What are the best Minecraft texture packs? These colorful and game-altering texture packs can make your world a completely new experience. Of course, Minecraft’s low-fi charm is part of the draw, but texture packs range from subtle changes to an all-over reskin, so you can choose just how much you want to leave vanilla Minecraft behind.
Just like the best Minecraft mods and shaders, texture packs can help give an entirely new feel to one of the best PC games of the last decade, and it’s just one of many ways of keeping the sandbox game feeling fresh after all these years. While some mods can alter Minecraft gameplay, and shaders change the quality and style of the graphics, texture packs allow you to add a new skin to existing blocks. Included in our list of the best Minecraft texture packs are realistic blocks, cartoonish overhauls, and cute changes to the way Minecraft mobs look.
The 20 best Minecraft texture packs to try right now are:
Optimum Realism
Latest version: 1.20
If you’re looking for total a fully realistic Minecraft texture pack, then look no further than Optimum Realism, which is available in 68x, 128x, 356x, and even 512x resolution. Even at the lowest detail, Optimum Realism offers a totally immersive Minecraft experience, while the 512x pack remains as fps-friendly as possible. The higher resolution packs are paid, but if you want to test it out before you buy, you can download the 64x resolution Optimum Realism texture pack for free on Curseforge.
Xray Ultimate
Latest version: 1.20
OK, this one’s a bit cheeky, and we’re not advocating using this naughty resource pack in any Minecraft servers, as it’s a little bit unfair, but you could use it in your own world to make things a little easier on you. Either way, it’s definitely cheating, but we know people want it, so here it is, and whether you use it or not is up to you.
The Xray Ultimate texture pack is exactly what you’d expect, just like the Xray mods of the past. The difference being that mods cannot be used in servers, but some allow resource packs. It also won’t affect achievements. They’re also far easier to just switch on and off, which you’ll need to do, as you can’t actually play Minecraft with this texture pack on. Instead, head underground, make sure you’re someplace safe, and switch the pack on from your pause screen menu. Have a look around, carefully mine your way to any nearby ores you need, and switch it back off to continue playing normally.
Custom Totem
Latest version: 1.20
The popular Custom Totem texture pack allows you to transport your own skin into the game as a Totem of Undying. Actually, since this texture pack is customizable, you could make your Totem of Undying anything you want, as long as you have the Minecraft skin for it. Make it the perfect copy of your current skin, a golden version of your skin, or even just a copy of your favorite toy to make it look like you’re carrying it around with you.
Once you’ve got the skin you want downloaded, simply rename it totem_of_undying and copy it into the file destination of the texture pack’s totem png, making sure you remove the original file first. This can be found in the resourcepacks > assets > textures file destination in the texture pack zip file.
Tooniverse
Latest version: 1.20
Wait, that’s Minecraft?! Yes, I know it’s hard to believe, but what you see is still Minecraft. Daft_Vader’s incredible Tooniverse texture pack might make you feel like you’re playing an entirely new game, but it still has all the Minecraft elements you know and love, just with a new face. Literally. Just take a look at that adorable sunshine in the header image above. Fluffy clouds (without shaders!), rainbows, and googly eyes all give this texture pack a super fun feel, and it runs best without shaders, so it’s not even too punishing on your system.
If you want slightly lower-resolution textures, you’re in luck, as four separate Tooniverse downloads vary in size. You can support Daft_Vader by purchasing the 64x, 128x, or 256x packs or the complete bundle. However, if you’d prefer to try it out for free, the Busy Bee x32 pack still provides an adorable experience while retaining that more classic Minecraft aesthetic.
Better Dogs
Latest version: 1.20
This one’s a no-brainer. Just look at those cute dogs above. We love Minecraft wolves, especially now we can protect them from harm with wolf armor in Minecraft 1.21, but they all look the same. The only customization you can offer your wolves once tamed is changing the color of their collar, while there are over ten cat variants. Where’s the love for the dogs?! Well, it might not be official, but the love is here in the Better Dogs texture pack, which retextures the familiar wolf skin with various dog breeds.
Better Dogs works by randomly selecting one of the many dog breeds and variants whenever a wolf is newly tamed so that you can have a menagerie of different dog breeds filling your home in no time. What’s more, there are unique dog variants in the Nether and The End. You can also choose your dog breed by giving your pet a custom name tag. What more could you possibly want?
