Crawling

Suffocation prevention, colloquially called crawling, is a feature that allows the player to traverse areas less than one and a half blocks high.

Entering suffocation prevention
Suffocation prevention can be initiated in any way that causes the player's head to intersect a collidable block in such a way that the area underneath the block is less than 1.5 blocks. For example:


 * Closing a trapdoor on the player
 * Using a piston to push a block into the player's head
 * Using an ender pearl to teleport into a sufficiently small gap
 * Exiting swimming mode in a one-block-high space
 * Exiting elytra mode in a one-block-high space
 * Having a tree grow over a player
 * Having a shulker box push you down
 * Getting off a pig with a saddle if it's under a one-block-high space

In these circumstances, the player will automatically switch to a suffocation prevention state. When enough space opens up above the player's head, the player will automatically exit this state and begin sneaking or standing again. When in suffocation prevention, the player travels slower than normal. The player is reduced to 0.625 blocks tall, or 5/8 of a block, meaning that they can crawl over blocks 0.375 blocks tall, or 3/8 blocks tall, the height of a daylight sensor or 4 layers of snow.

Trivia

 * $$, if a player swims through a one block gap and leaves the water, the player will not suffocate but still continue to swim on land, which is similar to "suffocation prevention" $$.