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For other uses, see Dirt (disambiguation).

Dirt is a block found abundantly in most biomes under a layer of grass blocks at the top of the Overworld.

Obtaining[]

Natural generation[]

Dirt comprises the majority of the upper terrain layers in most Overworld biomes, bridging the gap between stone and grass blocks in various thicknesses.

There are approximately 1,850 dirt blocks per chunk in plains, forest, snowy plains, jungle, and windswept hills biomes. In villages, dirt generates naturally as part of several different structures. In woodland mansions, dirt generates in several types of rooms. Four blocks of dirt also generates as part of each ancient city and they also generate in trail ruins.

Dirt can also appear in the Overworld in the form of ore blobs. It attempts to generate seven times within each chunk as blobs ranging in size from 0-160 at Y=0—160, across all biomes. Moreover, it has the capability to replace stone, granite, andesite, diorite, polished granite‌[BE only], polished andesite‌[BE only], polished diorite‌[BE only], tuff[JE only], and deepslate[JE only].

Breaking[]

Dirt drops as an item when broken with any tool or by hand, but a shovel is the quickest way to break it.

Block Dirt
Hardness 0.5
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default 0.75
Wooden 0.4
Stone 0.2
Iron 0.15
Diamond 0.1
Netherite 0.1
Golden 0.1
  1. Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Farmland, dirt paths, grass blocks, mycelium, and podzol drop dirt if broken without Silk Touch. Farmland and dirt paths‌[JE only] drop dirt even if broken with Silk Touch.

Mob loot[]

An enderman drops a dirt block upon death, if holding one.

Post-generation[]

Farmland turns into dirt if either a mob jumps on it, a solid block is placed over it, or if nothing is planted on it and it is not within four blocks of water.

Dirt paths immediately turns into dirt if a solid block is placed over it.

Coarse dirt can be tilled with a hoe to become dirt.

Tilling rooted dirt with a hoe turns it into normal dirt, and yields a hanging roots item.

Grass blocks and mycelium can die under various circumstances. When they die, they turn into dirt.

Renewable acquisition[]

By tilling coarse dirt, the player can convert gravel into dirt. Two blocks each of gravel and dirt become four blocks of coarse dirt, which can then be placed and tilled. Since gravel is renewable through bartering with piglins, this makes a renewable source of dirt.

Another way to obtain renewable dirt makes use of moss blocks. Azalea converts the moss block below it into rooted dirt when grown into a tree. In Java Edition, Large spruce trees convert up to about 100 moss blocks into podzol when grown. Since moss can be converted from stone using bone meal, and stone can be renewably generated with water and lava, dirt can be renewably created as long as there is access to water, lava and moss blocks.

A third way to obtain renewable dirt is by buying podzol or rooted dirt from wandering traders. However, only 18 blocks of podzol or 10 blocks of rooted dirt can be purchased from each trader, so this method cannot be performed on a large scale.

Usage[]

Dirt's primary use is for farming, but it can also be used as a highly available building block.

Crafting ingredient[]

Name Ingredients Crafting recipe
Coarse Dirt Dirt +
Gravel

Farming[]

Dirt has the ability to grow saplings, sugar cane, mushrooms, sweet berries, and bamboo, which can be planted directly in dirt under appropriate conditions.

Using a hoe on dirt turns it into farmland, enabling wheat seeds, pumpkin seeds, melon seeds, potatoes, carrots, beetroot seeds, pitcher pods, and torchflower seeds to be planted on it.

Dirt path[]

Using a shovel on dirt turns it into a dirt path.

Grass and mycelium spreading[]

See also: Grass Block

When a dirt block is adjacent to a grass block and is exposed to a light level of at least 4, it is eventually converted into a grass block at random intervals.

Mycelium spreads in a similar fashion, but requires a light level of at least 9.

Mud[]

Using a water bottle, splash water bottle or lingering water bottle will convert the dirt into mud.

Sounds[]

Generic[]

Java Edition:

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Block brokenBlocksOnce the block has brokenblock.gravel.breaksubtitles.block.generic.break1.00.816
Block placedBlocksWhen the block is placedblock.gravel.placesubtitles.block.generic.place1.00.816
Block breakingBlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenblock.gravel.hitsubtitles.block.generic.hit0.250.516
None[sound 1]Entity-DependentFalling on the block with fall damageblock.gravel.fallNone[sound 1]0.50.7516
FootstepsEntity-DependentWalking on the blockblock.gravel.stepsubtitles.block.generic.footsteps0.151.016
  1. a b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
BlocksOnce the block has brokendig.gravel1.00.8-1.0
BlocksWhen the block is placeddig.gravel1.00.8-1.0
BlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenhit.gravel0.170.5
PlayersFalling on the block with fall damagefall.gravel0.41.0
PlayersWalking on the blockstep.gravel0.31.0
PlayersJumping from the blockjump.gravel0.11.0
PlayersFalling on the block without fall damageland.gravel0.171.0

Unique[]

Java Edition:

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
SplashingBlocksWhen a player creates a mud blockentity.generic.splashsubtitles.entity.generic.splash1.01.016
Bottle emptiesBlocksWhen a player or dispenser creates a mud blockitem.bottle.emptysubtitles.item.bottle.empty1.01.016
Shovel flattensBlocksWhen a shovel creates a dirt pathitem.shovel.flattensubtitles.item.shovel.flatten1.01.016

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
PlayersWhen a player[until BE 1.20.40] or dispenser creates a mud block[sound 1]random.splash1.00.6-1.4
SoundWhen a player creates a mud block[upcoming: BE 1.20.40]bottle.empty1.01.0
BlocksWhen a shovel creates a dirt path [sound 2]use.grass1.00.8

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierFormBlock tagsTranslation key
DirtdirtBlock & Itembamboo_plantable_on
enderman_holdable
dripstone_replaceable_blocks
moss_replaceable
lush_ground_replaceable
mineable/shovel
dirt
#sniffer_diggable_block
block.minecraft.dirt

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID FormItem ID[i 1]Translation key
Dirtdirt3Block & Giveable Item[i 2]Identical[i 3]tile.dirt.default.name
  1. ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
  2. Available with /give command.
  3. The block's direct item form has the same id as the block.

