Blocks
A Block is a basic unit of structure occupying space in the world.
A Bounding Box is a solid volume of space that the player is not meant to pass through. Entities have their own bounding box, but are not treated as solid space (except for boats).
- Not to confuse with a Hitbox, which is a volume of space that a player can interact with (attack, mine, right-click...).
- Also not to confuse with a Model, which is simply the graphical representation of a block / entity on screen.
- Finally, some blocks have their own "effect box", such as fluids, ladders, cacti, pressure plates... All of which are coded and applied differently.
For example: a button has no bounding box, as the player can walk through one, but has a hitbox which the player can click on (which happens to overlap with its vanilla model). Another example: a barrier block has overlapping bounding box and hitbox, but is hard-coded to have no model.
This article lists the bounding boxes and properties of all blocks in 1.8.
Blocks with particular properties and/or no bounding boxes are presented on their own articles.
Images were taken with Blockbench, or from the Minecraft wiki.
Resources:
- BetterParkourModels, a resource pack that modifies models to be slightly more accurate.
- BetterParkourModels+, an faithful update to BPM that corrects and adds some models (made by Fuzzbearplush).
- TrueModels, an alternative resource pack that reworks models to look accurate and natural.
Simple Bounding Boxes
Blocks are ordered by length, then width, then height.
| Block | Widths (b) | Height (b) | Comments | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wall (4-sided) | 1 × 1 | 1.5 | Adjacent blocks must be solid, walls, or fencegates. |  |
| Default | 1 × 1 | 1 |  | |
| Soulsand | 1 × 1 | 0.875 | Looks like a full block, but is actually 2 px lower.
Slows down entities walking on top of it. |
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| End Portal Frame | 1 × 1 | 0.8125 |  | |
| Enchantment Table | 1 × 1 | 0.75 |  | |
| Bed block | 1 × 1 | 0.5625 | The bottom doesn't look tangible, but it actually is. |  |
| Slab | 1 × 1 | 0.5 | Inversible. |  |
| Daylight Sensor | 1 × 1 | 0.375 |  | |
| Trapdoor (horizontal) | 1 × 1 | 0.1875 | Inversible.
Can be flipped to its vertical variant. |
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| Repeater | 1 × 1 | 0.125 |  | |
| Carpet | 1 × 1 | 0.0625 |  | |
| Lily Pad | 1 × 1 | 0.015625 | Is ¼ of a pixel in height. |  |
| Snow Layer | 1 × 1 | 0
0.125 0.25 0.375 0.5 0.625 0.75 0.875 |
Snow layers look 2 pixels higher than their real height.
Despite having no height, a single layer of snow is tangible. |
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| Anvil | 1 × 0.75 | 1 | Centered. Orientable (2 variants).
Looks thinner than it actually is. |
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| Piston Base (Powered) | 1 × 0.75 | 1 | Orientable (4 variants). |  |
| Wall (3-sided) | 1 × 0.75 | 1.5 | Orientable (4 variants).
Adjacent blocks must be solid, walls, or fencegates. |
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| Wall (2-opposite) | 1 × 0.375 | 1.5 | Centered. Orientable (2 variants).
Adjacent blocks must be solid, walls, or fencegates. Placing a block on top of it doesn't change its bounding box, despite its appearance being different. |
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| Fence (2-opposite) | 1 × 0.25 | 1.5 | Centered. Orientable (2 variants).
Adjacent blocks must be solid, fences, or fencegates. |
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| Fencegate | 1 × 0.25 | 1.5 | Centered. Orientable (2 variants).
Can be flipped to a variant with no bounding box. |
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| Trapdoor (vertical) | 1 × 0.1875 | 1 | Orientable, Inversible (8 variants).
Can be flipped to its horizontal variant. |
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| Door | 1 × 0.1875 | 1 | Orientable (4 variants).
Can be flipped to another variant. |
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| Ladder | 1 × 0.125 | 1 | Orientable (4 variants).
Can be climbed by entities. |
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| Pane (2-opposite) | 1 × 0.125 | 1 | Centered. Orientable (2 variants).
Adjacent blocks must be solid, or panes/bars. |
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| Chest (long) | 0.9375 × 0.875 | 0.875 | Must be next to another chest. |  |
| Dragon Egg | 0.875 × 0.875 | 1 | Centered.
Looks drastically different from its bounding box. |
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| Cactus | 0.875 × 0.875 | 0.9375 | Centered.
Hurts entities close to it. |
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| Chest | 0.875 × 0.875 | 0.875 | Centered. |  |
| Cake | 0.875 × 0.875
0.875 × 0.75 0.875 × 0.625 0.875 × 0.5 0.875 × 0.375 0.875 × 0.25 0.875 × 0.125 |
0.5 | The full cake is centered.
Each bite takes away 0.125b from the West (-X) |
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| Wall (2-adjacent) | 0.75 × 0.75 | 1.5 | Orientable (4 variants).
Adjacent blocks must be solid, walls, or fencegates. |
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| Wall (1-sided) | 0.75 × 0.5 | 1.5 | Orientable (4 variants).