Pastel hotbar
Latest version: 1.20
This one doesn’t change anything about your world, but it’s the perfect addition to some of the best cute resource packs and shaders, especially since the addition of the Minecraft cherry grove biome. Instead, this one changes your hotbar, giving an attractive, pink aesthetic to your health and hunger and your item hotbar itself. This one’s staying on our Minecraft world permanently – look at those cute hunger strawbs!
If you want to build the cute pink house above, head to our Minecraft house ideas guide, where you’ll find the tutorial! This is our version, but we can’t take credit for the cute design.
Visible Ores
Latest version: 1.20
This simple texture pack changes how ores look, so they’re more immediately visible when underground. Whether you branch mine and want to save on torches or want to be able to spot ores while canving, the Visible Ores mod more easily is the perfect addition to vanilla Minecraft to make mining for resources that much faster while keeping the rest of the game the same – unless you want to combine it with other resource packs and mods, of course.
Better Vanilla Building
Latest version: 1.20
It’s hard to know where to start with what is one of our favorite Minecraft texture packs of all time: Better Vanilla Building. The retextured, biome-specific mobs, including cute new pigs, pastel cows, and the coral skeletons you can see above? The subtly tweaked vanilla textures, like bushier plants or flowering trees? Or could it be the pack’s connected textures?
Yep, with this vanilla pack installed, you can simply enjoy the altered textures as they are around you, or you can choose to combine different textures to create something entirely new, like multi-colored redstone lamps or terracotta walls trimmed with gold. That’s still not all, though, as you can also rename armor, elytra, weapons, and more to reskin your items, giving them a brand new, unique look. This is the texture pack that does it all.
Stay True
Latest version: 1.20
Staying true to its name, Stay True is relatively faithful to original vanilla textures, maintaining a similar color palette, mob designs, and block surfaces. The changes, though, are perfect for someone who doesn’t want to stray too far from the original but still wants to see a significant difference. Look at those bushy tree leaves, the flower detail, and the brown birch leaves. You can even turn the bushy leaves off if you want it to feel even closer to vanilla.
RetroNES
Latest version: 1.20
We’re going back in time with this Minecraft texture pack – RetroNES is one of the coolest resource packs around, with a lovingly crafted old-school color palette and chunky black outlines, feeling like you’ve dropped straight into Mario’s world. The original artist stopped working on it a while ago, but thankfully, it’s been recently revived and updated for 1.19. If you want the retro sound pack to go with it, you’ll have to stick to version 1.8.
Jicklus
Latest version: 1.20
At first glance, the Jicklus texture pack isn’t too different from Minecraft’s default look – everything looks a little warmer, and there’s something amiss. On closer inspection, you’ll find reskinned mobs, detailed tree branches, and subtle details like the varying pumpkin shades above. Itselegant hot bar and a different font suggest a fantasy RPG gameplay style. Ores are brighter, lava glows more radiant, and all of this is reflected above ground, as well as the Nether and the End. If you want your Minecraft farm to look slightly different, be it arable or pastoral, then this is a cute texture pack for adding a little bit more life.
Mythic
Latest version: 1.20
With a similar old-school style menu and font to Jicklus above, Mythic is another great texture pack for those darker fantasy vibes. It’s more obvious in what it does, though, with a clear difference to vanilla Minecraft everywhere you look. As you can see from the image above, Mythic’s main change is in the mobs you can encounter along the way, making them look a little more… harsh. Colors are deeper, flowers more rugged, making Mythic the perfect rustic texture pack for a darker Minecraft.
Digs’ Simple Pack
Latest version: 1.20
In complete contrast to the pack above, Digs’ Simple Pack offers a downgraded 8×8 texture, which looks smooth and plasticky, giving a more cartoonish look to your Minecraft world. We love how some of the items look with a less detailed texture, like carved pumpkins and grass, but while the blocks and items look incredible, the shining stars of this pack are the inventory icons, each still instantly recognizable from their new toned-down look.
