Nether Portal (block)

Nether Portal

Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64) ‌[BE only]
Tool	None
Blast resistance	0
Hardness	-1
Luminant	Yes (11)
Transparent	Yes
Flammable	Yes
Catches fire from lava	No

The Nether portal block is the translucent part of the Nether portal that teleports the player to and from the Nether.

Obtaining

Nether Portal (block) can not be obtained as an item even by using the /give command.

The Nether portal block can be placed using the /setblock command and is generated when lighting a Nether portal.

Usage

See also: Nether portal

Nether portal blocks can stably exist only within a Nether portal structure, unlike end portal blocks. When the block is updated and detects it is not part of such a structure, it is destroyed.

Nether portal blocks can be used to teleport entities between the Nether and the Overworld. When a player in the Overworld or the Nether stands in a Nether portal block for 4 seconds, the player is taken to the other dimension. While in the Nether portal block, the player can neither open their inventory, nor interact with blocks with GUI. The player can step out of a portal before it completes its animation to abort the teleport. However, in Creative mode there is no wait time—the player immediately transfers between dimensions. If there is already an active portal within range (125 blocks) in the other world, the player appears in that portal. Otherwise, a portal is created at or near the corresponding coordinates. If a single portal block is placed using commands, it can still be used to travel to the Nether.

Nether portal blocks make distinctive sounds, and emit the same purple particles produced by endermen, endermites and ender chests. Portal blocks emit a light level of 11, dimmer than a torch and insufficient to prevent hostile mob spawning above the top obsidian (the light level would be 7).

Falling block entities can be teleported through a portal, but a piston cannot push a block through.

Much like water or lava, portal blocks cannot be broken by tools except in Creative. However, portal blocks can be destroyed by explosions (even weak ones) and can be replaced by placing water or lava sources in the same block (can also be done by dispensers). If any portal block is destroyed, the whole portal is deactivated as adjacent portal blocks are updated and detect that the portal structure is no longer complete.

While Nether portals themselves cannot be lit in the end, a portal block set in The End and in custom dimensions behaves exactly like in the Overworld, calculating coordinates in the Nether with the same 1:8 ratio. They teleport players to the Nether in Java Edition, and to the Overworld in Bedrock Edition.

Piston interactivity

Nether portal blocks cannot be pushed by pistons. They also cannot be pushed or pulled by sticky pistons.

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.glass.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	1.0	0.8	16
	None	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.glass.fall	None	0.5	0.75	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.glass.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.25	0.5	16
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.glass.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	1.0	0.8	16
	Footsteps	Blocks	Walking on the block	block.glass.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition: ^{[needs in-game testing]}

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

Unique

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Portal whooshes	Blocks	Random	block.portal.ambient	subtitles.block.portal.ambient	?	?	10
	None	Ambient/Environment	After being teleported through	block.portal.travel	None	?	?	16
	Portal noise intensifies	Ambient/Environment	Standing in the portal	block.portal.trigger	subtitles.block.portal.trigger	?	?	16

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Block tags (JE)	Form	Translation key
Nether Portal	nether_portal	hoglin_repellents portals	Block	block.minecraft.nether_portal

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Nether Portal	portal	90	Block	tile.portal.name

Metadata

See also: Data values

In Bedrock Edition, the Nether portal uses the following data values:

	DV	Description
	0	(unused)
	1	The portal's long edge runs east–west.
	2	The portal's long edge runs north-south.

Block states

See also: Block states

Java Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
axis	x	x	The portal's long edge runs east–west.
		z	The portal's long edge runs north–south.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
axis	x	unknown	[check the code]
		x	The portal's long edge runs east–west.
		z	The portal's long edge runs north–south.

