Air

| Renewable |
Yes |
|---|---|
| Stackable |
Yes |
| Tool |
None |
| Blast resistance |
0 |
| Hardness |
0 |
| Luminous |
No |
| Transparent |
Yes |
| Flammable |
No |
| Catches fire from lava |
No |
| Map color (JE) |
|
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{
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"label": "Stackable"
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{
"field": "0",
"label": "(link to Explosion#Blast resistance article, displayed as Blast resistance)"
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{
"field": "0",
"label": "(link to Breaking#Blocks by hardness article, displayed as Hardness)"
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{
"field": "No",
"label": "(link to Light article, displayed as Luminous)"
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{
"field": "Yes",
"label": "(link to Opacity article, displayed as Transparent)"
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{
"field": "No",
"label": "(link to Flammable article, displayed as Flammable)"
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"field": "No",
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Air is an invisible block used to define unoccupied space where other blocks and items could exist; it represents the absence of a block of an item. It is one of the few blocks in the game that players cannot normally interact with.
Cave air is a variant found only underground in carver caves and some generated structures along with features like lava lakes.
Void air is a variant used internally for the 'air' in unloaded chunks and outside of the world height limits (above Y=319 and below Y=-64 in the Overworld, and above Y=255 and below Y=0 in the Nether and the End dimensions).
Appearance
All types of air are completely invisible and unable to be viewed or interacted with directly.
The only exception is that air can be visualized with the use of structure blocks in Save mode: when "Show invisible blocks" is enabled, air is represented as small blue cubes. Air, cave air, and void air are all displayed identically in this manner.
Obtaining
In Bedrock Edition, air cannot be obtained in the inventory without editing. In Java Edition, the block is completely unobtainable. It cannot be obtained with the /give command. Air can be destroyed or created only by the placement or removal of other blocks respectively.
Distribution
Upon world generation, all otherwise empty spaces are occupied by air.
In Java Edition, carver caves and some underground structures generate containing cave air instead, including mineshafts[1], strongholds, monster rooms, and lava lakes[2], and void air is used in place of unloaded chunks and above or below the world's buildable area to denote illegal locations for blocks to be put.
Usage

Air shares some properties with non-solid blocks, including allowing the player or mob to move within that space without suffocating, and also to catch their breath if they are drowning in water.
Cave air and void air have no special properties; they function the same as normal air.
Piston interactivity
Air and its variants are destroyed when the piston pushes it. They can't be pulled by the piston.
Data values
ID
| Block | Identifier | Form | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
air | Block & Item | block | |
cave_air | Block | block | |
void_air | Block | block |
| Fluid | Identifier |
|---|---|
empty |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Form | Item ID[i 1] | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
air | 413 | Block & Ungiveable Item[i 2] | Identical[i 3] (Numeric: -158) | tile |
Video
History
| Java Edition pre-Classic | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cave game tech test | Added air, which is any space devoid of blocks. | ||||||
| Air currently isn't internally a block. | |||||||
| Java Edition Indev | |||||||
| 0.31 | ? | Air now affects liquid blocks that are horizontally adjacent to it. If air is touching the fluid block, there is a 2⁄3 chance for the fluid block to disappear and make the pool recede, and a 1⁄3 chance for the fluid block to fill the air, making the pool spread. | |||||
| Java Edition | |||||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w38b | Air is now internally a block.[3] | |||||
| 1.9 | 16w02a | Air is now translatable into other languages. | |||||
| 1.10 | 16w20a | ||||||
| 1.13 | 18w06a | Two new variations of air have been added: cave air and void air. | |||||
| Carver caves now generate cave air instead of normal air. | |||||||
| Void air is now internally used at Y values less than 0 or greater than 255 and in unloaded chunks. | |||||||
| 1.15 | 19w39a | ||||||
| 1.18 | 21w37a | Void air is now internally used at Y values less than -64 or greater than 319 and in unloaded chunks. | |||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||||
| Pre-release | Added air. | ||||||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||||
| Xbox 360 | Xbox One | PS3 | PS4 | PS Vita | Wii U | Switch | |
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added air. |
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||||
| 0.1.0 | Added air. | ||||||
Data history
| Java Edition | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.13 | 17w47a | Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeric ID was 0. | |||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Air" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.
See also
References
- ↑ MC-125112 — Surface mineshafts in mesas use cave_air — resolved as "Won't Fix".
- ↑ MC-128250 — Surface water and lava ponds use cave_air — resolved as "Won't Fix".
- ↑ "This snapshot may be very crashy because @_grum redefined the concept of "air". We're keeping an eye on the crash list though!" – @Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X (formerly Twitter), September 20, 2013
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