Dropper

Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	3.5
Hardness	3.5
Luminant	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No

A dropper is a block that can be used to eject items or to push items into another container.

Obtaining[edit]

Droppers can be mined with a pickaxe, in which case it drops itself and its contents. If mined without a pickaxe, the dropper drops only its contents.

Block	Dropper
Hardness	3.5
Tool
Breaking time^[A]
Default	17.5
Wooden	2.65
Stone	1.35
Iron	0.9
Diamond	0.7
Netherite	0.6
Golden	0.45

↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Crafting[edit]

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Cobblestone + Redstone Dust

Usage[edit]

A dropper can be used as a container or as a redstone component to move objects.

A dropper can be placed so that its output faces in any direction, including up or down. When placed, the dropper's output faces toward the player. With default textures, the droppers output side looks like a face when positioned for horizontal output. Otherwise, the output side has a square hole.

A dropper cannot be moved by pistons in Java Edition and water and lava flow around a dropper.

Container[edit]

A dropper has 9 slots of inventory space.

To open the dropper GUI, use the Use Item control. To move items between the dropper inventory and the player inventory or hotbar while the dropper GUI is open, drag or shift-click the items. To exit the dropper GUI, use the Esc control.

By default, the GUI of a dropper is labeled "Dropper". A dropper's GUI label can be changed by naming the dropper in an anvil before placing it, or by using the /data command‌^{[Java Edition only]} (for example, to label a dropper at (0,64,0) "Alice's Dropper", use /data merge block 0 64 0 {CustomName:'"Alice's Dropper"'}).

A dropper can be "locked" (or subsequently unlocked) by setting the dropper's Lock tag with the /data command. If a dropper's Lock tag is not blank, the dropper cannot be accessed except by players holding an item with the same name as the Lock tag's text. For example, to lock a dropper at (0,64,0) so that only players holding an item named "Alice's Key" can access the dropper, use /data merge block 0 64 0 {Lock:"Alice's Key"}.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Redstone component[edit]

A dropper can be used to eject items, or push items into another container.

Activation

A dropper can be activated by:

an adjacent active power component (Exceptions: a redstone torch does not turn ON a dropper it is attached to)
an adjacent powered opaque block (strongly-powered or weakly-powered)
a powered redstone repeater or redstone comparator facing the dropper
powered redstone dust configured to point at the dropper, or on top of it, or a directionless "dot" next to it; a dropper is not activated by adjacent powered redstone dust that is configured to point in another direction.

In addition to the methods above, droppers can also be activated by quasi-connectivity.‌^{[Java Edition only]} A dropper activates if one of the methods above would activate a mechanism component in the block above the dropper, even if there is no mechanism component there (even if the block above the dropper is air or a transparent block), but only when the dropper receives a block update (including a redstone update within two blocks of the dropper).

A dropper does not activate if it has been less than 1 redstone tick (2 game ticks, or 0.1 seconds barring lag) since its last activation ended.

Behavior

When activated, a dropper waits 2 redstone ticks (4 game ticks, or 0.2 seconds barring lag) and then ejects one item from its inventory. The dropper does not continue to eject items while activated — ejection occurs only on the initial activation (the rising edge of an input signal). To eject multiple items, repeatedly activate the dropper with a clock circuit.

If multiple slots are occupied by items, a random occupied slot is chosen for ejection. The slot is chosen when an item is ejected, not when the dropper is initially activated, thus it is possible to move items into or out of a dropper between its activation and item dispensing.

If the dropper is facing a container, the ejected item is transferred into the container. Otherwise, the item is ejected in the direction the dropper is facing, as if a player had used the Drop control. Even items that would be treated differently by a dispenser (such as arrows) are simply ejected by a dropper.

A dropper makes a clicking noise (the random.click sound event) when activated empty or when ejecting items into air, but is silent when it successfully transfers an item into another container.

A dropper is an opaque block, so powering it directly can cause adjacent mechanism components (including other droppers) to activate as well.

A line of droppers, each pushing items into the next dropper, is known as a dropper pipe. A dropper pipe must be clocked to move items, but can be clocked to move items faster than a hopper pipe's transfer rate. When a dropper pipe pushes items upwards, it is known as a droppervator (short for "dropper elevator").

Note Blocks[edit]

Dropper can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sound.

Sounds[edit]

Generic[edit]

Java Edition:

Subtitle	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	`block.stone.break`	`subtitles.block.generic.break`	1.0	0.8	16
None^{[sound 1]}	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	`block.stone.fall`	None^{[sound 1]}	0.5	0.75	16
Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`block.stone.hit`	`subtitles.block.generic.hit`	0.25	0.5	16
Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	`block.stone.place`	`subtitles.block.generic.place`	1.0	0.8	16
Footsteps	Blocks	Walking on the block	`block.stone.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.15	1.0	16

↑ ^a ^b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	`dig.stone`	1.0	0.8
	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	`fall.stone`	0.4	1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`hit.stone`	0.37	0.5
?	Blocks	Jumping from the block	`jump.stone`	0.12	1.0
?	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	`land.stone`	0.22	1.0
	Blocks	Walking on the block	`step.stone`	0.3	1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	`use.stone`	1.0	0.8

Unique[edit]

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitle	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Dispensed item^{[sound 1]}	Blocks	Dropper activating	`block.dispenser.dispense^{[sound 1]}`	`subtitles.block.dispenser.dispense^{[sound 1]}`	1.0	1.0	16
	Dispenser fails^{[sound 1]}	Blocks	Dropper failing to activate	`block.dispenser.fail^{[sound 1]}`	`subtitles.block.dispenser.fail^{[sound 1]}`	1.0	1.2	16

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The dropper reuses the dispenser's sound events instead of having its own, see MC-98316.

Data values[edit]

ID[edit]

Java Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Form	Translation key
Dropper	`dropper`	Block & Item	`block.minecraft.dropper`

Name	Namespaced ID
Block entity	`dropper`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Dropper	`dropper`	`125`	Block & Item	`tile.dropper.name`

Name	Savegame ID
Block entity	`Dropper`

Metadata[edit]

In Bedrock Edition, a dropper's block data specifies its orientation and activation status:

Bits	Values
0x1 0x2 0x4	A three-bit field storing a value from 0 to 5 specifying which direction the dropper is facing: 0: Dropper facing down 1: Dropper facing up 2: Dropper facing north 3: Dropper facing south 4: Dropper facing west 5: Dropper facing east
0x8	Set if dropper is activated.

Block states[edit]

Java Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
facing	`north`	`down` `east` `north` `south` `up` `west`	The direction in which contents are shot or dropped. The opposite from the direction the player faces while placing the block.
triggered	`false`	`false` `true`	True if this block is activated.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
facing_direction	`0`	`0` `1` `2` `3` `4` `5` `6` `7`	The direction in which contents are shot or dropped. The opposite from the direction the player faces while placing the block.
triggered_bit	`false`	`false` `true`	True if this block is activated.

Block data[edit]

A dropper has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

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. Dropper slots are numbered 0-8 with 0 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 dropper 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 uses a random seed.^{[note 1]}