Sound
Sounds are auditory outputs of the game intended to communicate the happening of certain events, as well as create atmosphere. Different objects such as mobs, weapons or blocks have sounds.
Gameplay[edit | edit source]
In Java Edition, up to 255 sounds can be played at once but general sounds can take only 247 slots, with mood slots taking the remaining 8 slots. In Bedrock Edition, up to 32 sounds can be played at the same time.[1]
Most sounds can be heard from up to 16 blocks away, with the exception of:
Note Blocks, which can be heard up to 48 blocks away.
Jukeboxes, which can be heard up to 64 blocks away.- Global sound events, which is played for every player at the same volume, regardless of distance. These include:
- When an end portal opens
- When the ender dragon dies
- When a wither finishes charging up[2]
- When a guardian attacks[3]
In Java Edition, these global sound events can be disabled by setting the game rule globalSoundEvents to false.
Mood[edit | edit source]
Mood is a special group of sounds that play after an internal counter reaches 100%, visible on the debug screen, activating only when the player is in light level 0.
Commands[edit | edit source]
Sounds can be played and stopped with the /playsound and /stopsound commands.
Categories[edit | edit source]
| Sound Name | Technical Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Master Volume Main |
master |
Controls the overall volume of the entire game. |
| Sound[BE only] | - | Bedrock Edition only, controls the volume of certian special sounds including GUI sounds, and sounds with an invalid category. |
| Music | music
|
Controls the volume of the in-game soundtrack. |
| Jukebox/Note Blocks | record
|
Controls the volume of jukeboxes and note blocks. |
| Weather | weather
|
Contols the volume of rain and thunder. [note 1] |
| Blocks | block
|
Controls the volume of block interaction and passive block sounds.
This includes redstone, fluids, player interaction with blocks and explosions. |
| Hostile Creatures | hostile
|
Controls the volume of all monsters and bosses. |
| Friendly Creatures | neutral
|
Controls the volume of all non-monster entities; mostly animals. |
| Players | player
|
Controls the volume of player movement, throwing/shooting projectiles and interaction with entities. |
| Ambient/Enviroment | ambient
|
Controls the volume of ambience and firework rockets going off. |
| Voice/Speech Text to Speech |
voice |
Controls the volume of the narrator. |
- ↑ A custom snow sound is also affected, but normally not noticeable because snow is silent by default.
Entity-dependent categories[edit | edit source]
Some sounds choose their category based on the entity that performs the action. For example, if a vindicator steps on a block, the step sound is in the Hostile Creatures category, but if a player steps on a block, the step is in the Players category.
Accessibility[edit | edit source]
Subtitles[edit | edit source]
Subtitles display text for in-game sounds in the bottom-right corner of the screen. They also add arrows next to the sounds that show the general direction that the sound came from. They allow deaf people to not be at an extreme disadvantage, as well as to aid other players in knowing where sounds came from. Subtitles can be toggled in the Music & Sounds and Accessibility Settings option menus.
Data values[edit | edit source]
All sound events have names, such as block.stone.hit [Java Edition only] or step.stone [Bedrock Edition only].
