Particles (Java Edition)

For particles in Bedrock Edition, see Particles (Bedrock Edition).
For the format of particles in commands and data packs, see Particle format.
This scene of an ocean shows suspension particles generated by the water, as well as bubble particles from bubble columns.

Particles are special graphical effects in Minecraft that are created when certain events occur, such as explosions, rainfall, or smelting items in a furnace.

Behavior

Particles are rendered as front-facing 2D sprites, meaning they always face the player. They disappear after a short animation, in which they may change sizes and rotate, and cycle between a number of animation sprites. They collide with solid blocks and are slowed by cobwebs, but are unaffected by other entities.

Particles generate in a spherical area around the player with a radius of 32 blocks. (Except campfire smoke and firework particles, which generates in any loaded chunk.) The /particle command can be used to create particles.

If a player uses the "minimal" particles option in the video settings, some particles may not appear.

Types of particles

The types of particles and their ID names are displayed below. Particles are namespaced with the prefix minecraft:.

ID Description Texture Example
angry_villager Produced when when villagers fail to breed or when a job site block gets unclaimed due to the villager being unable to reach it.
ash Floats throughout the atmosphere in the soul sand valley biome.
block Produced when blocks are broken, flakes off blocks being brushed, produced when iron golems walk, produced when entities fall a long distance, produced when players and cats sprint, displayed when armor stands are broken, appears when sheep eat grass.​ [note 1]
block_crumble Shown when a creaking heart is destroyed along with its creaking.
block_marker Marks the position of barriers and light blocks when they are held in the main hand. [note 2]
bubble Appears around entities splashing in water, emitted by guardian lasers, produced by guardians moving, appears by the fishing bobber and along the path of a fish, trails behind projectiles and eyes of ender underwater.
bubble_column_up Represents upward bubble columns.
bubble_pop Unused.[1]
campfire_cosy_smoke Floats off the top of campfires and soul campfires.
campfire_signal_smoke Floats off the top of campfires and soul campfires above hay bales.
cherry_leaves Falls off the bottom of cherry leaves.
cloud Appears when placing wet sponges in the Nether, shown when entering a village with the Bad Omen effect.
composter Produced when placing items in a composter.
crimson_spore Floats throughout the atmosphere in the crimson forest biome.
crit Trails behind crossbow shots and fully charged bow shots, produced by evoker fangs, appears when landing a critical hit on an entity.
current_down Represents downward bubble columns.
damage_indicator Appears when a melee attack damages an entity.
dolphin Trails behind dolphins.
dragon_breath Spit out by the ender dragon, trails behind dragon fireballs, emitted by clouds of dragon's breath, produced when dragon fireballs explode.
dripping_dripstone_lava Represents lava drips collected on pointed dripstone with lava above that have not yet dripped down.
dripping_dripstone_water Represents water drips collected on pointed dripstone with water or nothing above that have not yet dripped down.
dripping_honey Represents honey drips collected on the bottom of full bee nests or beehives that have not yet dripped down.
dripping_lava Represents lava drips collected on the bottom of blocks with lava above that have not yet dripped down.
dripping_obsidian_tear Represents tears collected on the sides or bottom of crying obsidian that have not yet dripped down.
dripping_water Represents water drips collected on the bottom of leaves in rain and blocks with water above or the bottom and sides of wet sponges that have not yet dripped down.
dust Emitted by powered redstone torches, powered levers, redstone ore, powered redstone dust, and powered redstone repeaters.
dust_color_transition Emitted by activated sculk sensors.
dust_pillar Produced by mace smash attacks. [note 3]
dust_plume Shown when adding items to decorated pots.
effect Produced by splash potions.
