Piston/Technical components

< Piston
It has been suggested that this page be split into Piston Head and Moving Piston.
 [discuss]
If this split affects many pages, or may potentially be controversial, do not split until a consensus has been reached.

Pistons and sticky pistons have 2 technical blocks that cannot be obtained. These include the piston head and moving piston blocks.

Piston head

Piston Head

Piston Head.png: Infobox image for Piston Head the block in Minecraft
Piston Head BE.png: Infobox image for Piston Head the block in Minecraft

Sticky Piston Head.png: Infobox image for Piston Head the block in Minecraft
Sticky Piston Head BE.png: Infobox image for Piston Head the block in Minecraft

Invicon pistonArmCollision.png: Inventory sprite for pistonArmCollision in Minecraft as shown in-game with description: pistonArmCollision
Renewable

Yes

Stackable

No

Tool

Blast resistance

0.5

Hardness

1.5

Luminous

No

Transparent

Yes

Flammable

No

Catches fire
from lava

No

Map color (JE)


 11 STONE 

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        {
            "field": "<span class=\"sprite-file\" style=\"height:32px;width:32px;--vertical-align:middle\">(link to File:SlotSprite Pickaxe Required.png article, displayed as 32x32px|link=Pickaxe|alt=|class=pixel-image|This block can be broken with any tool, but a pickaxe is the quickest)</span>",
            "label": "Tool"
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            "label": "(link to Explosion#Blast resistance article, displayed as Blast resistance)"
        },
        {
            "field": "1.5",
            "label": "(link to Breaking#Blocks by hardness article, displayed as Hardness)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
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        },
        {
            "field": "Yes",
            "label": "(link to Opacity article, displayed as Transparent)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Flammable article, displayed as Flammable)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
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            "field": "<span style=\"display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap;\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; background-color: rgb(112, 112, 112); border: 1px solid #888; border-radius: 0.3em; width: 1em; height: 1em; vertical-align: -0.36em; margin-right: -0.1em\"><br></span> 11 STONE</span>",
            "label": "(link to Map color article, displayed as Map color) <small>((link to Java Edition article, displayed as ''JE''))</small>"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [
        "pistonArmCollision"
    ],
    "images": [
        "Piston Head.png",
        "Piston Head BE.png",
        "Sticky Piston Head.png",
        "Sticky Piston Head BE.png"
    ]
}

The piston head is a technical block that appears as the front part of an extended piston. It is not available in the Creative inventory and does not drop anything when removed.

Normally, piston heads are created automatically when a piston extends. However, they can also be placed manually using the /setblock command or a debug stick. If placed this way and not part of a valid piston structure, the piston head disappears when it receives a block update — for example, when a nearby block is placed or removed. This disappearance does not occur if the block was placed using a debug stick.

In rare cases, piston heads can also be placed using certain bugs. These bug-placed piston heads cannot be broken directly but can be removed by placing another block in the same location.

In Java Edition, normal and sticky piston heads are distinguished by a block state.In Bedrock Edition, they use separate block IDs and can be obtained as items using inventory editors.

Block states

See also: Block states

Java Edition:

Name Default value Allowed values Description
facingnorthdown
east
north
south
up
west		The direction the piston head is pointing.
shortfalsefalse
true		If true, the piston arm is shorter than usual, by 4 pixels.
typenormalnormal
sticky		The type of piston head.

Bedrock Edition: Piston Head:

NameMetadata Bits Default value Allowed valuesValues for
Metadata Bits		 Description
facing_direction0x1
0x2
0x4		00
1
2
3
4
5		0
1
2
3
4
5		The direction the piston head is pointing.
  • 0: facing up
  • 1: facing down
  • 2: facing south
  • 3: facing north
  • 4: facing east
  • 5: facing west

Sticky Piston Head:

NameMetadata Bits Default value Allowed valuesValues for
Metadata Bits		 Description
facing_directionNot Supported00
1
2
3
4
5		UnsupportedThe direction the piston head is pointing.
  • 0: facing up
  • 1: facing down
  • 2: facing south
  • 3: facing north
  • 4: facing east
  • 5: facing west


Moving piston

Moving Piston
Moving Piston.png: Infobox image for Moving Piston the block in Minecraft
Invicon movingBlock.png: Inventory sprite for movingBlock in Minecraft as shown in-game with description: movingBlock
Renewable

Yes

Stackable

No

Tool

None

Blast resistance

0

Hardness

-1

Luminous

No

Transparent

Yes

Flammable

No

Catches fire
from lava

No 

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            "label": "Stackable"
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        {
            "field": "None",
            "label": "Tool"
        },
        {
            "field": "0",
            "label": "(link to Explosion#Blast resistance article, displayed as Blast resistance)"
        },
        {
            "field": "-1",
            "label": "(link to Breaking#Blocks by hardness article, displayed as Hardness)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Light article, displayed as Luminous)"
        },
        {
            "field": "Yes",
            "label": "(link to Opacity article, displayed as Transparent)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Flammable article, displayed as Flammable)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "Catches fire<br>from (link to lava article, displayed as lava)"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [
        "movingBlock"
    ],
    "images": [
        "Moving Piston.png"
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The moving piston, also known as block 36 due to its pre-flattening block ID, is an unobtainable technical block that contains part of a piston head, and/or part of one or two blocks that the piston is carrying into or out of the grid cell (including blocks carried indirectly via slime blocks). Since moving blocks vary in how much of each grid cell they occupy, they can't be stored as normal blocks and are instead stored as block entities. At the end of the piston stroke, it gets replaced with either air, the piston head, or the carried block; but if it is placed through editing and no piston is connected, it remains indefinitely.

