With a list that ranges from cartoony textures to ultra-sleek modern. With a new fancy texture pack that can turn your old wooden house into a.
Looking for the best Minecraft texture packs for the Java Edition? Minecraft’s low-fi charms were predictably the first thing modders took to ‘fixing’. The ruddy textures, while distinctive, are an obvious target for an upgrade, if you stare at them long enough.
We’ve included our favourite Minecraft texture packs – there’s nothing too crazy in here: those packs tend to be part of larger mods that fundamentally change the game, and that’s another article entirely.
But what we do have here is a fantastic selection of textures that bring all sorts of style to the game, from the ultra-realistic to the cartoonish, to far out sci-fi. There’s even animated textures, a feature supported since development snapshot 13w02a was released, although they’re not yet implemented in the main game. Not sure how to grab and install one of these snapshots? Don’t worry, we can help you with that, too. Click through to be delighted by the variety and vibrancy of Minecraft texture packs.
How to install Minecraft texture packs
Before you begin, download and point the MCPatcher at your Minecraft install: it’ll enable the game to run with HD images on the blocks, which many of these packs include. If you want to try out any of those animated textures with a development snapshot, here’s how to test Minecraft snapshots. It’s not difficult and the rewards are well worth it.
All these textures are compatible with the 1.4.7 version of Minecraft, so if you want to minimise the amount of switching you’ll have to do, fire up that version. Also keep in mind that if you try some of the snapshots, they will likely contain elements that the texture pack creators haven’t yet made textures for, meaning they’ll either be blank or even invisible.
Another thing to note is that this list is directed at the Java Edition of Minecraft, so if you’re using the newer Bedrock Edition you’re likely to run into some issues as MCPatcher doesn’t get along with the new launcher -not now, anyway.
The best Minecraft texture packs
Okay, now that’s out of the way. Let’s start with something big and bright. We’re going to change the world, or your world, at least.
Jolicraft
A lot of Minecraft texture packs have a theme that they try and nail, but Joli’s is about personal expression: he made a texture pack, a sort of twee fantasy world that best reflected his own happy demeanour: the swirling sun is definitely a sight more cheerful than the default, squat square. Jolicraft feels like a warm summer day. But even more impressive are the customisation options: you can build your own texture pack at the site, choosing how the game represents everything from doors and shadows, to water drops and clouds. It’s a remarkable thing.
This is one of the most popular Minecraft texture packs out there, in part I’m sure because it too is quite customisable, but also because it has some fantastically creepy-looking skeletons and it does a fine job with surfaces, be those rock, cobblestone or even netherrack. Compared to Jolicraft, it’s a much more sombre pack, but Minecraft’s world looks surprisingly good with muted colours.
And if sombre is your sort of thing, then I thoroughly recommend you give this pack a try. As well as its slightly faded walls, its glimmering starfield and its gorgeous moon, this steampunk pack also features some fantastic tools and skins. Just check out how golems look above.
While we’re on the subject of customisation, you should also have at this pack, which is as much a tool as it is a way to revamp the look of your game. Not happy with the pack you just downloaded? Want to contribute your own ideas? Why not get started here, it’s not as difficult as you might think.
If you’d prefer something a little more subtle, a little more muted, then Isabella’s gentle shading might be what you’re looking for. Its tones are softer, its wood warmer and its stone faded, all of which gives it a more natural feel. As natural as a world made from giant blocks can ever be, that is.
Chroma Hills
Some of us, I’m sure, would just prefer the prettiest textures that they can find and Chroma Hills is certainly one of the best-looking out there, even if it’s beautiful stylings are slightly at odds with the blockiness of Minecraft’s world. To get the very best from it you’ll want to make sure you use some Minecraft shaders too, but even without those it’s still a fine lookin’ thang.
Creative One’s Medieval Texture Pack
Another lovely HD patch, the Medieval Texture Pack features a lot of subtle and yet very smart touches, such as the glow from an Ender chest (see the video above) or the woven texture in wool blocks. It also gives much of the game a very worn look, which, it turns out, suits Minecraft very well indeed.
We dabbled a bit with oCD’s texture pack before settling on Short Stuff’s: it takes the minimalist approach, rendering all the blocks in solid colours with bold lines. It’s striking, and removes the organic nature that we wanted. The colours seem a bit bolder and punchier. The theme is actually disco, hence the funky trailer.
Realism is an odd term when you’re talking about a world made out of cubes, and yet it’s one of the most prevalent goals for the Minecraft modding community. If trying Isabella has made you want something grubbier, something with muddier ground and fluffier clouds then Misa’s pack brings all this to the game.
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If the real world was built out of cubes, it would look a bit like Misa’s interpretation. It’s not flashy, it’s for those looking for a “grim up north” feeling. And the pigs are terrifying.
