Skin

A Skin refers to the texture that is placed onto a player model or mob.

Overview[]

The default Steve skin.

The skin is divided into areas that act as the surface area of the character. For example, there is the front head area, left leg area, etc. A skin will only allow solid color; transparency is not allowed on the skin file except on the second head area, which is transparent by default. The second head layer can be used to give the character glasses, hats, or other accessories (even a bigger head). If one tries to make a piece of the skin transparent, it simply turns black.

World Textures[]

A skin can also refer to other textures in the game, such as block textures, item sprites, and mob skins. Modifying these is now supported since Java Edition Alpha 1.2.2.

It is worth noting that Pigmen, zombies, and zombie pigmen mobs can use typical player skins (and vice-versa).

Changing Player Skins[]

Java Edition[]

A player can only change their character's skin if they have purchased Minecraft, and can be done via one's profile page by uploading a valid .png or .jpg image file. Skins can have the option of 3 or 4 pixel wide arms.

Bedrock Edition[]

Since Pocket Edition Alpha 0.11.0, players can choose between the Steve and Alex skins and can apply their own custom skins. Players can also spend Minecoins to buy Skin Packs from the Marketplace.

Creating a skin[]

A custom skin is a great way to personalize one's player model and can be done either by using a variety of community-made skin editors or by editing Minecraft's char.png file manually. This is stored in the Minecraft.jar file and can only be accessed by using an archive de-compiler (such as Winzip, Winrar, or 7-Zip).

In Windows, Minecraft.jar is located in "C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\bin", accessed by pressing Win + R and entering "%appdata%" in the command box. This is done differently on a Mac.

Skin files must be 64 x 32 pixels.

Note: As of the 1.9 pre-releases and 1.0.0, all "bottom" textures (including hand and foot) have been flipped 180 degrees.

A color-coded skin template on transparent background with all faces labeled.

Capes[]

Capes (previously known as cloaks), are vanity items and are worn in addition to a player's skin. There is currently no way to obtain a cape on one's own, however, there are various mods that allow players to do this.

Name	Image	Original	Notes
Mojang Cape (Old)			All Mojang AB employees have this cape. This design was used from December 20, 2010 - October 7, 2015.
Mojang Cape (New)			All Mojang AB employees have this cape. This design has been used since October 7, 2015.
The Christmas Cape 2010			On December 24/25, 2010; all users were given a Christmas cape.
The New Year's Cape			On New Year's Eve, 2010; all users were given this cape.
1st Birthday Xbox Cape			From May 9 to May 13, 2013, all players of the Xbox 360 Edition were shown with this birthday cake cape (except for players using skins that have their own capes) to celebrate the 1st birthday of the Xbox edition of Minecraft. A Java Edition version of the cape currently does not exist. This cape was not added to their accounts.
The Bacon Cape			Miclee was gifted this cape by Notch, presumably due to his idea of the Pigmen. However, later it was removed from him due to other users asking Notch for personal capes.
One Million Cape			This cape was made for akronman1, the lucky buyer of the 1,000,000th copy of Minecraft.
dannyBstyle's Cape			This cape was given to dannyBstyle.
JulianClark's Cape			This cape was given to JulianClark in return for bringing Notch the TV presenter and actor Ray Cokes.
cheapsh0t's Cape			In October 2013, the user cheapsh0t received this cape for helping the Mojang team in Tokyo. The cape is identical to the Crowdin cape except for the Japanese flag on the reverse side of the cape.
MrMessiah's Cape			This cape was given to MrMessiah as a "thank you" for creating the BetterLight mod which is responsible for some of Minecraft's lighting and grass features. The cape was discussed in 2011, however, it wasn't granted until 2015 for unknown reasons. The designer of the cape is uncertain but MrMessiah believes it was Jeb.
Prismarine Cape			This cape was given to 'Drullkus' for recreating the prismarine block for use in his Chisel mod rather than modifying Mojang's texture.
Turtle Cape			This cape was given to 'billyK_' for his suggestion to add turtles into the game.
MineCon 2011 Cape			This cape was given to attendees of MineCon 2011.
MineCon 2012 Cape			This cape was given to attendees of MineCon 2012.
MineCon 2013 Cape			This cape was given to attendees of MineCon 2013.
MineCon 2015 Cape			This cape was given to attendees of MineCon 2015.
MineCon 2016 Cape			This cape was given to attendees of Minecon 2016.
MineCon Live 2019 Founder's Cape			Unlike previous events, this cape was being distributed on the Minecraft Marketplace, as a promotion for the character creator.
Pancape			An upcoming cape for Bedrock Edition.

History[]

In October 2011, Notch renamed the cloak to the cape, mentioning that the name was already wrong in the first place.

So far the Christmas and New Years Capes have only been given out in 2010 and not subsequent years.

Trivia[]

In Saint's Row IV, one of the many head items available for a player to wear includes a Minecraft Human head that resembles the default player skin.
In Borderlands 2, in the area that features many Minecraft items, a head item can be found. The piece resembles that of the default skin.

References[]

External links[]

Minecraft Skins: The Minecraft Skin Index. A massive selection of some of the coolest Minecraft skins.
Minecrafties Skin Gallery: A large and constantly updated collection consisting of only the highest quality skin creations.
PlanetMinecraft: A hosting site with a large variety of skins, texture packs, mods, and other finds.
The Skindex: A wide variety of user-uploaded skins.
Minecraft Skins: Database of high-quality skins.
Miners Need Cool Shoes An online skin designer, with a selection of pre-made parts players can use to "build" a skin with.
Skincraft An unofficial editor.
Minecraft Skin Share: Find and share one's favorite skins.
Minecraft Skinner: Large skin database with a walking preview.
SkinCache: Create skins online! Also, browse, rate, & comment on other skins.
Minecraft Blueprint/Skins: Database of high-quality skins, previewer, editor.
Best Minecraft Skins: Share and vote on skins.
Minecraft Skins Pro: Massive skin database and home of the iOS skin editor called MSP: Creator.
Minecraft Skins: Huge skin collection. One click to upload to one's Minecraft account.
MCSkinEdit A third-party program for creating and editing skins.
Minecraft Capes: This is the first cape directory on the web. Come share one's cape on this site.
MCSkin3D: A downloadable skin editor for Windows.
Nova Skin: The most popular skin editor on the internet.