It is invisible and non-solid in Java Edition, and cannot be broken without the use of commands, TNT, or a structure generating over it (such as the end platform). Although it is non-solid, fluids cannot pass through it. It also prevents players from building at its location. Mobs can see through it, but cannot walk through it. The game treats the block as a stone block when it comes to the player's footstep sounds. It is similar to invisible bedrock in properties with the exception that the player can walk through the moving piston but not invisible bedrock.

Block states

See also: Block states

Java Edition:

Name Default value Allowed values Description
facingnorthdown
east
north
south
up
west		The direction the block is being pushed by the piston.
typenormalnormal
sticky		What piston base this has.


Block data

The moving piston has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

Java Edition:

See also: Block entity format
  • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Block entity data
    • Tags common to all block entities see Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity/template
    • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] blockState: The moving block represented by this block entity.
      • Block state see Template:Nbt inherit/block state/template
    • [Byte] extending: 1 or 0 (true/false) – true if the piston is extending instead of withdrawing.
    • [Int] facing: Direction that the piston pushes (0=down, 1=up, 2=north, 3=south, 4=west, 5=east).
    • [Float] progress: How far the block has been moved. Starts at 0.0, and increments by 0.5 each tick. If the value is 1.0 or higher at the start of a tick (before incrementing), then the block transforms into the stored blockState. Negative values can be used to increase the time until transformation.
    • [Byte] source: 1 or 0 (true/false) – true if the block represents the piston head itself, false if it represents a block being pushed.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierFormBlock tagsTranslation key
BlockSprite piston-head.png: Sprite image for piston-head in Minecraft Piston Headpiston_headBlockNoneblock.minecraft.piston_head
BlockSprite moving-piston.png: Sprite image for moving-piston in Minecraft Moving Pistonmoving_pistonBlockdragon_immune
wither_immune		block.minecraft.moving_piston
NameIdentifier
BlockSprite moving-piston.png: Sprite image for moving-piston in Minecraft Moving piston entitypiston

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierAlias ID Numeric ID FormItem ID[i 1]Translation key
BlockSprite piston-head.png: Sprite image for piston-head in Minecraft Piston Headpiston_arm_collisionpistonArmCollision34Block & Ungiveable Item[i 2]piston_arm_collision
Alias ID: pistonarmcollision		tile.piston_arm_collision.name
BlockSprite piston-head.png: Sprite image for piston-head in Minecraft Sticky Piston Headsticky_piston_arm_collisionstickyPistonArmCollision472Block & Ungiveable Item[i 2]stick_piston_arm_collision
Alias ID: stickpistonarmcollision		tile.sticky_piston_arm_collision.name
BlockSprite moving-block.png: Sprite image for moving-block in Minecraft Moving Blockmoving_blockmovingBlock250Block & Ungiveable Item[i 2]moving_block
Alias ID: movingblock		tile.moving_block.name
  1. ↑ ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
  2. ↑ a b c Unavailable with /give command
NameSavegame ID
BlockSprite moving-piston.png: Sprite image for moving-piston in Minecraft Moving block entityMovingBlock

History

This section would benefit from the addition of isometric renders.
 
Please remove this notice once you've added suitable isometric renders to the article.
The specific instructions are: 1.19 piston changes
There is an associated technical blocks page for the internal item form of this block; see Technical blocks/Pistons.
Java Edition Beta
1.7

Added piston head and moving piston blocks.
Java Edition
1.814w17a The models for piston and related blocks when facing up and down have been changed.
14w27bThe moving piston block no longer has a selection outline.
14w29a

There are now "short" piston heads. Their model is used during a piston's extension/retraction to avoid having part of the head's texture poke out of the back of the piston.
1.1418w43a



The textures associated with piston heads have been changed.
While the texture for oak planks was later updated in subsequent snapshots, the piston texture is yet to be changed to reflect this.[1]
1.1922w17aChanged piston textures, to match the color of the oak planks on the piston head.

Data history

Java Edition
1.814w29aAdded the "short=true/false" block state to piston_head.
1.11.116w50aAdded a new byte tag source for the piston_extension block entity, which is true if the block represents the piston head itself, and false if it represents a block being pushed. Pistons moving entities to the other side has been fixed.
1.1317w47aThe moving block ID of pistons has been changed from piston_extension to moving_piston.
Prior to The Flattening, these blocks' numeral IDs were 34 and 36.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.16.0build 5The movingblock block for pistons can no longer be placed using commands.
Bedrock Edition
1.13.0beta 1.13.0.9Sticky piston heads are now a separate block from normal heads, instead of being differentiated by a block state. The namespaced ID is now stickypistonarmcollision, while the numerical ID is 472.
1.18.30beta 1.18.30.26The ID of pistonarmcollision is changed to piston_arm_collision
The ID of stickypistonarmcollision is changed to sticky_piston_arm_collision
The ID of movingblock is changed to moving_block

Trivia

  • Mobs can spawn inside the piston head block.
  • In Bedrock Edition, the piston head is invisible and non-solid when placed with commands. The moving piston cannot be placed with block placement commands in this edition.
  • The moving_piston is transparent and does not emit light.
    • If a light-emitting block is moved, the player can see it turn dark briefly. If an opaque block is moved, the player may see light passing through it.

References

  1. ↑ MC-248841 — resolved as "Works As Intended".

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