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Template:BlockTileEntity

This article is about the basic wooden chest. For the redstone component, see trapped chest. For the obsidian chest, see ender chest.

A chest is a block that stores items.

Obtaining

Chests can be obtained by crafting, or by breaking previously-placed chests, generated chests, or minecarts with chests.

Breaking

A chest can be broken using anything, but an axe is the fastest.

Block Chest
Hardness 2.5
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default 3.75
Wooden 1.9
Stone 0.95
Iron 0.65
Diamond 0.5
Netherite 0.45
Golden 0.35
  1. Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

If the chest contains items, the items will also be dropped when it is broken. If one half of a large chest is destroyed, the corresponding items from the destroyed chest will be dropped and the remaining chest will continue to function as a small chest.

Crafting

Ingredients Crafting recipe
Any Wood Planks

To make a large chest, place two chests next to each other on the floor. You cannot place a chest next to a double chest normally without the use of /setblock.‌[Computer and Legacy Console editions only]

Natural generation

See also: Chest loot

Chests are naturally generated in dungeons, strongholds, jungle temples, desert temples, nether fortresses, villages, end cities, end ships, igloos, and woodland mansions. Minecarts with chests, which when broken will drop a chest, a minecart, and any contents of the chest, are naturally generated in abandoned mineshafts.

Bonus chest

BonusChest Loot

Example of loot in a bonus chest

A bonus chest will generate in the player's spawn if the "Bonus Chest" option is enabled in the World Options menu. The bonus chest can't be enabled in hardcore mode.

The bonus chest acts as a starter kit. It generates once in newly created worlds in which it was enabled and is filled with basic items that may help the player survive early on, getting them started gathering resources, and making the objective of building a shelter a lot easier.

Up to four torches will generate around the chest in adjacent horizontal and vertical squares.

Each seed's Bonus Chest will always contain the same items, except in the console edition, where the loot is generated separately.

In Java Edition, each bonus chest contains items drawn from 4 pools, with the following distribution:

Item Stack Size [A] Weight [B] Chance [C] Avg.
per chest
[D]
Avg. # chests
to search
[E]
Apple 1–251183.8%2.0451.2
Wooden Axe 13475.0%0.7501.3
Wooden Pickaxe 13475.0%0.7501.3
Oak Planks 1–12104167.3%6.3411.5
Stick 1–12104167.3%6.3411.5
Bread 1–231161.5%1.2271.6
Raw Salmon 1–231161.5%1.2271.6
Acacia Log 1–334126.2%0.5853.8
Birch Log 1–334126.2%0.5853.8
Dark Oak Log 1–334126.2%0.5853.8
Jungle Log 1–334126.2%0.5853.8
Mangrove Log 1–334126.2%0.5853.8
Oak Log 1–334126.2%0.5853.8
Spruce Log 1–334126.2%0.5853.8
Stone Axe 11425.0%0.2504.0
Stone Pickaxe 11425.0%0.2504.0

In Bedrock Edition, each bonus chest contains items drawn from 14 pools, with the following distribution:

Item Stack Size [A] Weight [B] Chance [C] Avg.
per chest
[D]
Avg. # chests
to search
[E]
Oak Planks 1–1211100.0%6.5001.0
Stick 1–1211100.0%6.5001.0
Apple 1–211100.0%1.5001.0
Bread 1–211100.0%1.5001.0
Brown Mushroom 1–222100.0%1.5001.0
Raw Salmon 1–211100.0%1.5001.0
Wooden Axe 13475.0%0.7501.3
Wooden Pickaxe 13475.0%0.7501.3
Cactus 1–23560.0%0.9001.7
Acacia Log 1–31250.0%1.0002.0
Dark Oak Log 1–31250.0%1.0002.0
Carrot 1–23650.0%0.7502.0
Potato 1–23650.0%0.7502.0
Cocoa Beans 1–22540.0%0.6002.5
Beetroot Seeds 1–23933.3%0.5003.0
Melon Seeds 1–23933.3%0.5003.0
Pumpkin Seeds 1–23933.3%0.5003.0
Jungle Sapling 441428.6%1.1433.5
Birch Log 1–31425.0%0.5004.0
Jungle Log 1–31425.0%0.5004.0
Oak Log 1–31425.0%0.5004.0
Spruce Log 1–31425.0%0.5004.0
Stone Axe 11425.0%0.2504.0
Stone Pickaxe 11425.0%0.2504.0
Acacia Sapling 421414.3%0.5717.0
Birch Sapling 421414.3%0.5717.0
Dark Oak Sapling 421414.3%0.5717.0
Oak Sapling 421414.3%0.5717.0
Spruce Sapling 421414.3%0.5717.0
  1. a b The size of stacks (or for unstackable items, number) of this item on any given roll.
  2. a b The weight of this item relative to other items in the pool.
  3. a b The odds of finding any of this item in a single chest.
  4. a b The number of items expected per chest, averaged over a large number of chests.
  5. a b The average number of chests the player should expect to search to find any of this item.