History

Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.0		preview			32px Added the Nether portal block.
Java Edition Beta
1.6		Test Build 3			Nether portal blocks no longer have a top face.
Java Edition
1.0.0		?			It is now possible to smash Nether portals by simply punching them.
		?			It is no longer possible to break portal blocks with water or lava. Both stop before hitting the portal and act as if the portal were a solid block; placing water instead of fire in the portal automatically deactivates the portal anyway.
1.2.1		12w08a			The player can now (again) break a block portal in creative by punching it. It makes the same sound as glass being destroyed.
1.3.1		12w22a			Zombie pigmen now rarely spawn from portal blocks in the Overworld.
1.5		13w02a			Nether portal blocks now use the texture in resource packs: textures/blocks/portal.png.
1.7.2		13w37a			Nether portal blocks now use block data values (later changed to block state) to determine their orientation. Due to these changes, Nether portals created in 1.6.4 and earlier have a tendency to close when upgrading.
					Metadata value 1 corresponds to a portal that reaches the west and east sides of the block, and 2 corresponds to one that touches the north and south sides. 0, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15 also appear as north/south and 5, 9 and 13 as east/west, however they appear to be unused.
		13w37b			Nether portal blocks with damage value 3, 7, 11 and 15 now have a vertical post appearance rather than the pane or sheet appearance of other states.
		13w41a			Nether portals, water and ice are now visible through each other.
					This also makes the rear planes visible from the front planes.
		13w42a			Nether portals no longer show their back face.
1.8		14w03a			Nether portal blocks with data values 3, 7, 11 and 15 now appear as north-south connected again.
		14w18a			Nether portals no longer have side faces.
		14w25a			The item form of the nether portal block has been removed from the game. It can no longer exist in inventories, only as a block in the world.
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 90.
		pre5			The block ID of Nether portals has been changed to nether_portal.
1.16		20w14a			Hoglins are now scared of Nether portal blocks.
		Pre-release 3			Nether portal blocks now have a loot table.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.1		build 1			[verify] Added Nether portal blocks.
?					The sounds of nether portals have been updated to match Java.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	[verify] Added Nether portal blocks.

Nether portal "item"

The following content is transcluded from Technical blocks/Nether Portal.

Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.0		preview			Nether portals have an unobtainable item form corresponding to its block ID. It can be obtained via inventory editors with numeric item ID 90.
					When placed, nether portal blocks will always be in the east-west position. Further updates to the block will result in instantaneous deletion.
Java Edition Beta
1.6		Test Build 3			Nether portal items can be obtained from the newly added debug chests, mainly from the 5th slot of the 4th chest from the left, and the 16th slot of the 7th chest from the left.
		release			Debug chests no longer spawn, preventing Nether portal items from being obtained this way.
1.8		Pre-release 2 ;)			Added pick block functionality. This will change the currently selected slot to any containing a nether portal item, but will not allow it to be obtained if not already in the hotbar.
Java Edition
1.2.5		pre			Nether portal items can now be obtained via Pick Block in creative.
1.3.1		12w16a			Nether portal items can now be obtained in singleplayer worlds via the /give command using the respective numeric ID.
		12w17a			Nether portals can no longer be obtained with pick block in Creative.
		12w18a			Likely due to the server split in this version, nether portal blocks now take a frame to disappear when updated. As a result, when two nether portal blocks are placed next to each other horizontally with the item, they can be seen to connect.
1.8		14w25a			The direct item form of Nether portals has been removed from the game. It can no longer exist as an item in any way, only as a placed block.
Pocket Edition Alpha
?					Nether portals exist as an item.
Unknown
?					Nether portal blocks, when placed with this item, while always facing a single direction by default, would rotate accordingly if placed next to an existing nether portal block to connect with it.
?					Nether portal blocks no longer align with other placed nether portal blocks and instantly disappear, unless the only surrounding locks are nether portals, air, and/or obsidian.

