History of textures/Unused textures

This page documents textures which are or once were present within Minecraft, but are not actually used.

Classic white texture
In the versions of terrain.png used between 0.0.14a and 0.0.14a_08 there is a white texture which was not used in any in-game block. It may have been an early experimental snow texture, as Notch had stated interest in adding snow and ice before this point, or it could relate to clouds, as they were added in the same version. This texture was removed from terrain.png in 0.0.15a.

Brick texture variations
In the versions of terrain.png used between 0.26 SURVIVAL TEST and 0.30 inclusive, there existed four textures very similar to the existing bricks texture, although with subtle differences. These textures were removed from terrain.png at the start of Indev.

Chair and possible table textures
From Indev 20100206 to Infdev 20100627 two textures were present in terrain.png which were based off of the oak planks texture. The first texture is commonly recognised to be the side view of a chair, and the other texture is often interpreted as being either the front view of a chair or the side of a table.

Indev 20100206 also added a duplicate oak planks texture. This may have been intended to be used for such blocks as well (as the back or seat portion, or a tabletop), or it may have simply been the texture copied for the other two textures to be cut from,mars said textures are clearly oak planks derivatives. This was removed earlier than the other two textures in Infdev 20100607.

In Infdev 20100618, the chair texture specifically changed to be slightly darker, which was likely unintentional, as the door and ladder textures, relatively close by on the atlas, were also darkened in said version.

Mojang have since rejected the idea of adding "furniture" blocks to the game, as their existence would "inhibit natural creativity".

Possible coral texture
In Infdev 20100629, a texture was added to terrain.png of completely unknown use. This texture was composed of several transparent, black, white and various shades of gray pixels. This texture was removed in Alpha v1.0.4 with its position being taken by the snowy grass block side texture.

The addition of this texture to terrain.png roughly coincides with Notch mentioning an attempt to add coral blocks to the game, according to a post on The Word of Notch documenting a failed attempt to draw a realistic-looking coral block texture. The texture's hyperbolic appearance does in fact resemble the early iterations of coral blocks showcased at Minecon in 2017.

Grass block top texture duplicate
In Beta 1.6 Test Build 3, a duplicate of the grass block top texture was added to terrain.png. As this version also added grass and ferns, which appear adjacent to this texture, it is highly likely that this texture was copied simply to pick the colors from during texturing, and was accidentally left in.

Interestingly, in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5, despite being completely unused in-game, this texture was actually changed alongside other block textures that changed in this version. The actually used grass block texture also changed in this version, however despite both textures being identical beforehand, the Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5 textures made the two textures visually distinct from each other.

The terrain.png used in Pocket Edition v0.2.0 alpha, being based off of the terrain.png from Java Edition 1.0.0, also includes this texture. It was also present in Xbox 360 Edition since its inception, due to initially being based on Java Edition Beta 1.6.6.

The texture was eventually removed from Java Edition in 13w02a and Pocket Edition in v0.8.0 alpha build 2 due to the deprecation of terrain.png in those versions. It was removed from Xbox 360 Edition in TU12 due to being replaced by the vertical dispenser texture, although it still technically persists in the base game as the original terrain.png was never removed, despite never being used in TU3 onwards.

"Footprints" texture
In Beta 1.8 Pre-release, a texture possibly composed of three footprints was added to terrain.png. Its intended use is unknown. The texture was eventually removed in 13w03a due to terrain.png 's deprecation in 13w02a and the subsequent removal of it and results.png.

This texture also carried on to Pocket Edition in v0.2.0 alpha due to the terrain.png used then being based off of the one from Java Edition 1.0.0, before its removal in v0.8.0 alpha build 2.

The texture was also present in Xbox 360 Edition since TU0 due to said version including a copy of Java Edition 1.2's terrain.png. It was re-replaced by a lilac placeholder texture in TU12.

"Village border"
These textures, also added to terrain.png in Beta 1.8 Pre-release, remained unused and were removed in 13w03a per terrain.png 's deprecation in 13w02a and the subsequent removal of it and results.png. These textures were said to have been used to mark the edges of villages as seen in the Beta 1.8 PAX demo, however footage of these textures in action does not seem to exist.

The "edge" texture was carried to Pocket Edition in v0.2.0 alpha, however the "corner" texture was not, as its place was taken up by the info_update texture. The "edge" was removed in v0.8.0 alpha build 2 alongside many other such textures.

Both textures were present in Xbox 360 Edition since TU0 due to said version including a copy of Java Edition 1.2's terrain.png. In TU12, the "edge" was replaced by the bottom texture of the block of quartz (later known as the smooth quartz texture), and the "corner" by the top texture of the hopper.

Beta/Release white texture
The last of four unused textures added in Beta 1.8 Pre-release, this white texture was located alongside the three others. Its use is also unknown, and was removed in 13w02a per terrain.png 's deprecation in 13w02a and the subsequent removal of it and results.png.

