Resource packs (formerly texture packs) let you customize Minecraft’s visuals to your liking. There are plenty of great packs to download online, but maybe you want to try building your own. It can be a fun long-term project, but you can also change just a single texture and leave everything else as-is. Either way, you’ll need to know how to create a resource pack. Today, we’re giving you a complete step-by-step guide to add your own textures to the game.
Preparation: Tools and settings for your Minecraft resource pack
Our tutorial is based on Windows 11 and the tools available there. You can follow the same steps on other operating systems.
First, download a few essentials and change one setting to make things easier later. Turn on file name extensions in File Explorer (View → Show → File name extensions). This helps you tell files apart and rename them correctly. You’ll also want WinRAR (or 7-Zip), which tends to work more reliably than Microsoft’s built-in archive handler. Everything else you need, like a text editor, should already be installed.
To edit the textures themselves, you’ll need an image editor. Use whatever you’re comfortable with. We recommend GIMP because it’s free and easy to use. For more detailed pixel work, Aseprite is a great option since it’s designed specifically for pixel art.
Create a template: Extract the original Minecraft assets
To build a texture pack, you’ll want a template to work from. You have a few options, like downloading an online template. But that’s not necessary if you’re willing to dig into Minecraft’s files. You can extract the assets directly from the game.
Create a Minecraft resource pack template:
- Navigate to the “.minecraft” folder (under %appdata%), then to “versions”. Choose the version you want; in our case, that’s 1.21.11. Copy the .jar file to a separate location to work with it.
- Rename the file from .jar to .zip (you’ll need file name extensions enabled as described above). Confirm the warning. Then extract the file; you can delete the original.
- In the extracted folder, delete all folders and files except “assets”. That’s where the important files live.
- Go from “assets” to “minecraft” and delete all folders there except “textures”. As the name suggests, that’s where all textures are stored, organized into subfolders.
Edit textures: Create your own Minecraft textures
Now you have a template to edit. Browse through the remaining folders and look for the assets you want to change. In “block” you’ll find all blocks, in “item” all items, and so on. Editing every single asset takes time, but you can also modify just a few files.
For our demonstration, we chose these textures:
- apple.png in “item”
- stone.png in “block”
- inventory.png in “gui” → “container”
Open the files in your image editor of choice. Keep in mind that Minecraft’s standard textures are 16x16 pixels. That’s not a lot of space, but it can spark creativity. Some other assets, like the inventory, use different dimensions. Work within the given size and use the original file as a guide to trace or reference. It’s best not to change the actual dimensions.
When you’re done, save and overwrite the original file. Do NOT rename the original files, or the game won’t recognize them. Of course, you can change the look of the texture itself—that’s the whole point.
In the end, you can delete anything you didn’t edit. Default assets don’t need to be overwritten. In-game, you can stack resource packs and even combine them.
Set up pack.mcmeta and pack.png correctly
After you’ve edited all the textures you want, you’ll need to add two more files. Navigate back out of the assets folder and first create a text file named “pack”. Paste the following content into it and adjust it later:
{
"pack": {
"description": "desc",
"min_format": 75,
"max_format": 75
}
}
A few parts can be changed here, starting with the number. Check the Minecraft Wiki page Pack format and look at the table at the bottom to see which number applies to your Minecraft version. For 1.21.11 it’s 75, so change both values accordingly. Also replace “desc” with a description of your choice, in our case “It’s just a test”. Save your changes. Then rename the file extension from .txt to .mcmeta so it becomes the correct file type: pack.mcmeta.
The second file is optional, but you should include it anyway. It’s the image for your resource pack, and it should be named “pack.png”. Make sure the image is square. We recommend 128x128 pixels.
Installation: Activate the resource pack in Minecraft
You’ve completed the important steps—now you need to bring the resource pack into Minecraft. Select the assets folder, pack.mcmeta, and pack.png, and compress them into a .zip file. At the same time, you can give your texture pack a name. Your file is now ready.
Start Minecraft and, in Options, go to Resource Packs. From there, open the corresponding folder and drag your finished pack into it. If everything went well, it should appear in the list. Your textures will now show up in-game, and you can keep tweaking them later.
You can also upload your resource pack or share it with other players if you’d like. Or keep iterating and change more assets whenever you have time.
Conclusion: Create your own Minecraft resource pack
Creating your own Minecraft resource pack can be a big challenge, but it’s perfect for tailoring the game to your taste. We recommend it for experienced PC users or pixel artists who want to experiment. As long as you follow our tutorial, you should be good to go.
You can also use the texture pack on your own Minecraft server (https://www.4netplayers.com/en-us/gameserver-hosting/minecraft/), which you can rent from us with just a few clicks. Team up with friends to design a custom pack and share it for a unique gameplay experience!
