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 Minecraftblock Piston Head
Piston Head BE.png: Infobox image for Minecraftblock Piston Head

Sticky Piston Head.png: Infobox image for Minecraftblock Piston Head
Sticky Piston Head BE.png: Infobox image for Minecraftblock Piston Head

Invicon pistonArmCollision.png: Inventory sprite for pistonArmCollision in Minecraft as shown in-game with description: pistonArmCollisionInvicon pistonArmCollision.png: Inventory sprite for pistonArmCollision in Minecraft as shown in-game with description: tile.piston_arm_collision.nameInvicon pistonArmCollision.png: Inventory sprite for pistonArmCollision in Minecraft as shown in-game with description: tile.sticky_piston_arm_collision.name
Renewable

Yes

Stackable

No

Tool

Blast resistance

1.5

Hardness

1.5

Luminous

No

Transparent

Yes

Flammable

No

Catches fire
from lava

No

Map color (JE)


 11 STONE 

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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. Alternatively a debug stick‌[Java Edition only] can be used to change the facing direction of a piston head that's currently attached to a piston base. Piston heads that do not have a valid support block behind them will be removed when receiving a shape update from behind in Java Edition, or when receiving a block update from any direction in Bedrock Edition.

In rare cases, a client-side, duplicate piston head can appear when placing a piston next to a power source in Java Edition, due to client-server desync issues.[1] These client-side 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. The normal and sticky piston heads can be obtained as items in Bedrock Edition with the commands /give @s pistonarmcollision and /give @s stickypistonarmcollision. They face down when placed.

In Bedrock Edition, piston head blocks do not actually have a texture, as the piston arm texture is part of the piston block entity, and piston heads that aren't connected to a piston base have neither collisions nor an interaction box.

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
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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            "field": "0",
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        {
            "field": "-1",
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            "field": "Yes",
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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, including the tick on which moving the piston is created. If the value is 1.0 or higher at the start of a tick of the block entity (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 tags Translation key
BlockSprite piston-head.png: Sprite image for piston-head in Minecraft Piston Headpiston_headBlockNone block.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]Identical[i 3] 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]Identical[i 3]
(Numeric: -217)		 tile.sticky_piston_arm_collision.name
BlockSprite moving-piston.png: Sprite image for moving-piston in Minecraft Moving Blockmoving_blockmovingBlock250Block & Ungiveable Item[i 2]Identical[i 3] —
  1. ↑ ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
  2. ↑ a b c Unavailable with /give command
  3. ↑ a b c The block's direct item form has the same ID as the block.
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 have 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.[2]
1.1922w17aChanged piston textures, to match the color of the oak planks on the piston head.

Data history

Java Edition

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.

Bedrock Edition

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-254385
  2. ↑ MC-248841 — resolved as "Works As Intended".

Navigation

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BlockSprite red-bed.png: Sprite image for red-bed in Minecraft Utility
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