Coal

Coal is an item mainly obtained by harvesting coal ore blocks. It is used as fuel, for crafting torches, or for trading with villagers.

Charcoal is an alternative to coal obtained from smelting logs or wood. It has the same uses as normal coal, except that it cannot be traded with villagers or crafted into a block of coal. Coal and charcoal also cannot stack together.

Obtaining
The main difference between coal and charcoal is in how they are obtained.

Mining
Coal ore mined using a pickaxe drops 1 unit of coal. If the pickaxe is enchanted with Fortune, it may drop an extra unit per level of Fortune, up to a maximum of 4 with Fortune III.

Compound creation
Charcoal can be created from its base elements, using the compound creator.

Wither skeletons
Wither skeletons have a $1/3$ chance of dropping a single coal upon death. The maximum amount of coal is increased by 1 per level of Looting. The chance of a wither skeleton not dropping any coal can be found using the formula. For example, Looting III gives a $1/3$ chance of not dropping any coal. All other amounts have an equal chance of occurring.

Campfires
A campfire broken without the silk touch enchantment drops 2 charcoal.

Lab table ingredient
Charcoal is one of the lab table ingredients needed to produce the heat block.

Fuel
When used in a furnace as a fuel, a coal lump or piece of charcoal lasts 80 seconds (smelting up to 8 items). Coal/charcoal used as fuel lasts more than 5 times longer than wood planks or wood logs used as fuel, being more efficient than any other use of wood for smelting in Java Edition, but outstripped by wooden slabs in Bedrock.

Coal and charcoal are also the only fuels accepted by powered minecarts. They provide approximately four minutes of transit each.

Trading
$$, novice-level armorer, toolsmith, and weaponsmith villagers buy 15 coal for an emerald. Apprentice-level butcher villagers buy 15 coal for an emerald. Novice-level fisherman villagers have a 50% chance to buy 10 coal for an emerald.

$$, novice-level armorer, toolsmith, and weaponsmith villagers have a 40% chance of offering to buy 15 coal for one emerald. Apprentice-level butcher villagers have $2/3$ chance of offering to buy 15 coal for one emerald. Novice-level fisherman villagers have a 50% chance of offering to buy 10 coal for one emerald.

ID
Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Issues
Uhlí Kohle Carbón Charbon Szén (tárgy) Carbone 石炭 석탄 Steenkool Węgiel Carvão Уголь ถ่านหิน Kömür 煤炭