How to install Minecraft texture packs?

This page contains a tutorial on how to download and install Minecraft texture packs. Use these texture packs to alter the way Minecraft looks and give you new options for building those blocks!

Anyone who has played Minecraft will know how tempting it is to change the way the game looks. If only you could make the world look more realistic or you could make it lighter or darker. Texture packs are your best friend when it comes to making Minecraft look different. Its easy to change the Minecraft world and create new designs using texture packs.

What are texture packs

Minecraft texture packs are essentially community created downloads that contain one or more image files. Some of these image files contain lots of smaller images all packed together in even blocks. You can use texture packs on either the Creative or Survival version of the game. There are now hundreds of texture packs available, some better than others (see our Best Minecraft Texture packs article for help deciding which one you should download).

How to install a texture pack?

Before you can install a texture pack, make sure you have played the game at least once so that all the necessary folders exist on your computer. You will also need a program that can open zip files - WinRAR or WinZip are good choices.

Ok, just follow these steps to install a texture pack:

1. Unzip the texture pack that you downloaded (remember the location and open that folder)

2. Open the following folder in a new window:

XP Users:
C:\document and settings\[UserName]Application Data\.minecraft\bin

Windows 7 or Vista Users:
C:\Users\[UserName]AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\bin

3. Right click the minecraft.jar file and open it using your zip program (WinRAR or WinZip)

4. This should show you a list of files which are part of the compressed jar file.

5. Now just drag and drop all the files from the texture pack which you just unzipped and drop them into the jar file you just opened with your zip program.

6. If you are asked to overwrite the files click OK

7. Now close the zip program so the zip is rebuilt

8. Start Minecraft and you should see the new textures

How to get original texture packs back?

If you've downloaded a new texture pack and don't like what you see, don't worry its easy to get the original Minecraft textures back. There are basically two ways of doing this.

1. Delete the Minecraft.jar file and run Minecraft again. This will force the program to download the latest files again.

2. Make a copy of the minecraft.jar file before installing a new texture pack. You can then copy the original back if anything goes wrong or if you don't like the new textures.