egg_crack Appears when sniffer eggs are placed on moss blocks, appears when sniffer eggs crack.
elder_guardian Displayed when elder guardians inflict Mining Fatigue. [note 4]
electric_spark Emitted by lightning rods during thunderstorms, produced when lightning hits copper.
enchant Floats from bookshelves to enchanting tables.
enchanted_hit Appears when hitting the respective entities with a weapon enchanted with Sharpness, Bane of Arthropods, Smite or Impaling .
end_rod Emitted by end rods, trails behind shulker bullets.
entity_effect Emitted by tipped arrows, produced by ravagers when stunned, produced when lingering potions break open, emitted by area effect clouds, produced when evokers cast spells, emitted by the wither as it charges up and when its health is below half, produced by entities with effects from sources other than conduits or beacons.
explosion Produced by explosion_emitter particles, shown when shearing mooshrooms, appears when shulker bullets hit the ground, emitted by the ender dragon as it dies, shown when the ender dragon breaks blocks.
explosion_emitter Produced by explosions.
falling_dripstone_lava Drips off pointed dripstone with lava above.
falling_dripstone_water Drips off pointed dripstone with nothing or water above.
falling_dust Falls off the bottom of floating blocks affected by gravity.
falling_honey Drips off beehives and bee nests that are full of honey.
falling_lava Drips off the bottom of blocks with lava above.
falling_nectar Falls off bees that have collected pollen.
falling_obsidian_tear Drips off crying obsidian.
falling_spore_blossom Drips off of spore blossoms.
falling_water Drips off of the bottom of blocks with water above, drips off the bottom of leaves during rain, drips off of wet sponges.
firefly Spawns from firefly bushes when the internal light level is at 13 or lower
firework Trails behind fireworks, produced when fireworks crafted with firework stars explode.
fishing Represents the fish trail when fishing.
flame Appears inside of monster spawners, produced by magma cubes, represents the flame of torches, emitted by furnaces.
flash Shown when fireworks with crafted with firework stars explode.
glow Emitted by glow squid.
glow_squid_ink Produced by glow squid when hit.
gust Created when a wind charge hits a block.
gust_emitter Created when a wind charge hits a block. Spawns a number of gust particles.
happy_villager Shown when using bone meal on plants, appears when trading with villagers, appears when feeding baby animals or dolphins, emitted by villagers upon claiming a job site block or a bed, shown when bees pollinate crops, appears when turtle eggs are placed on sand, appears when turtle eggs hatch.
heart Appears when taming mobs, emitted by breeding mobs, feeding mobs, appears when allays duplicate.
infested Produced by entities with the Infested effect.
instant_effect Produced when splash potions or lingering potions of Instant Health or Instant Damage break. Also produced trailing spectral arrow entities.
item Produced when tools break, produced when eating food, produced when splash potions or lingering potions break, shown when eyes of ender break. [note 5]
item_cobweb Produced by entities with the Weaving effect. [note 6]
item_slime Shown when slimes jump and produced by entities with the Oozing effect. [note 7]
item_snowball Produced when thrown snowballs break. [note 8]
landing_honey Created when falling_honey particles hit the ground.
landing_lava Created when falling_lava or falling_dripstone_lava particles hit the ground.
landing_obsidian_tear Created when falling_obsidian_tear particles hit the ground.
large_smoke Floats off the top of fire, produced by blazes, appears when trying to place water in the Nether, appears when obsidian, stone, or cobblestone is created by lava and water.
lava Produced by campfires, produced by lava.
mycelium Appears above mycelium, trails behind the wings of phantoms.
nautilus Appears and floats toward conduits, appears and floats toward mobs being attacked by a conduit.
note Produced by jukeboxes, produced by note blocks.
ominous_spawning Appears when an ominous item spawner spawns a item during an ominous event.
pale_oak_leaves Falls off the bottom of pale oak leaves.

