Version types

There are various types of versions (or updates) of Minecraft. Generally speaking, updates fall into 3 categories: major updates, minor updates (including game drops), and hot fixes. The terms "version" and "version update" are also synonymous with update. "Version update" often means "major update".

Also, there are many different formats that different editions and versions of Minecraft use for version names. See Version formats for more information.

Release versions

A release version is an update to the game that is fully released to all players on the main release channel. Release versions for Java Edition and Bedrock Edition typically have multiple corresponding development versions.

Game drops

Game drops are named updates, and usually three to four game drops are released each year. A game drop can be small, like Bats and Pots or bigger, like Mounts of Mayhem. There is no limit it rule on how big a game drop should be or what content it should have. So, they work just like how major updates have worked for many editions of Minecraft.

Minor updates

In Bedrock Edition, unnamed minor updates are also sometimes referred to as "minor hotfix updates", since they often consist of only hotfixes and parity fixes. There were 5 of these in 2020, 5 in 2021, 7 in 2022, 6 in 2023, 4 in 2024, and 3 in 2025.

There were fewer minor hotfix updates in the last two years, because some of them were replaced with game drops. Game drops fix all of the same issues that minor hotfix updates do. So, really, a game drop contains these same fixes. Also, minor hotfix updates can sometimes add minor new features or significant changes to existing features, but this has become rarer recently.

A minor hotfix update will often add features that are part of the next game drop, as an experimental toggle with a matching name. For example, Bedrock Edition 1.21.100 added a toggle named "Drop 3 2025" For The Copper Age.

Hotfixes

Hotfixes fix bugs or make important revisions to features. Usually, these bug fixes or revisions are related to newer features, such as features from the last game drop, since any other revisions would be more appropriate for a minor update.

In Java Edition, hotfixes change the 3rd number in the version number. For example, Java Edition 26.1 -> Java Edition 26.1.2. These hotfixes sometimes function not like Bedrock Edition's minor hotfix updates, and historically, some hotfixes even added new features.

In Bedrock Edition, hotfixes increase the 2nd number by 1 or 2 instead of going to the next 10. For example, Bedrock Edition 26.10 -> Bedrock Edition 26.11. This is due to bedrock having more frequent updates throughout the year.^[1]

Development versions

A development version is a version of the game which is publicly released with the intent of testing new features, changes, and bug fixes that are to make their way into the full release of a major or minor update. They are experimental (some types more so than others) and may break the game.

Java Edition

Snapshots

A "snapshot" is a term used to describe unstable development versions for Java Edition updates. Every game drop, and sometimes other minor updates, have snapshots released roughly weekly for player feedback on in-development features and changes.

Currently, snapshots extend the naming format used for release version like this: version Snapshot snapshot-number, e.g. 26.1 Snapshot 1 is the 1st snapshot for 26.1.

Prior to 26.1 Snapshot 1, snapshots used an entirely different and unique naming scheme; see Version formats#Snapshots for more information.

The first ever snapshot was 11w47a for 1.1 in 2011.

Experimental snapshots

"Experimental snapshots" are a specific type of snapshot Mojang uses very early in the development cycle, before the standard snapshot cycle of development. These versions include even more unstable changes than standard snapshots have.

Experimental snapshots were first used for 1.18, with 1.18 Experimental Snapshot 1, and since 1.18, they have only been used once for 1.19. This development format has been discontinued as experiments have been converted into toggleable data packs since 22w42a.

Pre-releases

A pre-release is a more stable development version of the game than a snapshot. Once development reaches the pre-release phase, the update is deemed feature complete, and subsequent pre-releases focus on fixing bugs and improving the stability of the features to be added in that update. The final pre-release may be functionally identical to the full release (for instance 1.4.7).

Pre-releases were first used for the development of Java Edition Beta 1.8, with the first ever pre-release being Beta 1.8 Pre-release. At this time, snapshots did not exist yet, so this pre-release was the first development version for Beta 1.8.

Release candidates

A release candidate is a development version of the game that is intended to be the last version before the full release, unless a major game-breaking bug is discovered.^[2] Often, the full release of a version is identical to its last release candidate, differing only in the version name string, protocol version, and data version.

The first release candidate was RC1 for 1.0.0 in 2011. After 1.0.0, there were no release candidates until 1.16 Release Candidate 1 in 2020.

Previews

A preview is a development version of the game that is only played by a select group outside of Mojang. Preview versions have been given to Hat Films to film the update trailers for Beta 1.6, Beta 1.7, and Beta 1.8. There was also a preview version of Beta 1.8 that was playable by attendees at PAX Prime 2011.

Test Build

A test build was a development version of the game. The only released test build was Beta 1.6 Test Build 3.

Pocket Edition

Builds and alphas

Builds were development versions used in Pocket Edition, available on Android. Once the Pocket Edition Alpha phase was complete, the name "alpha" was then reserved for development versions for Pocket Edition 1.0.0 and 1.1.0.

Bedrock Edition

Betas and previews

Development versions in Bedrock Edition are known as betas and Previews.

Since the release of the Better Together Update to Bedrock Edition, development builds subsequently took the form of "beta" builds, released for Android, Xbox, and Windows 10.

Once development versions became available on Apple platforms, development builds were known as Previews on those devices, while retaining the name of "beta" on Android. This wiki primarily uses the term "Preview", but "beta" is equally valid.

Beta/Preview versions increment a 3rd digit of the version number, starting on 20 or 21, and incrementing by 1 or 2 with each new beta/Preview.

Usually, betas/Previews are released on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

April Fools' updates

Mojang often releases joke updates on April Fools' Day. These are usually formatted as Java Edition snapshots, and are made from one of the latest builds of the game. These often have a theme and a special name that matches that theme. Features added in these snapshots (or updates) are not mentioned in the change logs for future snapshots (or updates), since they are not considered to be § Development versions.

Seecret Updates

The Seecret Updates were a series of ten Java Edition updates released by Notch during the Infdev and Alpha development stages of Minecraft, often without announcement. They were named after the day of the week on which they were released. All of the updates were released on Fridays, except Seecret Saturday, released on September 18, 2010, which was a Saturday.

Developer versions

These are not to be confused with § Development versions.

References

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