This texture never appeared in Pocket Edition Alpha, as its position was taken by the texture for info_update2.

The texture was present in Xbox 360 Edition since TU0 due to said version including a copy of Java Edition 1.2's terrain.png. It was re-replaced by a lilac placeholder texture in TU12.

Paeonia
The paeonia was a flower type originally planned for implementation in 1.7.2. Originally revealed by Jeb in a screenshot, the flower was ultimately never implemented, ultimately superseded by the peony.

Barrel variants
In beta 1.9.0.2, these two barrel top textures were added to Bedrock Edition's block textures, but were unused. The "empty" texture visually resembles the later-introduced open texture. What these textures were specifically intended for remains unknown, and it is not known if they have been removed yet. The fish barrel texture can be found in Minecraft Dungeons however.

Wax block
A texture for a wax block was added to the game files in 19w34a. This texture was removed in 19w42a, as it was never actually intended to be used.

As this was a lone texture, it is implied that it would simply be rendered as a full cube:

Calibrated sculk sensor
In 20w49a, these two textures were added to the assets/minecraft/textures/blocks directory. The top texture is a translucent version of the block of amethyst texture, where the side texture is composed of the sculk sensor's side texture overlayed on the amethyst texture. Interestingly, the amethyst textures are based on those from 20w45a, despite these textures being added in 20w49a after the amethyst block textures were redone twice, implying these textures come from a probably long-since-scrapped functionality of the sculk sensor coupled with amethyst.

The textures were removed in Java Edition 21w13a.

Root vines
In Java Edition 21w05a, this texture called root_vines_head.png was added to the assets/minecraft/textures/block/ directory. What it would be used for is unknown. There is no known "body" texture despite this being implied by this texture being named "head" alongside the naming of existing cave vines.

The texture was removed in Java Edition 21w16a.

Given its translucent appearence, it likely would have been rendered as a cross, similar to cave vines and weeping vines.

debug.png and debug2.png
In 15w31a, these two textures were added to the game, where they remain to the current day. Given their name, they are used for debugging purposes by Mojang, likely for the creation and testing of block textures and models. They bear a passing resemblance to the two unimplemented sandstone textures added in 1.2.

debug.png could be made to appear in-game in certain Java Edition 1.13 snapshots by pushing a bubble column with a piston, implying the bubble column was somehow developed using this texture. Indeed, it was also used as its particle texture for a period of time.

Despite being unused, both of these blocks were given new textures for the 2018 April Fools' update: .

Leather-chain armor
Leather-chain armor refers to four armor item textures which were found in the initial versions of items.png, alongside the leather armor, chain armor and iron armor sets. First appearing in the second December 31, 2009 build, the sprites technically did see use in-game, but this is of little significance as all sprites on items.png were used at the time, with basically no functionality.

While this armor is also referred to as "studded armor", this name does not seem to be official, and the armor textures found in Legend of the Chambered appear to be those of the usual leather armor, rather than leather-chain.

The textures were ultimately removed some time between the 4th and 6th of February, 2010 in preparation for the actual implementation of armor and its mechanics.

Quiver
The quiver was another item texture which existed in items.png from the very beginning, but which persisted for much longer. Having its origins in Legend of the Chambered, one of Notch's prior games, the texture was also included among the first item sprites in the game. While it too technically existed as an item, it was also ultimately nonfunctional and only existed for testing purposes.

Its texture was changed on the 22nd of January, 2010 by flipping it horizontally from its original orientation.

The quiver texture was ultimately removed in an unknown Java Edition 1.9 development version.

The quiver texture was also present in Pocket Edition's items.png file and, reflecting the behaviour of early Indev, was even unintentionally assigned to an invalid ID item. Its removal time is unknown. It was also present in the Legacy Console Edition from the start, being replaced by the end crystal item texture in TU43 and equivalent versions.

Ruby
Rubies were intended to be the original currency used for trading. They could be seen in a screenshot released by Jeb on 21 May 2012, in which the trading system was first being tested. While it was later decided that emeralds would take their place as a currency, a ruby texture still made its way into items.png in Java Edition 12w21a alongside that of the emerald. The unused ruby texture which was present in the game differed from the version shown in the screenshot, however; both versions of the texture are shown below for the sake of comparison.

Emeralds were decided upon over rubies as Dinnerbone stated he had difficulty distinguishing between ruby ore and redstone ore.

Despite being completely unused throughout its existence in the game files, it, like the quiver, inexplicably survived the splitting of items.png and remained in the game as an unused texture file for much longer than expected. It even beat the quiver in longevity, remaining unused in the game for close to a decade prior to its removal in Java Edition 21w13a.

The texture was never present in Pocket Edition, as it never used a version of items.png containing it. The texture was, however, added to Xbox 360 Edition in TU9, and remained in the console editions until TU54 and equivalent versions, in which it was replaced by one of the textures used for bed items.

Rubies were also a currency in the now-discontinued game Minecraft Earth, but with completely different textures from those present in the main game.

