Panorama

The panorama is a slowly panning wide-angle view of a Minecraft world displayed on the main menu. $$, this scene remained the same from inception until Java Edition 1.12, after which the background was changed for each themed update.

This page also covers other images which have been used as the backgrounds of menu screens for completion's sake.

Dirt background


A dirt textured background has been used since the first loading screen was implemented, and still sees use in menus in Java Edition today. It was used for the main menu screen since its introduction in Indev up to Beta 1.7.3.

Oddly, despite the texture of dirt being changed in 1.0.0's development, this texture is still the old texture even in modern game versions.

Netherrack background


A netherrack textured background is displayed when moving to the Nether.

End stone background


An end stone textured background is displayed when moving to the End.

Prototype


Dinnerbone has stated that the menu panorama was originally going to be an in-game render of a live world, with custom world generation with the seed 100. He also mentioned another panorama that came before the one seen in Beta 1.8, which was a plains biome near the beach.

Classical panorama


This was introduced to Java Edition in Beta 1.8's early development, and used for over six years before its replacement in the 1.13 prerelease stage. It was also used in Pocket Edition from v0.7.3 alpha up to somewhere in its early release phase. Its use in other editions is unknown.

The seed for the menu screen panorama in the game from Beta 1.8 to 1.12 (Beta 1.8 Pre-release to 1.13-pre1) is or  (both are considered valid seeds), and work in versions from Beta 1.7.3 all the way back to Alpha v1.2.0 (except for population differences).

The actual version that was used to generate this panorama must have been a development version between Beta 1.6.6 and Beta 1.7, based on the file dates.

Dinnerbone noted that the panorama was taken by Notch (likely on his laptop) while he was traveling, around June 1–15, 2011.

Update Aquatic (Java)
The menu panorama was changed for the first time in six and a half years for the Update Aquatic. This panorama uses seed (numeric: ) at coordinates X=1553.76, Y=58.62, Z=-1162.79. This seed generates most correctly in version 18w22a.

Village & Pillage (Java)
The Village & Pillage menu panorama showcases a small plains village. This panorama image was taken near the spawn of at coordinates X=240.57, Y=78.12, Z=147.38. This seed generates most correctly in version 18w48a. In the panorama, a plains village is shown next to a bamboo jungle and an outpost to the distant. There are a total of 3 villages that can be seen. The 3rd is behind the outpost.

Buzzy Bees (Java)
The menu panorama for Buzzy Bees was taken on the seed at coordinates X=339.691, Y=65.546, Z=-1072.041. This seed generates most correctly in version 19w40a. The same thing shares from Bedrock Edition beta 1.14.0.2 to 1.16.0.55

Nether Update
The Nether Update panorama was taken on the seed at coordinates X=482.208, Y=78.515, Z=-1127.193 in the Nether. This seed generates most correctly in version 20w13a.

Caves & Cliffs (Java)
The Caves & Cliffs panorama was taken on an unknown seed. It was updated in snapshot 21w15a, to remove torches in the panorama.

1.2.0–1.4.4
The panorama seed from Bedrock Edition 1.2.0 to 1.4.4 was. The same seed was used for the "Winding River" preset in the seed picker.