Altitude

File:Alt.png

Chart lining up Y values to layers.

Altitude is commonly expressed as a number defining the distance in layers above the base of the game environment, which is layer zero (0). Sea level is recognized as layer 62 (i.e. altitude 63), and the top of the game environment is layer 255 (i.e. altitude 256). Clouds appear halfway between the two at layer 127.

More specifically, the bottom face of the bottommost bedrock block is at Y-coordinate 0, and the top face of the highest block that can be placed is at Y-coordinate 256. The player can press F3 to see the Y-coordinate of the top face of the block on which they are standing or of their eyes, with the player's eyes located about 1.6 blocks above the layer on which the player is standing. For example, a player standing on a shore of an ocean will see the Y-coordinate of their eyes as approximately 64.6.

Natural resources and altitude

Features in the landscape of the Overworld are found at different altitudes, as shown in this graph:

There is also an interactive chart. Beware the logarithmic scale: a slight difference in the Y-coordinate means a large change in relative frequency of this block type. Some observations:

• Looking at water, the ocean level at layer 62 is obvious. Going down, the amount decreases more quickly at layers 56 and 48, the usual depth of river and ocean biomes respectively. There are corresponding peaks in the amount of clay beneath them. (Note that clay can occasionally be generated even in high-altitude lakes.) Between layers 33 and 12, most water is falling down sub-ocean ravines, spreading out on the lava-filled bottom at layer 10 and producing most of the naturally-occurring obsidian.
• Ores and gravel (not shown) usually occur as a fixed percentage of the amount of stone (also not shown), tapering off at the ends of their allowed range. This is why coal and iron follow parallel tracks between layers 5 and 60.
• The one exception is lapis lazuli ore, which has a linear progression up to a peak at layers 13-14.

See the following table for a textual description of resources by altitude and tools needed to gather them.

Landscape Feature	Complete range<ref name="range">The range in which the block can be found in the map used for the graph.</ref>	Commonly found between	Ideal layer<ref name="ideal_layer">The layer where getting that resource is easiest. We consider the amount of lava/water lakes, the amount of caves, the altitude (and whether it is at the surface), and the amount of gravel/sand.</ref>	Implement needed to obtain
Coal ore	Layers 0-114	Layers 5-66	Layer 48	Pickaxe
Gravel	Layers 1-115	Layers 5-56	Layer 48	None
Dirt (including Grass and Mycelium)	Layers 0-126	Layers 5-80	Layer 61	None
Sand	Layers 2-112	Layers 43-63	Layer 61	None
Water	Layers 1-111	Layers 48-62	Layer 62	Bucket
Iron ore	Layers 0-63	Layers 2-58	Layer 42	Stone or better pickaxe
Gold Ore	Layers 0-31	Layers 4-29	Layer 28	Iron or better pickaxe
Lapis Lazuli ore	Layers 0-30	Layers 11-17	Layer 14	Stone or better pickaxe
Lava	Layers 0-85	Layers 4-10	Layer 10	Bucket
Obsidian	Layers 2-62	Layer 10	Layer 10	Diamond pickaxe
Emerald Ore	Layers 4-32	Layers 4-29	Layer 20	Iron or better pickaxe
Diamond Ore	Layers 0-15	Layers 4-13	Layer 12	Iron or better pickaxe
Redstone Ore<ref>Redstone has the same layer and line-size statistics as Diamond, but is generated 8 times per chunk as opposed to 1.</ref>	Layers 0-15	Layers 4-13	Layer 12	Iron or better pickaxe
Bedrock	Layers 0-4	Layers 0-2	Layer 1	Only breakable in Creative Mode

<references/>

Other naturally occurring features appear at different altitudes such as grass, wood, flowers, mushrooms, clay, cobblestone, sugar cane and Obsidian, but all of these features are random and will only appear in conjunction with another block and the proper environment.