Crystallized honey
A texture for a crystallized honey item was added to the game files in 19w34a. This texture was removed in 19w42a, as it was never actually intended to be used.

char_2.png
char_2.png is a texture that could be found in the jar file for the first Indev build released on February 12, 2010. The texture is mostly identical to that of Steve, with the difference being the presence of two yellow pixels on the head, as well as hair being present in the hat layer as well as the base. It was removed in an unknown version.

Door entity
On 3 June 2010, Notch discussed on his blog plans to add different types of furniture to the game, which included doors. These postings include discussions of implementing said furniture in the form of entities as opposed to blocks, as was previously done for paintings in Indev, with Notch also stating his successful reimplementation of signs the previous day as a block entity. If implemented as a block entity, this would allow doors to have a smooth opening and closing animation, similarly to what was added for chests a bit over a year later by converting them from normal blocks.

Doors were ultimately added on the 7th of June, 2010, as a relatively normal block, which would instantly open or close when interacted with, having no continuous animation in the process as had been mentioned. However, the /item directory in minecraft.jar, which stored the textures for other non-mob entities at that time such as minecarts and arrows, gained a texture called door.png in this same version, which is without a doubt linked to said opening/closing animation. An early iteration of the oak door can be seen in it, with empty space filled out in solid purple in a fashion resembling the placeholder texture from terrain.png and kz.png as well as the checkerboard missing texture.

An interesting thing to note about this door texture is the absence of any windows, a significant difference from the door actually implemented in the June 7th Infdev build, the top half of which does have a transparent window. The item form, however, still did not have a window in it until Alpha v1.0.1, meaning said item form was likely based off of this early iteration of the door before the animation was scrapped and the now comparatively inanimate door being given a window.

This door entity texture was one of many unused textures removed in 13w24a with the reconfiguring of game assets and the introduction of resource packs as the successor to texture packs.

Steve-villager hybrid


After villagers were added, a strange file could be found in the mobs folder (outside of the villager folder) called. It appeared to be some sort of Steve villager hybrid. The file was removed in 13w24a during the texture pack reform. It did not match the villager model. If used for the villager model in a resource pack, it would look glitched.

Skis
A texture known in the game files as  was added in 1.4.6 (around Christmas and New Year). Its texture was added by Dinnerbone as a red herring. The texture was removed in 1.6.1.

Strider's fin
Striders had a fin in their texture file. The fin wasn't visible in-game and was removed in 20w15a.



Light blue particles
In Beta 1.4, two blue particles were added to particles.png of completely unknown use. They visually resemble water droplets, possibly implying early plans to add the water dripping event later added in 1.0.0, or a change to existing water splash effects. These particle textures were eventually removed in 19w06a due to the splitting of particles.png into its constituent textures, with unused particle textures being removed outright.

The textures were also added to Pocket Edition in v0.1.0 alpha due to its particles.png being the same as the version from Beta 1.4. It still exists in Bedrock Edition's particles.png as of 1.16.

It may be worth noting that these two particles also closely resemble the existing used "flame" and "lava" particles in shape, possibly hinting at a planned connection:

Angry villager head
In 12w34a, a texture resembling an angry-looking villager head was added to particles.png. However, it remained unused, likely superseded by the cloud texture next to it. This texture was also removed in 19w06a due to being unused.

This unused texture was added to Pocket Edition in v0.12.1 alpha build 1 due to it changing to use a particles.png based on the one from 12w34a. It still exists in Bedrock Edition's particles.png as of 1.16.

Elephant Toothpaste
An unused particle called elephant_toothpaste.png was added to the chemistry pack of Education Edition in an unknown version. It appears completely unused and is most likely a scrapped feature.

Soul lava
In an unknown build of Bedrock Edition 1.16.0, a "soul lava" particle was added to particles.png. It can be seen that this particle is to the "lava" particle texture what the soul flame particle is to the ordinary "flame" particle. While likely added for consistency, it appears completely unused and whether it was actually planned for use at all is unknown.

Elemental paintings
In v0.5.0 alpha, with the addition of paintings to Pocket Edition, four unused 32x32 paintings were present in kz.png which remained unused - using IDA and the Android  file, it has been found that the paintings are referenced from the game code, particularly in the   method (get all paintings), but the   method excludes them as possibilities for a random painting. In v0.8.0 alpha build 2, despite still being unused, the textures of these paintings were updated to be more detailed.

The paintings are named and designed according to the four classical elements - "Earth" features a brown square on a light brown background, "Water" is split into a lower light blue half and an upper blue half with a jagged line, "Fire" consists of three orange isosceles triangles on a yellow background, with the largest having a small red triangle inside it, and "Wind" features a beige hollow circle on a white background.

The artist and purpose of these paintings are both unknown.

waterterrain.png


In Infdev, a file similar to, referred to as  , could be found. It appeared to be some sort of arrow system, and it is possible this was used to test water animation and to also possibly show water directions