Appearances

Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.0		preview			Nether portal items have an unstable item model which changes depending on blocks which are targeted or in loaded chunks. It uses this model in inventories, when held in first or third person view or as a dropped item.
					Initially the Nether portal item would appear as a full cube like many other blocks, but targeting an existing portal block would cause the item to morph into its shape:
					Having an existing nether portal block within loaded chunks also appears to influence the shape of the nether portal item. For example, if no existing blocks are loaded, the item may appear in its full cube state, but loading a chunk containing an north-south oriented nether portal will result in the item automatically becoming north-south.
Java Edition Beta
1.6		Test Build 3			Block items have changed in this version to be brighter and rotated 90 degrees clockwise from their prior appearances. The "pane" appearence shapes can be seen to have been inverted as a result, with east-west oriented how north-south was previously and vice versa.
1.8		Pre-release			Block items are now far brighter than before.
Java Edition
1.0.0		RC2			Block items are now more shaded again.
1.3.1		12w22a			Block items have been rotated back to their pre-Beta 1.6 orientations.
1.4.2		12w34a			Block items have been brightened to an almost unnoticable degree.
1.7.2		13w37b			With the addition of post-shaped nether portals, the item can take on this shape as well.
		13w42a			Nether portal items now appear translucent in the inventory. As a dropped item, in a player's hand, or in an item frame, they still appear opaque.
		13w42b			Nether portal items now appear translucent when dropped or in an item frame.
1.7.4		13w47a			Nether portal items now appear translucent when held, in both first person and third person.
1.8		14w18a			The Nether portal item form is now 2D.
Bedrock Edition
?					The nether portal item looks like this, and does not shapeshift in response to existing blocks.

Names

Java Edition

Item names did not exist prior to Beta 1.0.

• Beta 1.0 - 14w25b: Portal

Bedrock Edition

•  ? - ?: Portal

Texture generation prior to Java Edition 13w02a and Bedrock Edition v0.15.0

Due to the large number of Atan2 and Sine operations, all of the animation frames for the portal block are generated once at-startup, with each frame's data being stored in an array of all the frames.

To generate a frame of the Nether portal animation:

   Assume width = 16, height = 16, and frame_count = 32. Additionally, assume {hw, hh} = {width / 2, height / 2}, rounding down.

   for every frame, with frame_index being the iterator:
       for every pixel, with {x, y} being the iterators:
           let float n = 0
           
           // we repeat this twice to create two spirals. one rotating clockwise and another offset
           // to the top right of our position that rotates anti-clockwise. This is so the texture can
           // tile reasonably well (at this low resolution).
           
           repeat twice, with i being the iteration:
               let floats {spiral_x, spiral_y} = ({x, y} - (i * {hw, hh})) / {w, h} * 2.
               if {spiral_x, spiral_y} is less than -1, add 2. If greater or equal to 1, subtract 2
               
               let float mag = power(spiral_x, 2) + power(spiral_y, 2)
               
               let float out_spiral = atan2(spiral_y, spiral_x)
               
               // Normalize the frame's index into a 0-1 range, and then into an angle from 0-360 (as radians)
               // Mag is subtracted from this equation to cause the spiral arms to constrict with distance from the centre
               // (i * 2 - 1) will multiply out_spiral by -1 if i is 1.
               out_spiral += ((frame_index / frame_count * PI * 2) - (mag * 10) + (i * 2)) * (i * 2 - 1)
               
               // this will bring the results of the sine operation into the range of 0 to 1 rather than -1 to 1
               out_spiral = sin(out_spiral) * 0.5 + 0.5
               
               // make the intensity of the spiral's arms diminish with distance from the centre.
               out_spiral /= mag + 1
               
               // since we're generating two spirals, we divide by 2 so that the final range is 0 to 1 instead of 0 to 2.
               n += spiral / 2
           
           // make the spirals shimmer slightly at random
           n += random(0.0, 1.0) * 0.1
           
           let byte r = floor(n * n * 200 + 55)
           let byte g = floor(power(n, 4) * 255)
           let byte b = floor(n * 100 + 155)
           let byte a = b
           
           frames[frame_index].frame_data.rgba at {x, y} = {r, g, b, a}

Note that Minecraft performs almost all of its color calculations in linear space, and only applies gamma correction near the end of rendering. If your Nether portal's colors appear to be off, apply a gamma correction of 2.2.

Issues

Issues relating to "Nether Portal (block)" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.