The bonus chest in the console edition may contain any of the above items, except acacia wood. It also may contain the following items [verify]:

Usage

Chests can be used as containers and as crafting ingredients.

To place a chest, use the Place Block control on the face of a block adjacent to the space the chest should occupy.

Two adjacent chests will join to create a "large chest" (aka "double chest"). Chests cannot be placed in a way that causes a large chest to be next to another chest horizontally (for example, placing a chest next to a large chest and placing a chest in between two chests),‌[Computer and Legacy Console editions only] but chests can be placed above or below a large chest. A trapped chest or large trapped chest can be placed next to a large chest without restriction, allowing close-packing of alternating single or large chests and trapped chests.

Chests cannot be moved by pistons,‌[Computer and Legacy Console editions only] and water and lava will flow around chests without affecting them. Lava can create fire in air blocks next to chests as if the chests were flammable, but the chests will not burn up (and can't be burned by other methods either).

In Pocket Edition, chests can be moved by pistons, and placement of chests is directional. For example, a chest facing north placed adjacent to a chest facing east will not join to create a large chest.

Container

File:Large Chest.png

The default GUI of a large chest, showing the large chest's contents above the player's own inventory and hotbar.

A single chest has 27 slots of inventory space (46,683 maximum possible items, assuming shulker boxes are filled and placed in the chest), and a large chest has 54 slots of inventory space (93,366 maximum possible items, assuming shulker boxes are filled and placed in the chest). In a large chest, the top three rows in the interface correspond to the western or northern chest block and the bottom three to the southern or eastern chest block.

To open the chest GUI, use the Use Item control. To move items between the chest inventory and the player inventory or hotbar while the chest GUI is open, drag or shift-click the items. By holding ⇧ Shift and double-clicking while holding an item, all items of a type clicked on will be moved in or out of the chest. To exit the chest GUI, use the Esc control.

A chest will not open if there is an opaque block above it. In Pocket Edition, every entity (including the player itself) except dropped items will stop the chest from opening, while in other versions, ocelots are the only entity that will prevent chests from opening. Since chests are transparent, they can be stacked on top of one another while still allowing the chests below to open.

By default, the GUI of a chest is labeled "Chest" and the GUI of a large chest is labeled "Large Chest". A chest's GUI label can be changed by naming the chest in an anvil before placing it, or by using the blockdata command (for example, to label a chest at (0,64,0) "Loot!", use blockdata 0 64 0 {CustomName:Loot!}). If only half of a large chest is renamed, that name will be used to label the GUI of the entire large chest, but if the named half is destroyed the other half will revert to the default label. If both halves of a large chest have different names, the GUI will be labeled with the name of the northernmost or westernmost half of the large chest depending on its orientation (the half with the lowest coordinate in the appropriate axis).

A chest can be "locked" by setting the chest's Lock tag. If a chest's Lock tag is not blank, the chest cannot be opened except by players holding an item with the same name as the Lock tag's text. A chest's Lock tag can be set or unset with the blockdata command. For example, to lock a chest at (0,64,0) so that only players holding an item named "Player's Key" can open the chest, use blockdata 0 64 0 {Lock:"Player's Key"}.

Donkey, mule, or llama pack

A chest can be added to a donkey, a mule, or a llama by pressing use on a donkey, mule, or llama.

A chest attached to a donkey or mule has only 15 slots. A chest attached to a llama has from 3 to 15 slots depending upon its "Strength" (see Llama#Data values). The chest cannot be removed except by killing the carrier. The chest can be opened by holding sneak and pressing use, or by riding the carrier and pressing inventory.