poof Appears when mobs die, shown when ravagers roar after being stunned, produced when silverfish enter stone, appear around mobs spawned by spawners, shown when zombies trample turtle eggs, created when fireworks crafted without stars expire.
portal Trails behind eyes of ender, shown when eyes of ender break, floats toward where ender pearls break, points toward where dragon eggs teleport, floats toward where players teleport with chorus fruit, appears and floats toward nether portals, appears and floats toward end gateway portals, appears and floats toward ender chests, emitted by endermen, appears and floats toward endermites.
raid_omen Produced by players and mobs with the Raid Omen effect.
rain Appears on the ground during rain.
reverse_portal Floats off the top of respawn anchors that have some level of charge.
scrape Shown when scraping oxidization off copper.
sculk_charge Marks the path of a sculk charge.
sculk_charge_pop Appears when a sculk charge ends.
sculk_soul Appears above sculk catalysts when activated.
shriek Emitted by activated sculk shriekers.
small_flame Represents the flame of candles.
small_gust Produced by mobs with the Wind Charged effect.
smoke Floats off the top of monster spawners, represents the smoke from candles, appears when TNT is primed, floats off the top of wither roses, floats off the top of brewing stands, represents the smoke of torches and soul torches, trails behind ghast fireballs, emitted by withers, trails behind wither skulls, produced when dispensers or droppers fire, trails behind blaze fireballs, emitted by lava and campfires during rain, emitted by furnaces, emitted by blast furnaces, emitted by smokers, produced when placing eyes of ender in an end portal frame, emitted by end portals, produced when redstone torches burn out, floats off the top of food placed on a campfire, shown when campfires and soul campfires are extinguished, shown when failing to tame a mob, trails behind lava particles.
sneeze Sneezed out by pandas.
snowflake Created by entities in powder snow.
sonic_boom Produced by the warden during its sonic boom attack.
soul Created by players with Soul Speed boots running on soul sand or soul soil.
soul_fire_flame Represents the flame of soul torches.
spit Spit out by llamas.
splash Produced by entities splashing in water, produced by villagers sweating during a raid, appears above the surface of the water when fishing, created when falling_water or falling_dripstone_water particles hit the ground, shaken off by wolves after exiting water.
spore_blossom_air Floats in the atmosphere around spore blossoms.
squid_ink Produced by squid when hit.
sweep_attack Appears when a sweeping attack is performed.
tinted_leaves Falls off the bottom of any type leaves except pale oak leaves. Its color corresponds to the leaves block its falling off.
totem_of_undying Produced when a totem of undying is used.
trail Trace a trail between two points. Shown when the creaking is attacked, to link it to its heart, and when eyeblossoms open or close.

