For the variant dropped by Glow squids, see Glow Ink Sac.
An ink sac is an item dropped by a squid upon death used to create black dye, dark prismarine[BE only], and books and quills.
Obtaining[]
Mob loot[]
Squid[]
See also: Squid farming
A squid drops one to three ink sacs upon death. The maximum amount is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 1 to 6 with Looting III.
Fishing[]
Ink sacs can be obtained as a "junk" item from fishing. The Luck of the Sea enchantment decreases the chance.
Trading[]
Wandering traders sometimes sell 3 ink sacs for an emerald in Bedrock Edition. Apprentice level librarians also buy 5 ink sacs for one emerald.
Natural generation[]
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Ink Sac | Stronghold | Storeroom chest | 1–3 | 40% |
Usage[]
Crafting ingredient[]
In Bedrock Edition, ink sacs can be also used in banner patterns:
| Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Black Banner pattern | Ink Sac + Banner |
|
| Black Banner image | Ink Sac + Banner + Vines or Bricks or Creeper Head or Wither Skeleton Skull or Oxeye Daisy or Enchanted Golden Apple |
Loom ingredient[]
Dye[]
In Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education, ink sac can be:
- Applied to sheep to dye their wool, which can then be sheared for 1–3 blocks of black wool.
- Applied to tamed wolves to dye their collars.
- Applied to tamed cats to dye their collars.
- Used to dye or stain wool, leather armor, beds, glass, terracotta and shulker boxes.
- Combined with gunpowder to make a firework star.
- Combined with a firework star to create a fade-to-color effect.
- Used to add patterns to banners.
- Used to dye shulkers in Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education.
- Used to dye water contained in cauldrons in Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education.
- Combined with sand and gravel to craft concrete powder.
- Combined with compounds to craft balloons or glow sticks in Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education.
- Used to change the color of text on signs or hanging signs.
- Each type of dark prismarine can be crafted using varying amounts of 8 prismarine shards.
Trading[]
Journeyman-level librarian villagers have a 2⁄3 chance to buy five ink sacs for an emerald. They always offer the trade in Bedrock Edition.
Signs[]
Ink sacs can be applied to signs or hanging signs to revert glowing text back to default.
Sounds[]
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ink Sac splotches | Blocks | When an ink sac is used on a sign | item | subtitles | 1.0 | varies [sound 1] | 16 |
- ↑ Each sound can be 0.85, 0.88, or 0.9
| Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | When an ink sac is used on a sign | sign | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Data values[]
ID[]
| Name | Identifier | Form | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ink Sac | ink_sac | Item | item.minecraft.ink_sac |
| Name | Identifier | Alias ID | Numeric ID | Form | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ink Sac | ink_sac | dye / 0 | 413 | Item | item.dye.black.name |
Video[]
- Note: Ink sacs can no longer be used as a dye in Java Edition.
History[]
| Java Edition Beta | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2 |  Added ink sacks, together with all other dyes. | ||||
| 1.2_02 | "Ink Sack" has been renamed to "Ink Sac". | ||||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.3.1 | 12w17a | Ink sacs are now used to craft book and quills. | |||
| 1.4.2 | 12w34a | Added the ability to dye leather armor and wolf collars. | |||
| 1.4.6 | 12w49a | Ink sacs can now be crafted with gunpowder to create a firework star. | |||
| 1.6.1 | 13w19a | Stained clay can now be crafted. | |||
| 1.7.2 | 13w41a | Stained glass can now be crafted. | |||
| 1.8 | 14w25a | Ink sacs are now used to craft dark prismarine. | |||
| 14w30a | Added banners, which can be dyed with ink sacs. | ||||
| 1.11 | 16w39a | Ink sacs can now be used to dye shulker boxes. | |||
| 1.12 | 17w06a | Ink sacs are now used to craft black concrete powder. | |||
| 17w15a | Ink sacs can now be used to dye beds. | ||||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | The different data values for the dye ID have been split up into their own IDs.
| |||
| Prior to The Flattening, this item's numeral ID was 351. | |||||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | Ink sacs can now be used to craft black dye. | |||
| Ink sacs can no longer be used as a dye. | |||||
| All of the dye-related functions and crafting recipes of ink sac (except books and quills and dark prismarine) have been transferred to black dye. | |||||
 The texture of ink sacs has been changed. | |||||
| 19w11a | Librarian villagers now buy ink sacs. | ||||
| 1.15 | Pre-release 1 | Ink sacs are no longer used to craft dark prismarine. | |||
| 1.17 | 21w03a | Ink sacs can now be used to remove the text's glowing effect of a sign. | |||
| 1.20 (Experimental) | 22w42a | Ink sacs can now be used to remove the text's glowing effect of a hanging sign. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.3.0 | Added ink sacs. They are currently unobtainable and serve no purpose. | ||||
| v0.8.0 | build 1 | Ink sacs can now be used to craft cocoa beans. | |||
| build 3 | Ink sacs are now available in creative. | ||||
| v0.9.0 | build 1 | Ink sacs now generate in village and stronghold chests. | |||
| v0.11.0 | build 1 | Ink sacs can now be obtained from squid. | |||
| Ink sacs can now be obtained as a junk item from fishing. | |||||
| v0.14.0 | build 1 | Ink sacs now can now be used to dye water in cauldrons. | |||
| v0.16.0 | build 1 | Ink sacs are no longer used to craft cocoa beans. | |||
| Ink sacs can now be used to craft dark prismarine. | |||||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | alpha 0.17.0.1 | Ink sacs can now be used to dye shulkers. | |||
| 1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | Ink sacs are now used to re-dye beds. | |||
| Ink sacs can now be used to dye shulker boxes. | |||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.2.0 | beta 1.2.0.2 | Ink sacs can now be used to craft book and quills. | |||
| Added banners, which can be dyed with ink sacs. | |||||
| Ink sacs can now be crafted with gunpowder to create firework stars. | |||||
| Ink sacs can now be used to craft black concrete powder. | |||||
| Stained glass can now be crafted. | |||||
| 1.4.0 | beta 1.2.20.1 | Ink sacs can now be crafted from iron, sulfur, and 4 oxygen in the compound creators. | |||
| Ink sacs can now be used to craft balloons and glow sticks. | |||||
| 1.8.0 | beta 1.8.0.10 | Ink sacs can now be used to craft black dye. | |||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Ink sacs can now be bought from wandering traders. | |||
| The texture of ink sacs has been changed. | |||||
| 1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.4 | Ink sacs can now be sold to librarian villagers. | |||
| 1.16.100 | beta 1.16.100.56 | The ID of ink sacs has been changed from dye/0 to ink_sac. | |||
| 1.16.210 | beta 1.16.210.59 | Ink sacs can now be used to revert glowing text on signs to normal. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.00 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added ink sacs. |
| 1.90 | The texture of ink sacs has been changed. | ||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | Added ink sacs. | ||||
Issues[]
Issues relating to "Ink Sac" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.