History[edit | edit source]
| Java Edition Classic | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 4, 2009 | C418 uploaded a mockup video on June 4, 2009, showcasing his sound design for the game dubbed over footage of this version. This is not a developer version; the video is edited. | ||||||
| 0.0.22a | Added sounds.[4][5][6][7] | ||||||
| 0.0.23a | Added options for turning on/off sounds and music. | ||||||
| Java Edition Indev | |||||||
| 0.31 20100104 | Added a new sound engine made by Paul Lamb.[8] | ||||||
| 20100207-1 | Switched sound system to use OpenAL.[9] | ||||||
| Java Edition Alpha | |||||||
| v1.1.1 | Added sliders for the volume of sounds and music. | ||||||
| v1.1.2_01 | Due to a change in how Minecraft downloads its resources, this is the oldest version in which sounds work using the modern Minecraft Launcher. | ||||||
| Java Edition | |||||||
| 1.4.2 | 12w38b | Updated the sound engine. | |||||
| 1.6.1 | release | Added /playsound. | |||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | Replaced the sounds volume slider with sliders for juke boxes and note blocks, hostile mobs, passive mobs, players, weather, blocks, ambient/environment, and the master volume. | |||||
| 13w42a | Rewrote the sound system. | ||||||
| Added the ability for custom sounds using resource packs. | |||||||
| 1.7 | Music now pauses while the game is paused. | ||||||
| 1.9 | 15w43b | Added subtitles. | |||||
| 16w02a | Added the "Voice/Speech" volume slider. | ||||||
| 1.9.3 | pre2 | Added /stopsound. | |||||
| 1.14 | 19w12a | Rewrote the sound system. | |||||
| 19w14a | Added a new sounds section to the debug screen. | ||||||
| 1.19 | 22w11a | Added the "Directional Audio" option, which allows for more accurate 3D sound on HRTF-compatible software. | |||||
| 1.19.3 | 22w44a | Added the game rule globalSoundEvents. | |||||
| 1.20 | 23w12a | Step sounds can now combine for blocks walked through and stepped on. | |||||
| 23w18a | Walking on non-solid blocks with no collision no longer plays their walking sounds.[10] | ||||||
| Walking on the edge of a block now properly plays step sounds for that block.[11] | |||||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||||
| Pre-release | Added sounds.[12] | ||||||
| v0.1.2 | Added a toggle for sounds. | ||||||
| v0.7.0 | Added a volume slider. | ||||||
| v0.12.1 | Changed the sound engine to allow for multiple sounds. | ||||||
| Pocket Edition | |||||||
| 1.0.4 | alpha 1.0.4.1 | Music and sounds can now be changed using resource packs. | |||||
| 1.0.5 | alpha 1.0.5.0 | Added /playsound and /stopsound. | |||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Added sound events to the scripting API. | |||||
| 1.12.0 | beta 1.12.0.2 | Sound effects can now be triggered by animation events. | |||||
| 1.16.100 | beta 1.16.100.58 | Added /music. | |||||
| 1.16.200 | beta 1.16.200.53 | Added volume sliders for other sound categories. | |||||
| 1.20.10 | Preview 1.20.10.20 | Sound positioning is now based on the camera's position, rather than the player's position and rotation. This means that audio is flipped when in the third-person front view. | |||||
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- In Java Edition, The "Oof" sound effect can be found at
.minecraft/assets/objects/9d/9d485556b89bf776042080774679c37300bc744bif the player has used a version with that sound.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
-
Audio settings in Bedrock Edition
-
Audio settings in Java Edition.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Introduction to Sounds | Microsoft Learn
- ↑ MC-177741 — Wither spawning sounds play for all players
- ↑ MC-57057 — Guardian laser attack sound ignores distance
- ↑ IRC logs: "P4:58:39 <08Notch> yeah, this is very basic sound". (21:58:39 UTC)
- ↑ IRC logs: "P4:59:46 <akuryo> SOUND IS HERE" (21:59:46 UTC)
- ↑ IRC logs: "P5:00:04 <AlLnAtuRalX> I hear music?" [...] "P5:00:59 <Quatroking> what the hell is this music" [...] "P5:03:36 <Lmaoboat> Lol, I heared the music after a a while without it, and I was about to yell at my brother for playing the piano again" (22:00:04 to 22:03:36 UTC)
- ↑ IRC logs: "P5:01:51 <C418> I should have made hard techno" [...] "P5:46:34 <08Notch> no, C418 did the music" (22:01:51 & 22:46:34 UTC)
- ↑ New sound engine implemented – The Word of Notch, January 5, 2010
- ↑ And software sound is now gone – The Word of Notch, February 7, 2010
- ↑ MC-2604 — Walking on non-solid blocks with no collision plays their respective walking sounds — resolved as "Fixed".
- ↑ MC-1133 — Whether or not a player experiences some effect is calculated based on the block under the center of the player — resolved as "Fixed".
- ↑ https://youtu.be/jxfj84mdfl8
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| Components |
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