Block states[]

See also: Block states

In Bedrock Edition, dirt uses the following block states:

Bedrock Edition:

NameMetadata Bits Default value Allowed valuesValues for
Metadata Bits
Description
dirt_type0x1normal normal0Dirt
coarse1Coarse Dirt

History[]

Java Edition pre-Classic
rd-20090515Dirt JE1 Added dirt.
Grass spreads to dirt when under light.
Java Edition Classic
0.24 SURVIVAL TESTGrass blocks and dirt now drop dirt when broken.
Java Edition Indev
?Dirt now uses a sound distinct from grass.
20100206Dirt can now be tilled with a hoe into farmland.
Java Edition Infdev
20100617-2Dirt and gravel now generate naturally as ore features underground.
Java Edition Beta
1.8Pre-releaseDirt now generates naturally in villages and mineshafts.
Java Edition
1.0.0Beta 1.9 PrereleaseMycelium has been introduced, and now spreads to dirt.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5Dirt JE2 BE2 The texture of dirt has been changed. Dirt now has a slightly different arrangement of grains around the sides.
1.112w01aDirt is now generating in Superflat world type.
1.2.112w07aPlayer is now unable to till dirt with hoe when there is block on top of the dirt.
1.4.212w38aDirt has been given new sounds for being placed and walked upon.
1.814w27bDirt's textures now rotate randomly due to the addition of arrays to the block model format.
1.1116w39aDirt now generates in mansions.
1.1419w05aDirt is now renewable due to the wandering trader selling podzol.
1.1620w07aAs gravel has become renewable through piglin bartering, dirt can be more easily and renewably obtained through crafting and tilling coarse dirt.
1.1720w45aA shovel can now be used on dirt to create a dirt path block.
21w06aThe height limit was expanded down to Y=-64. Dirt blobs are temporary generating from Y=-64 instead of Y=0.
21w07aDirt ore features no longer generate below Y=0, but more common than in pre 21w06a versions.
21w15aAll the changes to dirt blob generation in the previous 1.17 snapshots have been reverted, but they can be re-enabled with the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack.
1.18Experimental Snapshot 1Dirt blob once again generates the way it did in the 1.17 snapshots without the use of a data pack.
21w37aDirt no longer generates as part of the starting room in mineshafts.[1][2]
21w39aDirt blobs no longer generate above Y=160, and becomes rarer than before. Before, the spawn attempt is 15 times per chunk.
1.1922w11aUsing a water bottle, splash water bottle or lingering water bottle now convert dirt into mud.
22w13aDirt now generates as part of ancient cities.
1.20
(Experimental)
23w07aSniffers can now dig dirt.
1.2023w12aDirt now generates in trail ruins.
23w16aThe amount of dirt in trail ruins has been tweaked.
The game's application icon has been changed from crafting table to dirt (for snapshots).
Pocket Edition Alpha
Pre-releaseDirt (texture) JE1 BE1 Dirt JE1 BE1 Added dirt.
v0.2.0Dirt JE2 BE2 The texture of dirt has been changed.
v0.4.0Dirt can now be hoed into farmland.
v0.8.0build 1The textures of dirt are now randomly rotated.
v0.9.0build 1Dirt JE2 BE2 Grassless dirt has been added.
v0.11.0build 1Dirt can now be obtained by breaking grass path blocks.
Pocket Edition
1.1.0alpha 1.1.0.0Dirt now generates in woodland mansions.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0beta 1.2.0.2Grassless dirt has been replaced with coarse dirt.
1.10.0beta 1.10.0.3Dirt is now renewable.
1.18.0beta 1.18.0.20Dirt blob generation has now been tweaked to be in parity with Java Edition.
beta 1.18.0.21Dirt blobs no longer generate above Y=160, and becomes rarer than before. Before, the spawn attempt is 15 times per chunk.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1CU1 1.0 Patch 11.0.1Dirt JE1 BE1 Added dirt.
TU3Dirt JE2 BE2 The texture of dirt has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
1.0.0Dirt JE2 BE2 Added dirt.

Data history[]

Java Edition
1.814w10aDirt with numerical metadata variants 3 through 15, which are inaccessible through normal gameplay, now have no model Missing Model JE2 rather than appearing identical to dirt.
14w25aDirt and its variants are now defined via block states rather than by numerical metadata. Prior to this version, the numerical metadata variants of dirt were as follows:
DV Description
0 Dirt
1 Grassless Dirt
2 Podzol
3-15 Inaccessible "boring" variants of dirt
14w26aDirt with metadata values 3 through 15 have now been completely removed from the game.
1.1317w47aThe different variant block states for the dirt ID have been split up into their own IDs.
Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 3.

Issues[]

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

Gallery[]

References[]

External Links[]

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