Texture packs were used to beautify the unmodified version of Minecraft for several years after release. They still are, albeit under a different name and with more features, customizable assets, and a greater degree of control. Explaining why these packs are beloved likely needs no explanation. Simply put, not everyone liked the crude, blocky visuals. Many gamers also and many don’t worry about the consumption of their computer resources. Regardless of which group you fall under, you’ll benefit from learning how to install Minecraft texture/resource packs. Let’s begin.
Texture packs vs. resource packs: the difference
As far as most players are concerned, texture packs are resource packs. To clarify, texture packs, allow changing the default texture of items, blocks, mobs, and even in-game GUI. However, as both computer hardware and the popularity of the game improved, starting with the Minecraft Java Edition version 1.6.1, texture packs were renamed to resource packs. The name change reflected an update in assets since players could now not only change textures but animations, sounds, fonts, language files, credits, splashes, music, etc. Also, because it was released later, Minecraft Bedrock Edition never used texture packs.
Can texture packs be converted to resource packs?
Yes, you can convert texture packs to resource packs in Minecraft. Mojang has released the following software to help with that:
- Minecraft Unstitcher: used for converting texture packs for all Minecraft versions before 1.5
- TextureEnder: used for conversion of texture packs for Minecraft versions between 1.5 and 1.6
1. Download Minecraft resource/texture packs
If you aren’t sure where to get texture or resource packs, check our list of top Minecraft modpacks. Some of them might not be purely resource packs. If you notice that they add entirely new elements to the game instead of modifying existing ones, you must also master installing Minecraft mods. Whatever the case may be, the resource pack will (most likely) have a .zip extension. If the resource or texture pack doesn’t make extensive changes, it’ll have a .mcmeta file extension.
2. Install texture/resource packs in Minecraft by copying
Now that you have a resource pack, whether .zip or .mcmeta, ready, copy it to the following locations:
1. Any system
To avoid opening the folders mentioned below manually, you can open the folder from within the game like this:
- We suggest switching to the Windowed mode beforehand for easy file transfer.
- Select Options in the main menu in Minecraft.
- Go to Resource Packs (Global Resources on Bedrock Edition).
- Click on the Open Pack Folder button in the bottom left corner.
- You can now drag or copy-paste the files inside the resourcepacks folder.
- Tip. Playing an older version of Minecraft (before 1.6.1)? The title of the resourcepacks folder is texturepacks, but it’s in the same location.
- You might or might not have to restart the game before you following step 3.
2. Windows
Finding the folder containing resource packs on Windows depends on the Minecraft version:
Java Edition
The quickest way is to right-click on the Start button and select Run. Then, type “%appdata%” without quotation marks and press Enter. Finally, open the .minecraft and resourcepacks folders in succession.
Alternative. Open File Explorer/Windows Explorer and go to “C:/Users/[Account Username]/AppData/Roaming/.minecraft/resourcepacks”.
Bedrock Edition
You can do the Start > Run > “%appdata% procedure, go back a step (to the AppData folder), then go to Packages > Microsoft.MinecraftUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe > LocalState > com.mojang > resource_packs. If the “resource_packs” folder doesn’t exist, create it yourself.
Alternative. Paste this into the address bar without quotations: “C:\Users\[Account Username]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\games\com.mojang\resource_packs”
3. macOS
In the top menu bar on your macOS desktop, select Go to Folder (or press Command + Shift + G to launch it immediately). Type “~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/resourcepacks” into the text field and click on Go.
4. Linux
If you’re on Linux or any of Debian distributions, launch your File Manager application and enter the following into the address bar: “~/.minecraft/resourcepacks”. Alternatively, follow the full data path: “/home/[account username]/.minecraft/resourcepacks”.
5. Pocket Edition
Although they are few and far in between, if you find a Pocket Edition resource pack, do this:
- Download the .zip file anywhere on your storage.
- Extract it using any File Manager app and copy that folder.
- Go to the games folder in internal storage (oftentimes named 0), or external storage (frequently titled sdcard or ext0), depending on where you installed Minecraft.
- Open the com.mojang, then the resource_packs folder, and paste the resource packs there.
- Note. If the “resource_packs” folder doesn’t exist, create it yourself.
3. Enable the pack in-game
If you followed the steps above to the tee, you managed to install texture/resource packs in Minecraft. Now, you merely need to enable them like this:
Desktop versions
If you’ve used the first method above, close the pop-up window, and you should see your pack on the left-hand side, under “Available Resource Packs”. For the rest of the desktop methods, open Minecraft, then go to Options > Resource Packs. Simply drag the texture/resource pack to the right-hand side, under “Selected Resource Packs”, and click on Done. On Windows 10 Bedrock Edition, you need to go to Settings > Global Resources > select the pack > Click on Activate.
Pro-tip. If the visuals aren’t identical to screenshots and you made sure resource packs don’t require modding, likely, you must also install Minecraft shaders.
Pocket Edition
After opening Minecraft Pocket Edition, go to Settings in the main menu. Tap on Global Resources in the sidebar on the left. Your resource pack should appear under “Active Packs”. If it isn’t there, drag it from “Available Packs” to “Active Packs”.
A Minecraft server uses custom resource packs. How to find them?
Thankfully, very little work is required. After joining the server, you’ll be prompted with a “This server recommends the use of a custom resource pack. Would you like to download and install it automagically?” After clicking Yes, the resource pack will download. Minecraft will automatically enable it when you join again and disable it afterward. Of course, you can activate it permanently using step 3.
Image credit: Nvidia