Crafting ingredient

Name Ingredients Crafting recipe
Boat with Chest Chest +
Matching Boat


Hopper Iron Ingot +
Chest

Minecart with Chest Chest +
Minecart


Shulker Box Shulker Shell +
Chest

Trapped Chest Tripwire Hook +
Chest


Fuel

Chests can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 1.5 items per chest.

Christmas chest

On December 24-26, chests, large chests and trapped chests have their textures changed to Christmas chests which look like presents. However, Christmas chests are not currently in the Pocket Edition. Since the game uses the date shown on the computer, players can have access to the Christmas chest textures by changing the date and time on their computers.

Data values

Every chest has an ID name of chest and is further defined by its block data and block entity. A chest also has a block state which is expected to replace the functionality of block data in a future version.

Block data

See also: Data values

A chest's block data stores its facing:

Bits Values
0x1
0x2
0x4

A three-bit field storing a value from 2 to 5:

  • 2: Chest facing north
  • 3: Chest facing south
  • 4: Chest facing west
  • 5: Chest facing east

Invalid values default to 2.

0x8 Unused.

Block entity

A chest has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block. The block's block entity ID is chest.

  • Block entity data
    • Tags common to all block entities
    •  CustomName: Optional. The name of this container in JSON text component, which appears in its GUI where the default name ordinarily appears.
    •  Items: List of items in this container.
      • : An item, including the slot tag. Chest slots are numbered 0-26, 0 starts in the top left corner.
        • Tags common to all items
    •  Lock: Optional. When not blank, prevents the container from being opened unless the opener is holding an item whose name matches this string.
    •  LootTable: Optional. Loot table to be used to fill the chest when it is next opened, or the items are otherwise interacted with.[note 1]
    •  LootTableSeed: Optional. Seed for generating the loot table. 0 or omitted use a random seed.[note 1]
    •  gold: Exists only in the april fools snapshot 23w13a_or_b. Optional. When set to anything but 0, turns the chest into a golden chest.
  1. a b Both loot table tags are removed once the items have been generated.

Block state

See also: Block states

Java Edition:

Name Default value Allowed values Description
facingnortheast
north
south
west
The direction the chest's latch is on.
The opposite from the direction the player faces when placing a chest.
typesingleleft
right
single
The direction the chest has a connection with.
waterloggedfalsefalse
true
Whether or not there's water in the same place as this chest.

Bedrock Edition:

NameMetadata Bits Default value Allowed valuesValues for
Metadata Bits
Description
facing_direction
(Hidden‌[upcoming: BE 1.20.40])
0x1
0x2
0x4
22
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
The direction the chest's latch is on.
  • 2: Chest facing north
  • 3: Chest facing south
  • 4: Chest facing west
  • 5: Chest facing east
0
1
0
1
Unused
minecraft:cardinal_direction‌[upcoming: BE 1.20.40]Not Supportednortheast
north
south
west
UnsupportedThe direction the chest's latch is on.
The opposite from the direction the player faces when placing a chest.

Achievements

Icon Achievement In-game description Actual requirements (if different) Gamerscore earned Trophy type (PS4)
PS4 Other
Chestful of CobblestoneMine 1,728 Cobblestone and place it in a chest.A player must mine 1,728 cobblestone and place 1,728 cobblestone, or 27 stacks, in a chest. The cobblestone placed in the chest does not have to be the same cobblestone that was mined.20GBronze
Freight StationUse a Hopper to move an item from a Chest Minecart to a Chest.15GBronze
Smelt Everything!Connect 3 Chests to a single Furnace using 3 Hoppers.Be within the range of three chests connected to a Furnace with 3 Hoppers.15GBronze