This is our antidote to Misa’s grubby brown realism: if Misa’s Minecraft texture pack was Game of Thrones, then Summerfields is LotR before Frodo goes off on his quest. The browns here feel like they glow, radiating the heat of the summer day that beats down from the fuzzy, circular sun: even the skeletons feel a bit cheerful. We’re pretty sure the people who live in Misa’s end of the world would take a holiday in Summerfields.
Sphax PureBDCraft
The flipside of the inevitable realism packs was that someone would endeavour to convert Minecraft to a comic book style. The blocks demanded it. BDCraft’s is a gorgeous, and essentially reverential, upgrading of the base Minecraft graphics: switching between them is like putting on glasses and seeing everything clearly for the first time: ore is full of clear gems, the new grass as chunky as an anime character’s head. It’s sharp, colourful and a good upgrade that retains its flavour.
This Minecraft texture pack almost turns the game into the cel-shaded style of Borderlands, drawing bold black lines around Minecraft mobs and objects, but still keeping everything very recognisable and extremely true to the original look of the game. With these textures, Minecraft becomes posterized, but also an awful lot clearer. While it might not be to everyone’s taste, or terribly easy on the eyes, you can’t deny that it has style.
Animated texture packs are still a rarity, partly because relatively few people are going to use them right now. Since animated textures are only supported by a recent development snapshot, most players won’t have a version of Minecraft that can make use of them and will have no reason to seek them out. That said, more and more people are trying those snapshots and we’d like to think that perhaps PCGamesN’s encouragement has had some part in this.
This pack adds some wonderful animations to the game, wonderful because they’re so subtle and a great example of the tiny but impressive changes that animated textures can make. Unmined ores sparkle in the darkness, weapons shine, and lava seethes.
Who says Minecraft should only be about the pseudo-fantasy, pastoral theme? BladeCraft throws it into the near future and creates something… well, actually, something really quite impressive. Now enjoy what is by far the coolest of all the videos in this post.
Faithful
Maybe you’re not looking for a wholesale change, and want something that adds some sheen on what’s already there. If that’s the case, then the Faithful texture pack is what you’ll want to install. The changes you’ll notice here merely smooth out textures, and refine what’s already present.
And there you go, the best Minecraft texture packs. Whether you’re looking for a pack to turn your Minecraft world into a cartoon, or one to make it look more like the real world, you should find what you’re looking for here. Of course, to complete the overhaul we recommend you kit yourself out with a shiny new skin – see our guide to the best Minecraft skins.
No Buttons Resource Pack 1.5, 1.4, 1.2.10, 1.1.5
No Buttons Resource Pack – a package made for gurus of the Minecraft! Nothing special, developers just got rid of D-pad buttons. But don’t worry – you will not be able
PC GUI Pack 1.4, 1.2.10, 1.2, 1.1.5
PC GUI Pack – if you miss the PC version of the Minecraft game, this modification was created exactly for you. Developers tried to improve the graphics of your pocket
Starky’s 3D Texture Pack [128×128] 1.5, 1.2.10, 1.2, 1.1.5
Starky’s 3D Texture Pack – is an innovated high definition texture pack, constructed to improve an appearance of different blocks and units inside your Minecraft game
Fancy Beds Texture Pack 1.5, 1.4, 1.2, 1.1.5
Fancy Beds Texture Pack - we can bet you are fond of quality sleeping. So this texture pack invited exactly for you to use it. In other words, developers tried a little
Camouflage Doors 1.5, 1.4, 1.2.10, 1.2, 1.1.5
Camouflage Doors – was created to simplify the multiplayer gaming process. It became possible to change all the doors design to blend among the terrain around. Need to
ModernHD Texture Pack [64x] 1.4, 1.2.10, 1.2, 1.1.5
ModernHD Texture Pack [64x] - is a modification designed to improve the appearance of the Minecraft PE game. First it was made for the PC version of the game. Eventually
Defscape Texture Pack [32x] [64x] 1.4, 1.2.10, 1.2, 1.1.5
Defscape Texture Pack [32x] [64x] – is a new game modification, which will surely change the appearance of your game. It is going to work as on modern maps as on
R3D.CRAFT [64x] 1.2.10, 1.2, 1.1.5
R3D.CRAFT – is a new modification that managed to improve a perfect way of the Minecraft PE game view. The texture pack named R3D.CRAFT Smooth Realism invented to add in
Flow’s HD [32x] [64x] [128x] 1.2.10, 1.2, 1.1.5
Flow’s HD [32x] [64x] [128x] – a new Minecraft game modification, a texture pack, invented to make the world look brighter, joyful and elegant. The Flow’s HD texture
Faithful [32×] [64×] 1.5, 1.4, 1.2.10, 1.2, 1.1.5
Faithful [32×] [64×] – is a nice game Texture Pack, which will work on the Minecraft PE view of textures. The main idea of the package is to make the resolution of the