Cloud

Clouds are graphical effects in the sky. While serving a solely aesthetic purpose, they can be used to determine directions because they always move westward.

Appearance

Comparison of Fancy clouds (left) and Fast clouds (right).

The same clouds during different time and weather conditions.

The appearance of clouds varies depending on the graphics settings used either on the general graphics settings or the specific clouds one, with the exception of Fabulous! which is present on the general graphics settings. Clouds can be toggled between Fancy, Fast, and Off in the specific clouds settings:

Fast: Clouds are two-dimensional and opaque. They do not change between day and night. Their color comes from the top of the fancy clouds. Their smallest horizontal dimensions are 8×8 blocks wide. Fast clouds in Bedrock Edition are also opaque, but remain 3D (three-dimensional). Their appearance is similar to cirrus clouds.
Fancy: Clouds are translucent, three-dimensional prisms, approximately four blocks tall and 12×12 blocks wide. At night they turn a shade of blue and become more transparent. They are similar in appearance to stratocumulus clouds.
Fabulous! graphics also affect clouds, being the same as Fancy, but also being visible through transparent blocks and water.‌
Vibrant Visuals adds more layers of lighting to clouds, making them lighter on the edges and darker in the middle. The clouds also create shadows and when a clouds blocks the sunlight, the environment darkens. The quality of clouds can be adjusted in the Vibrant Visuals settings.‌

From above or inside the clouds, they appear semi-transparent, regardless of the player's graphics settings. The sun and the moon appear visible through the clouds from below, except during rain or thunderstorms where they aren't visible at all.

The shape, dimensions, and color of clouds can be changed by modifying the clouds.png file located within assets\minecraft\textures\environment within the version's JAR file. The file's dimensions can be changed to any size.

Clouds are made from individual square pieces. The game assembles clouds by placing cloud pieces one by one.

Behavior

Clouds always float westward between layer 192 and 196. They are not interactive, and simply float through blocks and entities. Unlike in real life, clouds themselves do not produce rain or snow, meaning rain or snow continues even above the clouds.

Clouds do not render with a render distance of 3 or lower.

Since clouds are rendered client-side, the position of clouds is different for each player on a server.

Clouds retain their position even if the game is restarted. The position of clouds is persistent between worlds — if the player quits their current world and generates a new one, then travels to the same coordinates they were at in the previous world, the clouds appear in the same position as the previous world.

History

This section is missing information about:

24w33a visual changes
Dimension type configurability.

Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.

Java Edition Classic
May 23, 2009							Notch says he accomplished adding "Clouds two tiles above the maximum build height".
0.0.14a							Added clouds, which float westward between layers 108 and 112.
Java Edition Indev
?							The color and height of clouds can now be changed via world editing.
Java Edition Infdev
20100227-1414							With the removal of Indev world types and formatting, clouds can no longer be recolored or have their height changed.
20100330							Clouds no longer follow the player horizontally. However, they still follow the player vertically.
20100611							Clouds are now 3D, have a top texture, and are translucent.
20100615							A Fast/Fancy graphics setting is added, which toggles clouds between two- and three-dimensional.
20100624							Clouds no longer have a further texture applied.
Java Edition Beta
1.8			Pre-release				Now clouds float between layers 128 and 132.
Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5				Clouds can now be disabled in the Video Options menu.
?							Clouds now completely occlude the rendering of blocks when seen from below.
1.5			13w06a				Fixed blocks being unable to be seen through clouds from below.
1.5			13w10b				Undid the previous fix due to performance reasons.
1.8.1			pre4				The clouds' "Fast" and "Fancy" shape are controlled with the same option that enables clouds, rather than with the standard Fast and Fancy graphics.
1.13			18w10d				Big optimizations to how clouds are rendered.
1.13			18w14a				The rendering of clouds has been optimized again.
1.15			19w38b				Blocks can now be seen through clouds from below again.^[1]
1.15			19w44a				Clouds no longer follow the player vertically.^[2]
1.17			21w06a				Now clouds float between layers 192 and 196.
1.17			21w13a				Reverted the above change.
1.18			experimental snapshot 2				Clouds once again float between layers 192 and 196.
1.21.6			25w16a				Clouds now exist all the way to the horizon.
			25w16a				The cloud texture no longer supports colored pixels.
			25w17a				Cloud rendering distance can now be configured independently of world/chunk render distance.
			25w21a				The texture file used for clouds has been changed.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.6.0							Added clouds. Clouds could be seen only in Fancy graphics, and if so, the clouds appeared opaque and two-dimensional, similar to the Fast clouds seen on Java Edition.
v0.7.0							Clouds are now toggled with the Beautiful Skies option.
v0.7.4							Clouds now have a darker color to match Java Edition.
v0.8.0			build 1				Clouds are always three-dimensional, and are opaque and transparent with Fast and Fancy graphics, respectively.
v0.9.0			build 1				New culling of clouds.
v0.9.0			build 1				Clouds have been made translucent, as opposed to being completely opaque.
v0.10.0			build 1				New double-sided lighting on clouds that's more coherent with the terrain.
			build 6				Better fog on clouds, starting farther away and following the sky color.
			build 7				The clouds and the terrain are now tinted red during sunset.
Bedrock Edition
1.17.40			beta 1.17.40.20				Now clouds float between layers 192 and 196.
1.18.0			?				Clouds once again float between layers 128 and 132 in old worlds.
1.21.80 Experiment Vibrant Visuals			Preview 1.21.80.25				Added a unique pattern of clouds for when Vibrant Visuals is turned on.
1.21.90			Preview 1.21.90.26				The pattern of clouds has been changed.
1.21.90			Preview 1.21.90.26				Removed the pattern of clouds unique to Vibrant Visuals.
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 clouds.
TU5							Cloud height raised to the top of the map, so clouds can no longer phase through blocks.
TU5							Cloud movement syncs with the game's time.