Adjacent block must be solid, a wall, or a fencegate. |
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| Fence (1-sided) | 0.625 × 0.25 | 1.5 | Orientable (4 variants).
Adjacent block must be solid, a fences, or a fencegate. |
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| Wall (default) | 0.5 × 0.5 | 1.5 | Centered. |  |
| Cocoa (big) | 0.5 × 0.5 | Low: 0.1875
Top: 0.75 |
Orientable (4 variants).
1 pixel away from the wall it's attached to. Trivia: the top texture is only 7 pixels wide. |
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| Head (walled) | 0.5 × 0.5 | Low: 0.25
Top: 0.75 |
Orientable (4 variants). |  |
| Head (default) | 0.5 × 0.5 | 0.5 | Centered.
A head can be placed diagonally (16 variants total), but the bounding box doesn't change. |
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| Pane (1-sided) | 0.5 × 0.125 | 1 | Orientable (4 variants).
Appears 1 pixel longer than it really is. Adjacent block must be solid, or a pane/bar. |
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| Cocoa (medium) | 0.375 × 0.375 | Low: 0.3125
Top: 0.75 |
Orientable (4 variants).
1 pixel away from the wall it's attached to. |
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| Flowerpot | 0.375 × 0.375 | 0.375 | Centered. |  |
| Fence (default) | 0.25 × 0.25 | 1.5 | Centered. |  |
| Cocoa (small) | 0.25 × 0.25 | Low: 0.4375
Top: 0.75 |
Orientable (4 variants).
1 pixel away from the wall it's attached to. |
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Composite Bounding Boxes
"Except" represents an intangible zone rather than a tangible one.
| Block | Widths (b) | Height (b) | Comments | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stair (normal) | Base: 1 × 1
Top: 1 × 0.5 |
Base: 0.5
Top: 1 |
Orientable, Inversible (8 variants). |  |
| Stair (outer) | Base: 1 × 1
Top: 0.5 × 0.5 |
Base: 0.5
Top: 1 |
Orientable, Inversible (8 variants).
Depends on adjacent stair blocks. |
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| Stair (inner) | Base: 1 × 1
|
Base: 1
|
Orientable, Inversible (8 variants).
Depends on adjacent stair blocks. |
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| End Portal Frame (eye) | Base: 1 × 1
Eye: 0.375 × 0.375 |
Base: 0.8125
Eye: 1 |
The eye looks bigger than it is.
(Appears 8 px in width, but is actually 6 px wide) |
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| Hopper | Base: 1 × 1
|
Base: 1
|
The bottom doesn't look tangible, but it actually is.
The interior floor is 1 pixel lower than it looks. |
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| Cauldron | Base: 1 × 1
|
Base: 1
|
The bottom doesn't look tangible, but it actually is.
The interior floor is 1 pixel higher than it looks |
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| Brewing Stand | Base: 1 × 1
Rod: 0.125 × 0.125 |
Base: 0.125
Rod: 0.875 |
The base looks very different from its bounding box. |  |
| Piston Head (Vertical) | Head: 1 × 1
Arm: 0.25 × 0.25 |
Head: 0.25
Top: 1 |
Centered. Inversible.
The arm is shorter than it looks (model extended by 4px). |
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| Piston Head (N/S/E) | Head: 1 × 0.25
Arm: 0.75 × 0.5 |
Head: 1
Arm-Low: 0.375 Arm-Top: 0.625 |
Orientable (3 variants). Accurate model.
The arm is wider than it looks (0.5m width). The arm is shorter than it looks (model extended by 4px). |
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| Piston Head (West) | Head: 1 × 0.25
Arm: 0.75 × 0.25 |
Head: 1
Arm-Low: 0.25 Arm-Top: 0.75 |
Bugged (fixed in 1.9). Accurate model.
The player can walk through a west extended piston. In 1.9, piston heads were changed to match their model. |
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| Fence (4-sided) | Post: 0.25 × 0.25
Sides: 0.375 × 0.25 |
1.5 | Adjacent blocks must be solid, fences, or fencegates. |  |
| Fence (3-sided) | Post: 0.25 × 0.25
Sides: 0.375 × 0.25 |
1.5 | Orientable (4 variants).
Adjacent blocks must be solid, fences, or fencegates. |
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| Fence (2-adjacent) | Post: 0.25 × 0.25
Sides: 0.375 × 0.25 |
1.5 | Orientable (4 variants).
Adjacent blocks must be solid, fences, or fencegates. |
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| Pane (Default / 4-sided) | Sides: 0.5 × 0.125 | 1 | Adjacent blocks must be solid, or panes/bars. |  |
| Pane (3-sided) | Sides: 0.5 × 0.125 | 1 | Orientable (4 variants).
Adjacent blocks must be solid, or panes/bars. |
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| Pane (2-adjacent) | Sides: 0.5 × 0.125 | 1 | Orientable (4 variants).
Adjacent blocks must be solid, or panes/bars. The exterior corner has a 1px wide opening (despite the model showing a clean 90° corner). |
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Other
| Block | Widths (b) | Height (b) | Comments | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boat | 1.5 x 1.5 | 0.6 | Entity. | 
|