Feature	Requires
Grass	Dirt, Light and Grass
Sugar Cane	Dirt or Sand (as of beta 1.8) and Water
Wood	Dirt, Light and a sapling
Cactus	Sand
Flowers	Dirt and Light
Mushrooms	Dry land and darkness
Clay	Sand
Obsidian	Lava source and Water
Cobblestone	Lava and Water or Dungeons
Mossy Cobblestone	Dungeons or Jungle Temple

The Nether

A similar graph, showing the distribution of blocks unique to the Nether:

Landscape Feature	Complete range	Commonly found between	Implement needed to obtain
Netherrack	Layers 1-126	Layers 4-123	Pickaxe
Soul Sand	Layers 14-81	Layers 58-64	None
Glowstone	Layers 2-120	Layers 98-106	None
Nether Brick	Layers 19-86	Layers 48-66	Pickaxe
Nether Quartz Ore	Layers 7-117	Layers 9-115	Pickaxe

Pocket Edition

The height limit on Pocket Edition is half as much as the computer version (identical to the height limit before the Anvil file format).

Landscape Feature	Height
Height limit	127
Highest water level	64
Highest Bedrock layer	9
Void	0 or below

The Nether Reactor

This article is about the Nether Reactor. For the Nether, see The Nether. For the Core, see Nether Reactor Core.

Nether Spire is a room which is a size of 7x17x17 Note: Spawning Items is spawned Layers 3-7.

Landscape Feature	Complete range	Commonly found between	Implement needed to obtain
Netherrack	Layer 1-17	Layer 1-17	Any pickaxe
Glowstone Dust, Nether Quartz, Doors, Sugar Canes, Doors, etc.	Layers 3-7	Layers 3-7	None

Video

Altitude/video

History

• Originally, solid blocks could be placed from layer 0 to layer 127.
• As of Beta 1.6, solid blocks could no longer be placed on layer 127. However, beds, signs, torches and other non-solid blocks could be placed on layer 127.
• As of Beta 1.6, entities are no longer invisible when above the build limit, however, they are black (like if they were in darkness).
• As of the 1.8 Pre-Release, the player's view distance decreases in lower altitudes.
• As of the 1.8 Pre-Release, entities are no longer black when above the build limit.
• Before 1.8, the sea level was at layer 63 instead of 62. Players who have maps created before this update will find one-block-high "waterfalls" at the edges of the terrain previously generated when moving into new, post-1.8 terrain.
• Previously, In Creative Mode, players could fly above this level, but were not able to build above it. Note that sea level was already layer 62 before the update, so the height of the actual terrain did not change. This change in height was introduced along with the switch from the Region file format to the new Anvil file format, which was implemented in Template:Verlink.

Bugs

• Above about Y=240, when you can see the horizon on "normal" render distance, the sun and moon are visible during day and night at the same time - only works at around sunset and sunrise.

Trivia

File:Darkening at the top layer.png

The darkening when standing on the last layer.

File:VoidFog.png

A view of the render distance near bedrock.

• The Beta 1.6 update made it impossible for players to place blocks on the uppermost layer of the map (Y=127).
• At extreme depths, black Void fog closes in.
• Although the highest possible altitude the player can climb normally is Y=257 (door "glitch" + jumping), a TNT cannon can blast the player many layers past the sky limit.
• Going under Y=-64 in the Void will cause the player to receive damage very quickly, killing him/her. Also, this is the only way to die in Creative mode (except the /kill command).
• Although blocks cannot normally be placed past Y=254, there are several exceptions:
  • Beds, along with other non-solid blocks (Signs, Torches) can be placed on the 255th layer. Also, if a door is placed 1 layer below the top of the map, its upper frame will pass the 254th mark.
  • By placing a water source block on layer 255 using a Water Bucket on a solid block on layer 254, then placing a lava source block on the water using a Lava Bucket, both Cobblestone and Obsidian can be created on layer 255. The opposite (placing water on lava) works as well.
  • Placing a rail, flat snow, etc. block on the 255th layer, then trying to place a block on it will give you the message: Height limit for building is 256. This also applies when trying to place a block on top of a solid block at layer 255 (using MCEdit, or water and lava).
• Notch, on his Twitter feed before the Adventure Update, posted a picture showing his experimentation with height limits and terrain generation up to 512, featuring a mountain much higher than normal mountains. The height limit was eventually increased to 256 in 1.2.1, though landforms still do not generate above layer 127.
• The maximum height (coordinates) a player can reach is displayed as "6.7108E7" Example 1 Example 2 (6.7E7 is 6.7 times 10^7th, or 67 million, approximately 2^26th)