Video

Chest/video

History

indev
0.31January 24, 2010File:Chest Pre-Beta 1.8.pngFile:Double Chest Pre-Beta 1.8.png Added chests.
Chests were considered a solid block.
The front of the chest (with the latch) faced away from any adjacent solid blocks, or would face west if placed independent of other blocks.
If a chest was placed next to a large chest it would attempt to "connect" with the large one, changing its texture to that of half a large chest. However, this is purely visual; they would still act like two separate chests. Additionally, if one attempted to open a chest connected on all four sides, the game froze and the client crashed.
January 29, 2010Chests can now be crafted.
alpha
1.0.14Chests are now used to craft minecarts with chests.
beta
1.1_02Partially fixed the chest placement. It is still possible to create triple chests if the chest was not placed horizontally adjacent to a large chest or if placed in the location of a fluid.
The game would no longer freeze, but instead display a graphically glitched, fully functional chest screen.
1.5Chests can no longer be placed to create a triple chest; however, any chest previously created in this way still functions in that manner.
1.8ChestAdded an opening/closing animation with a new chest model.
The chest's texture is no longer in the terrain.png file. Instead, it is in the folder "item" under "chest.png" and "chestlarge.png," with the former being a chest on its own and the latter being the large chest. However, prior to 12w21a, the chest particles were still based off terrain.png and for the locked chest texture.
Chests are now tile entities, which means they no longer showed the block breaking animation and are also slightly smaller than they were before.
Chests now change the direction they face based on the viewpoint of the player.
Chests can be found in abandoned mineshafts and strongholds.
Sound UpdateChest opening and closing sounds changed.
release
1.0.0Beta 1.9-pre1Removed the opening and closing sound effects of the chest (it used the same sounds as the door).
1.1Chests can be found in NPC villages.
1.2.4Cats will try to sit on chests, making them unopenable.
1.3.112w16aThe 'bonus chest' option was added to the Options menu.
12w21aChest particles are no longer based off terrain.png and for the locked chest texture.
Chests can be found in desert temples.
12w22aChests can be found in jungle temples.
1.4.41.4.4-preChests have a smaller hitbox.
1.4.612w50aFile:Xmaschest.pngFile:Largexmaschest.pngAdded alternate chest textures into the game files. They were for a future "Christmas chest" easter egg.
12w50bFixed server/client desync of chests.
1.513w01aChests can be used to craft a hopper and a trapped chest. Chests can now be used in conjunction with hoppers.
13w02aChests no longer generate naturally in mineshafts
1.6.113w18aChests are now found in nether fortresses.
13w19aChests can now be put on donkeys and mules.
1.814w02aChests can now have a NBT tag added enabling locked chest. They can only be opened if player is holding the item the chest is set for.
14w29aChests now display the cracking animation.
1.915w31aChests now naturally generate in end cities.
Now have their item model rotated, to have the front face in view of the player.
15w43aA chest now generates within igloo basements.
Loot tables are added; chests can now use loot tables.
All chests generated with the world now make use of loot tables.
15w44aBonus chest loot changed.
Raw salmon is now possible to find.
Average supply of sticks and planks are nearly doubled.
Average supply of logs are decreased, and that of stone tools are nearly halved.
1.9.1pre1A hopper can now push into and pull items from a blocked chest.
1.1116w39aChests now generate in woodland mansions.
Chests are now used to craft shulker boxes.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.4.0Added chests, but only single chests.
0.7.3Added large chests. Added animation and sound. Chests in this version can also be placed adjacent to large chests or other chests facing in a different direction
0.8.0Changed the texture to look more like PC.
0.9.0build 1Chests now naturally generate in abandoned mineshafts, villages, strongholds and dungeons.
Added smooth lighting to chests.
0.10.0build 1Chests now have a selection overlay.
0.12.1build 1Cats will try to sit on chests, making them unopenable.
Chests now naturally generate in Nether fortresses.
0.13.0build 1Chests are now used to craft trapped chests.
Chest now naturally generate in desert temples.
0.14.0build 1 Chests are now used to craft hoppers and minecarts with chests.
0.15.0build 1Chests can now be put on donkeys and mules. Pistons and sticky pistons can now move chests.
Chests naturally generate in jungle temples.
0.16.0build 1Custom name no longer appears in GUI.
Changed chest invetory texture.
0.16.2A chest containing farming loot can naturally generate in large houses in villages.
Pocket Edition
1.0Chests now can generate in end cities and igloos.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1CU1 1.0 Patch 1Added chests.
TU5Improved chest model with a 3D lock, and added opening and closing animation.
TU12Cats will try to sit on chests, making them unopenable.
TU14 1.04 The 'bonus chest' option was added to the Options menu.
Chest particles are no longer based off terrain.png and for the locked chest texture.
Chests can be found in desert temples.
Chests can be found in jungle temples.

Issues

Issues relating to "Chest" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Gallery

See also

  • Locked chest (an April Fools' joke that is no longer in the game)
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