Skin

A skin refers to the texture that is placed onto a player model or mob.

The skin is divided into areas that act as the surface area of the character (For example, there's the front head area, left leg area, etc.). A skin will only allow solid color; transparency is not allowed on the skin file except on the second head area, which is transparent by default; playing offline, pixels can be left free resulting in "holes" in the skin. The second head layer can be used to give the character glasses, hats, or other accessories (even a bigger head).

World textures
A skin can also refer to other textures in the game, such as block textures, item sprites, mob skins etc. A list of these can be found here. Modifying these has been officially supported since the Alpha 1.2.2 Update on November 10, 2010.

It is worth noting that Pigmen, Zombie, and Zombie Pigmen mobs can use typical player skins (and vice-versa). Skeleton mobs can use typical player skins as well, but keep in mind that they have their skinny arms and legs. (If a skeleton mob skin is used as a player's skin, their legs and arms will not be skinny.)

Since 1.4, in order to use the player skin for Pigmen, Zombie, and Zombie Pigmen, you must align it to the correct place on the .png or the texture will be broken.

PC
A player can only change their character's skin if they have purchased Minecraft. This is done on the Profile page by uploading a valid .png image file, which will then replace the default skin. These can be created in Skin editors and creators, one popular one being Skincraft. The char.png file in minecraft.jar can also be changed and replaced, but the effects will only be visible to that player, and only players with the default skin will appear different.

Xbox 360
There are currently 8 default skin types (with the exception of the skin packs), all of which appear to have Steve's face, but wearing different outfits and skin colors. The following are available through split screen and online only. The skins are available to be chosen in the 'Change Skin' area of Help & Options. The Xbox allows transparent skins, because you can't create your own skins on the Xbox 360 edition. This prevents issues with completely transparent skin users "haunting" other players.

Default:

Skin Packs
Since the Xbox 360 Edition's 1.7 update, 4J Studios have begun rolling out Skin Packs as downloadable content. Skin Packs add additional skins that players may choose from along with the 8 default skins packaged with the game. They often feature characters from other video-games (usually games on Xbox Arcade), alongside original designs.

Skin Pack 1


Skin Pack 1 was released on July 16th, 2012. It contains 45 different skins to choose from. It is purchasable through the Xbox 360 Marketplace or directly in-game through the Downloadable Content section and costs 160 Microsoft Points. A trial version of Skin Pack 1 is available as a free download, which enables the full use of the original design skins, but not the skins based on copyrighted game characters which include those based on Minecraft's own characters.

Skin Pack 2


Skin Pack 2 was released on August 24th, 2012. It contains 45 different skins to choose from. It is purchasable through the Xbox 360 Marketplace or directly in-game through the Downloadable Content section and costs 160 Microsoft Points. A trial version of Skin Pack 2 is available as a free download, which enables the full use of the original design skins and some skins based off of certain indie game characters.

Skin Pack 3


Skin Pack 3 was released on October 17, 2012. It contains 45 different skins to choose from, including figures from Valve's Half Life 2, Portal 2, and Left 4 Dead 2. It is purchasable through the Xbox 360 Marketplace or directly in-game through the Downloadable Content section and costs 160 Microsoft Points. A trial version of Skin Pack 3 is available as a free download, which enables the full use of the original design skins and skins based on indie game characters.

Skin Pack 4


Skin Pack 4 was released on March 13, 2013. It contains 45 different skins to choose from. Some of these skins include capes. It is purchasable through the Xbox 360 Marketplace or directly in-game through the Downloadable Content section and costs 160 Microsoft Points. A trial version of Skin Pack 4 is available as a free download, which enables the full use of some designs.

Summer Of Arcade Promotional Skin Pack


The Summer of Arcade Free Promotional Skin Pack was available through July 18th and August 22, 2012. It was available through the Xbox home page, and was free. It contained 15 different skins to choose from, all from popular games in the "Summer of Arcade" XBLA event.

Halloween Skin Pack
The Halloween Skin Pack was downloadable from October 26th, 2012 to November 26th, 2012. It contained 55 different skins to choose from. 7 skins included capes. It was purchasable through the Xbox 360 Marketplace or directly in-game through the Downloadable Content section of the game and costs 160 Microsoft Points. All proceeds went to charity.

Festive Skin Pack
The Festive Skin Pack was released on December 19th, 2012. It contained 24 different skins to choose from. 13 of them added extra pixels not available in the PC Version (ex. Santa's Hat) It is purchasable through the Xbox 360 Marketplace or directly in-game through the Downloadable Content section of the game and costs 80 Microsoft Points. A trial version of The Festive Skin Pack is available as a free download, which enables the full use of 7 of the designs.

Community Skin Pack
A community Skin Pack is being developed, comprised entirely of skins suggested by the community. It will feature no characters which are under IP.

Creating a skin


A custom skin is a great way to personalize your player model and can be done either by using a variety of community-made skin editors, or by editing the "char.png" file manually with an image editor like Paint.NET or another image editor. The "char.png" file can be downloaded from here. When editing the "char.png" file manually, be sure to keep the original image dimensions.

After making a custom skin using a skin editor or by editing the "char.png" file manually, you have a .png skin file. Upload it at the Profile page of www.minecraft.net and your skin is applied. Start up Minecraft and enjoy your new skin! Other players in multiplayer will also be able to see your skin. You will only be able to see your custom skin if you are logged in. When playing offline, you will not see it.

It is also worth noting that there exists an estimated 30,601,641,984 possible skins that any player could create. This calculation was based on the number of total useable pixels, multiplied by the number of RGB values per pixel, then taking into account the possibility of the transparency in the helmet section of the skin template.

Capes
Capes (previously known as cloaks) are vanity items and are worn in addition to the player's skin. There is currently no way to obtain a cape on one's own, however there are various mods that allow players to do this. On the Xbox 360 edition some skins from various skin packs, such as the Grim Reaper in the Halloween Pack and Althaïr Ibn-La'Ahad in Skin Pack 4 have capes.

Unused MineCon 2011 capes
These capes were featured in a poll where MineCon 2011 attendees could vote for their cape of choice. The red creeper cape won MineCon 2011 and the blue cape with the pickaxe won MineCon 2012. These capes were left unused.