Trail particle connecting Creaking with its Heart

trial_omen Produced by players and mobs with the Trial Omen effect.
trial_spawner_detection Produced when a trial spawner is activated.
trial_spawner_detection_ominous Produced when an ominous trial spawner is activated.
underwater Floats in the atmosphere underwater.
vault_connection Produced when a player is near a vault.
vibration Moves from sounds to the warden or a sculk sensor, moves from note blocks to allays.
warped_spore Floats in the atmosphere in warped forest biomes.
wax_off Produced when scraping wax off copper.
wax_on Produced when using honeycomb on copper.
white_ash Floats in the atmosphere in basalt delta biomes.
white_smoke Emitted by crafters when ejecting an item.
witch Emitted by witches.
  1. Texture used is dependent on which block produced this particle.
  2. Texture used is dependent on which block this particle represents.
  3. Texture used is dependent on which block the targeted mob is standing on.
  4. This particle directly uses the elder guardian model, rather than any specific texture.
  5. The texture used depends on which item produced this particle.
  6. This particle uses the cobweb texture.
  7. This particle uses the slimeball texture.
  8. This particle uses the snowball texture.

Issues

Issues relating to "Particles" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

History

This section needs expansion.
 
You can help by expanding it.
Instructions: Java particles in 1.16/1.17 - still relevant? was referencing Bedrock Edition
Java Edition pre-Classic
rd-160052Added blockcrack.
64 particles are generated when a block is broken.
Java Edition Classic
0.0.15a (Multiplayer Test 4)Re-added particles to multiplayer.
0.26 SURVIVAL TESTAdded some form of smoke and rain particles.
Added splash.
Java Edition Indev
0.3120100124-2310Added bubble.
20100125Added flame.
Java Edition Infdev
20100325-1545Particles are now generated at the edges of water blocks.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.1Added reddust, snowballpoof, largeexplode, and portal.
v1.0.4Updated splash.
Java Edition Beta
1.2Added note.
1.5Added footstep.
1.8Pre-releaseAdded crit, hugeexplosion, townaura, and depthsuspend.
Java Edition
1.0.0Beta 1.9 PrereleaseAdded dripWater and dripLava.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4Added magicCrit, spell, instantSpell, and mobSpell.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6Added "Particles" setting in the video settings.
1.111w49aParticles no longer turn farmland into dirt.
1.4.212w32aAdded angryVillager and happyVillager.
12w38aAdded witchMagic.
1.4.4preAdded mobSpellAmbient.
1.4.612w49aAdded fireworksSpark.
1.7.213w36aAdded wake.
Added falling particles.
1.814w04aAdded /particle command.
14w06aAdded barrier.
14w25aAdded droplet, take, and mobappearance.
14w27aFalling particles now move in a random direction.
14w31aThrown eggs now use the iconcrack particle, instead of the snowballpoof one.
14w34cThe void no longer produces depthSuspend particles.
1.915w31aAdded dragonbreath and endRod.
15w32cParticles are no longer handled as entities.
Particle range increased from 16 blocks to 32 blocks.
Particle count, limit of increased from 4,000 to 16,384.
15w34bAdded damageIndicator.
15w34cAdded sweepAttack.
1.1016w20aAdded fallingdust.
pre1fallingdust now collides with blocks.
1.1116w39aAdded spit and talisman.
16w39cRenamed talisman to totem
1.1317w47aDue to the flattening, particles now use resource locations, and 32 particles are renamed.
Removed footstep and depthsuspend. However, the texture for footsteps still exists in the jar.
Removed name for take.
Merged blockcrack and blockdust into block, and explode and snowshovel into poof.
18w07aAdded bubble_column_up, bubble_pop, current_down, and squid_ink.
18w09aOptimized particle rendering slightly.
18w15aAdded nautilus.
18w19aAdded dolphin.
pre7dripping_water particles are now generated by waterlogged blocks where appropriate.
dripping_water particles now snap to the hitbox of the block they appear on.
pre8dripping_water particles are no longer generated by impermeable blocks.
1.1418w43aAdded sneeze.
19w02aAdded campfire_cosy_smoke and campfire_signal_smoke.
19w05aAdded composter.
19w06aParticles are now broken up into individual textures files per frame rather than being in particles.png, explosion.png and sweep.png.
1.1519w34aAdded dripping_honey, landing_honey, falling_honey and falling_nectar.
1.1620w06aAdded ash, crimson_spore, soul_fire_flame and warped_spore.
20w09aAdded dripping_obsidian_tear, falling_obsidian_tear, landing_obsidian_tear.
20w11aAdded soul.
20w15aAdded white_ash.
1.1720w45aParticles now appear if a block is broken by a piston.
20w46aAdded snowflake.
20w48aAdded dripping_dripstone_lava, dripping_dripstone_water, falling_dripstone_lava, and falling_dripstone_water.
20w49aAdded vibration and dust_color_transition.
21w03aAdded glow and glow_squid_ink.
21w05aAdded falling_spore_blossom and spore_blossom_air.
21w11aAdded electric_spark, scrape, wax_off and wax_on.
21w13aThe unused texture of footprint[2] has been removed.
Added light.
1.1821w42aAdded block_marker, to replace light and barrier.
1.19Deep Dark Experimental Snapshot 1Added shriek, sculk_soul, sculk_charge_pop, sculk_charge.
22w13aAdded allay_dust.
22w15aAdded sonic_boom.
22w16aRemoved allay_dust.
1.19.4
Experiment
Update 1.20
23w07aAdded dripping_cherry_leaves, falling_cherry_leaves, and landing_cherry_leaves.
1.2023w12aWither effect particle colors have been adjusted to make them more distinguishable.
dripping_cherry_leaves, falling_cherry_leaves, and landing_cherry_leaves have been merged into cherry_leaves, and the texture was changed.
1.20.323w41aAdded dust_plume.
23w42aAdded white_smoke.
23w45aAdded gust, gust_dust and trial_spawner_detection.
1.20.5
Experiment
Update 1.21
24w03bRemoved gust_dust.
24w05aAdded vault_connection.
24w13aAdded infested, item_cobweb, ominous_spawning, raid_omen, small_gust, trial_omen, and trial_spawner_detection_ominous.
1.21.224w40aAdded block_crumble and trail.
pre1The format of color fields in particle options is now more standardized.
1.21.424w44atrail particle has a new required field: duration.
Added pale_oak_leaves.
1.21.525w02aAdded tinted_leaves.
25w04atinted_leaves particle has a new required field: color.

Trivia

  • Most particle textures can be changed using resource packs, however, particle colors that are applied to the texture files such as those for smoke particles used in redstone, portals, and endermen cannot be changed without mods.
    • The dust particle has unique syntax used for color, represented with three RGB values as decimal percentages.
  • Status effect particles appear where the player face is pointing.
  • The elder_guardian particle always follows the player regardless of what its location has been set to.
  • Redstone repeaters emit particles, but redstone comparators do not.
  • There is a particle that is internally used to implement the item pickup animation, but it cannot be summoned with the /particle command. Before the name was removed in 1.13, it was called take.
  • There is a limit of 16384 particles existing at the same time.
  • The trail particles use colours #FC7812 and #5F5F5F when created naturally by a creaking heart.

Gallery

References

  1. MC-132067
  2. /assets/minecraft/textures/particle/footprint.png