Faithful 64x
Latest version: 1.20
The series of Faithful Minecraft texture packs stays true to vanilla Minecraft but adds more detail to every surface. Above, we’re demonstrating the 64x pack, which means every single block is 64×64 pixels instead of the standard 16×16. Just look at the individual pines in that spruce tree. If this is a bit too much detail for you, you can take it back a step with the equally excellent 32x pack.
Sapixcraft
Latest version: 1.19.4
Sapixcraft is a bright, eye-catching Minecraft resource pack in a range of resolutions – we’ve gone for 32x, but resolutions up to 512x are available via their website. The pack is clean and incredibly vibrant, making it easy to distinguish between blocks. There’s even a Christmas add-on for the festive season.
Anemoia
Latest version: 1.19
Installing Anemoia is like stepping into a psychedelic dream world. Anemoia’s vivid textures are bold and cartoony yet soothing – with cool tones of blue, purple, and green everywhere. This pack embraces the surreal, with dyeable dogs and friendly-looking alien villagers.
Epic Adventures
Latest version: 1.19
Epic Adventures is right up your cobblestone alley if you’re looking for something more realistic but still retaining the quintessential Minecraft vibe. Its 32x resolution means it has double the detail – those are some mighty fine-looking leaves, we must say, and just look at that bushy bamboo. These new but natural details are added right across the world, into lush caves and even the nether.
Bloom
Latest version: 1.18.2
Throw a splash of bright paint over your Minecraft worlds – Bloom, Bright and Retro is an eye-catching resource pack that turns your textures up to 11, in a high-contrast, old-school Nintendo style. There’s also an add-on that will let you wield the Master Sword from Zelda, so you can go and save the realm like the hero you were born to be.
Jolicraft
Latest version: 1.17
Jolicraft has been a fan-favorite Minecraft texture pack for years, and it’s easy to see why – the ‘whimsical texture pack’ has buckets of charm. Many Minecraft texture packs have a theme that they try to nail, but Joli’s is about personal expression.
It’s a sort of twee fantasy world that best reflects his happy demeanor: the swirling sun is a sight more cheerful than the default, squat square. The color palette is entirely different so that you might prefer the greens in vanilla Minecraft – but you can’t beat a cute, muddy pig.
Annahstas Beastrinia
Latest version: 1.16.4
Annahstas Beastrinia is a Minecraft resource pack designed to reproduce the Minecraft Pokémon/Pixelmon aesthetic. Its textures are extra detailed, thanks to its 32x resolution – and its color palette is soft, focusing on low saturated colors. There are even Pokéballs in every bookcase.
How to install Minecraft texture packs
Not sure how to download and install one of these new texture packs? Don’t worry; we can help you with that. In the years since Minecraft first launched, it’s become much easier to install Minecraft texture packs and get them running with minimal fuss.
Here’s how to download and install texture packs for Minecraft:
- Download the texture pack you want.
- Open the Minecraft Launcher.
- Make sure you choose the latest stable version of Minecraft Java (and not one of the Minecraft beta versions, called ‘snapshots’).
- Click to play Minecraft.
- Select ‘Options’ from the main menu.
- Then, navigate to the ‘Resource Packs’ section.
- Now click ‘Open Pack Folder’.
- Put your newly downloaded texture packs into the folder. It will work in a zip file or unzipped.
- Select them in-game by dragging them to the column on the right.
- Rearrange your add-on packs to load in the correct order and then hit ‘Done’.
Not all texture packs will work in the latest Minecraft Java Edition build, but you can check the latest supported version on the corresponding download page. If you want to use some of the best texture packs, you’ll need to revert your version of Minecraft to a previous version, which you can do easily through the launcher. We tend to keep a couple of older Minecraft versions installed for heavily modded playthroughs; thankfully, it’s not a hardware bloater.
Also, several of these texture packs require an optimization mod called Optifine to work, so we recommend you grab the latest version before testing out the shiny new packs below.
And there you go, the best Minecraft texture packs. Whether you’re looking for a pack to turn your Minecraft world into a cartoon, or one to make it look more like the real world, you should find what you’re looking for here.
Of course, to complete the overhaul, we recommend you apply one of the best Minecraft shaders to really make your Minecraft world more beautiful than ever. Next, if you’re unsure what to build next, you can read our Minecraft build ideas guide to get some inspiration.
Additional entries by Joe Robinson.