.1-pre1 • 1.8.1-pre2 • 1.8.1-pre3 • 1.8.1-pre4 • 1.8.1-pre5

1.8

 * View all
 * 1.8-pre1 • 1.8-pre2 • 1.8-pre3
 * 14w34a • 14w34b • 14w34c • 14w34d
 * 14w33a • 14w33b • 14w33c
 * 14w32a • 14w32b • 14w32c • 14w32d
 * 14w31a
 * 14w30a • 14w30b • 14w30c
 * 14w29a • 14w29b
 * 14w28a • 14w28b
 * 14w27a • 14w27b
 * 14w26a • 14w26b • 14w26c
 * 14w25a • 14w25b
 * 14w21a • 14w21b
 * 14w20a • 14w20b
 * 14w19a
 * 14w18a • 14w18b
 * 14w17a
 * 14w11a • 14w11b
 * 14w10a • 14w10b • 14w10c
 * 14w08a
 * 14w07a
 * 14w06a • 14w06b
 * 14w05a • 14w05b
 * 14w04a • 14w04b
 * 14w03a • 14w03b
 * 14w02a • 14w02b • 14w02c

1.7.10

 * View all
 * 1.7.10-pre1 • 1.7.10-pre2 • 1.7.10-pre3 • 1.7.10-pre4

1.7.6

 * View all
 * 1.7.6-pre1 • 1.7.6-pre2

1.7.4

 * View all
 * 1.7.4-pre
 * 1.7.3-pre
 * 13w49a
 * 13w48a • 13w48b
 * 13w47a • 13w47b • 13w47c • 13w47d • 13w47e

1.7.2

 * View all
 * 1.7.2-pre
 * 1.7.1-pre
 * 1.7-pre
 * 13w43a
 * 13w42a • 13w42b
 * 13w41a • 13w41b
 * 13w39a • 13w39b
 * 13w38a • 13w38b • 13w38c
 * 13w37a • 13w37b
 * 13w36a • 13w36b

1.6.4

 * 1.6.3-pre

1.6.2

 * 1.6.2-pre

1.6.1

 * View all
 * 1.6.1-pre
 * 1.6-pre
 * 13w26a
 * 13w25a • 13w25b • 13w25c
 * 13w24a • 13w24b
 * 13w23a • 13w23b
 * 13w22a
 * 13w21a • 13w21b
 * 13w19a
 * 13w18a • 13w18b • 13w18c
 * 13w17a
 * 13w16a • 13w16b

1.5.2

 * 1.5.2-pre

1.5.1

 * View all
 * 1.5.1-pre
 * 13w12~
 * 13w11a

1.5

 * View all
 * 1.5-pre
 * 13w10a • 13w10b
 * 13w09a • 13w09b • 13w09c
 * 13w07a
 * 13w06a
 * 13w05a • 13w05b
 * 13w04a
 * 13w03a
 * 13w02a • 13w02b
 * 13w01a • 13w01b

1.4.7

 * 1.4.7-pre

1.4.6

 * View all
 * 1.4.6-pre
 * 12w50a • 12w50b
 * 12w49a

1.4.5

 * 1.4.5-pre

1.4.4

 * View all
 * 1.4.4-pre
 * 1.4.3-pre

1.4.2

 * View all
 * 1.4.2-pre
 * 1.4.1-pre
 * 1.4-pre
 * 12w42a • 12w42b
 * 12w41a • 12w41b
 * 12w40a • 12w40b
 * 12w39a • 12w39b
 * 12w38a • 12w38b
 * 12w37a
 * 12w36a
 * 12w34a • 12w34b
 * 12w32a

1.3.2

 * 1.3.2-pre

1.3.1

 * View all
 * 1.3.1-pre
 * 1.3-pre
 * 12w30a • 12w30b • 12w30c • 12w30d • 12w30e
 * 12w27a
 * 12w26a
 * 12w25a
 * 12w24a
 * 12w23a • 12w23b
 * 12w22a
 * 12w21a • 12w21b
 * 12w19a
 * 12w18a
 * 12w17a
 * 12w16a
 * 12w15a

1.2.5

 * 1.2.5-pre

1.2.1

 * View all
 * 1.2-pre
 * 12w08a
 * 12w07a • 12w07b
 * 12w06a
 * 12w05a • 12w05b
 * 12w04a
 * 12w03a

1.1

 * View all
 * 12w01a
 * 11w50a
 * 11w49a
 * 11w48a
 * 11w47a

1.0.0

 * View all
 * 1.0.0-RC2
 * 1.0.0-RC1
 * Beta 1.9-pre6
 * Beta 1.9-pre5
 * Beta 1.9-pre4
 * Beta 1.9-pre3
 * Beta 1.9-pre2
 * Beta 1.9-pre1

Beta 1.8

 * View all
 * Beta 1.8-pre2
 * Beta 1.8-pre1