Barrel

A barrel is a solid block used to store items. Unlike a chest, it cannot connect to other barrels. It also serves as a fisherman's job site block.

Obtaining

Natural generation

Empty barrels can generate naturally in fisher cottages in villages. Up to 3 barrels can generate in a village fisher cottage.

Breaking

Barrels can be mined with or without any tool, but axes are the quickest.

Block	Barrel
Hardness	2.5
Tool
Breaking time^[A]
Default	3.75
Wooden	1.9
Stone	0.95
Iron	0.65
Diamond	0.5
Netherite	0.45
Golden	0.35

↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Chest loot

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
Barrel	Village	Fisherman's chest	1–3	24.2%

Crafting

Barrels can be crafted using planks and proper wooden slabs, not petrified oak slabs.

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Any Planks + Any wood Slab

Usage

Barrels can be moved by pistons,‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} water and lava flow around barrels without affecting them. Lava can create fire in air blocks next to barrels as if the barrel was flammable, but the barrel does not actually catch fire and can't be burned.

Container

Barrels have a container inventory with 27 slots, which is the same as a single chest. Unlike chests, a barrel can be placed below a solid block and still be able to be opened. They can be filled by droppers and both filled and emptied by hoppers. When broken, barrels drop the contents of the container and the barrel item itself.

To open the barrel interface, use the Use Item control. To move items between the barrel inventory and the player inventory or hotbar while the barrel interface is open, drag or shift-click the items. Holding ⇧ Shift and double-clicking while holding an item moves all items of the type clicked on in or out of the barrel to the extent that space is available for them.‌^{[Java Edition only]} To exit the barrel interface, use the Esc control.

By default, the interface of a barrel is labeled "Barrel". A barrel's GUI label can be changed by naming the barrel in an anvil before placing it or by using the /data command‌^{[Java Edition only]} (for example, to label a chest at (0,64,0) as "Bonus Barrel!", use /data merge block 0 64 0 {CustomName:'"Bonus Barrel!"'}).

In Java Edition, a barrel can be "locked" by setting its Lock tag using the /data command. If a barrel's Lock tag is not blank, the barrel cannot be opened unless the player is holding an item with the same name as the Lock tag's text. For example, to lock a barrel at (0,64,0) so that the barrel cannot be opened unless the player is holding an item named "Barrel Key", use /data merge block 0 64 0 {Lock:"Barrel Key"}.

Changing profession

If a village has a barrel that has not been claimed by a villager, any villager who does not have a chosen job site block has a chance to change their profession into a fisherman.‌

Fuel

Barrels can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 1.5 items per block.

Note Blocks

Barrels can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass" sounds.

Piglins

Piglins become hostile toward players who open or break barrels.

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	`block.wood.break`	`subtitles.block.generic.break`	1.0	0.8	16
Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	`block.wood.place`	`subtitles.block.generic.place`	1.0	0.8	16
Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`block.wood.hit`	`subtitles.block.generic.hit`	0.25	0.5	16
None^{[sound 1]}	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	`block.wood.fall`	None^{[sound 1]}	0.5	0.75	16
Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	`block.wood.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.15	1.0	16

↑ ^a ^b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
Blocks	Once the block has broken	`dig.wood`	1.0	0.8-1.0
Blocks	When the block is placed	`dig.wood`	1.0	0.8
Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	`hit.wood`	0.23	0.5
Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	`fall.wood`	0.4	1.0
Players	Walking on the block	`step.wood`	0.3	1.0
Players	Jumping from the block	`jump.wood`	0.12	1.0
Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	`land.wood`	0.18	1.0

Unique

Java Edition:

Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Barrel closes	Blocks	When a barrel closes	`block.barrel.close`	`subtitles.block.barrel.close`	0.5	0.9-1.0	16
Barrel opens	Blocks	When a barrel opens	`block.barrel.open`	`subtitles.block.barrel.open`	0.5	0.9-1.0	16
Fisherman works	Friendly Creatures	Randomly while a fisherman is working	`entity.villager.work_fisherman`	`subtitles.entity.villager.work_fisherman`	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
Chest locked^{[sound 1]}	Blocks	When a player attempts to open a barrel locked using the Lock tag	`block.chest.locked`^{[sound 1]}	`subtitles.block.chest.locked`^{[sound 1]}	1.0	1.0	16

↑ ^a ^b ^c MC-98316 — Wrong subtitles caused by missing distinction

Bedrock Edition:

Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
Blocks	When a barrel closes	`block.barrel.close`	1.0	1.0
Blocks	When a barrel opens	`block.barrel.open`	1.0	1.0
Blocks	Randomly while a fisherman is working	`block.barrel.open`	1.0	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Barrel	`barrel`	Block & Item	`guarded_by_piglins`	`block.minecraft.barrel`

Name	Identifier
Block entity	`barrel`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID^{[i 1]}	Translation key
Barrel	`barrel`	`458`	Block & Giveable Item^{[i 2]}	Identical^{[i 3]}	`tile.barrel.name`

↑ ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
↑ Available with /give command.
↑ The block's direct item form has the same id as the block.

Name	Savegame ID
Block entity	`Barrel`

Block states

Java Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
facing	`north`	`down` `east` `north` `south` `up` `west`	The direction the barrel is facing.
open	`false`	`false` `true`	Whether the barrel is currently being looked at by a player; changes the texture on the top face.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	Description
facing_direction	`0x1` `0x2` `0x4`	`0`	`0` `1` `2` `3` `4` `5`	`0` `1` `2` `3` `4` `5`	The direction the barrel is facing. 0:Down facing barrel 1:Up facing barrel 2:East facing barrel 3:West facing barrel 4:South facing barrel 5:North facing barrel
open_bit	`0x8`	`0`	`0` `1`	`0` `1`	Whether the barrel is currently being looked at by a player; changes the texture on the top face.

Block data

A barrel has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

Java Edition:

Block entity data
- Tags common to all block entities
- CustomName: Optional. The name of this container in JSON text component, which appears in its GUI where the default name ordinarily appears.
- Items: List of items in the container.
  - : An item, including the slot tag. Barrel slots are numbered 0-26, 0 starts in the top left corner.
    - Tags common to all items
- Lock: Optional. When not blank, prevents the container from being opened unless the opener is holding an item whose name matches this string.
- LootTable: Optional. Loot table to be used to fill the barrel when it is next opened, or the items are otherwise interacted with.^{[note 1]}
- LootTableSeed: Optional. Seed for generating the loot table. 0 or omitted uses a random seed.^{[note 1]}

↑ ^a ^b Both loot table tags are removed once the items have been generated.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

History

Java Edition
1.14	18w44a	Added barrels.
		Barrels have been added to creative inventory.
		Barrels currently have the inventory of a chest.
		Barrels can currently be filled only by hoppers and droppers.
		Barrels can currently be emptied only by hoppers.
		Barrels currently do not drop the items they contain when broken.
	18w47b	The `facing=south` block state texture of barrels has been changed.^{[more information needed]}
	18w48a	Barrel items are now found in chests in village fisher cottages.
	18w48a	Barrels can now generate naturally in plains villages.
	18w49a	Barrels can now generate naturally in savanna and snowy villages.
	18w50a	Barrels can now generate naturally in desert and taiga villages.
		Barrels now act as a storage unit.
		Barrels can now be used in tight spaces, even if there is a block above it, unlike a chest.
		Barrels can now be crafted using 6 wood planks and 2 wood slabs.
	19w03a	Sounds have been added for barrels.
	19w07a	An `open` block state has been added to barrels.
	19w11a	Barrels now serve as fisherman villagers' job site block.
1.16	20w06a	Crimson planks and warped planks can now be used to craft barrels.
1.16	20w15a	Piglins now become hostile toward players who open or break barrels.
1.18	Pre-release 5	Bottom texture was changed.
1.19	22w11a	Mangrove planks can now be used to craft barrels.
Bedrock Edition
1.9.0	beta 1.9.0.2	^[verify] Added barrels.
		Barrels have unused textures titled "fish barrel."
		Barrels have unused textures titled "empty barrel."
		A barrel can be used to smelt 1.5 items in a furnace.
1.10.0	beta 1.10.0.3	A crafting recipe has been added to barrels, which is different compared from Java Edition's crafting recipe.
1.10.0	beta 1.10.0.3	Barrels now generate in fisher cottages in villages.
1.11.0	beta 1.11.0.1	The functionality of barrels has been added.
1.18.10	beta 1.18.10.22	Changed the bottom texture to match the spruce planks.
1.20.10	beta 1.20.10.20	The crafting recipe for barrels now use planks instead of sticks to match Java Edition.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.91		Added barrels.

Issues

Issues relating to "Barrel" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

In the 2022's April Fool's update, a barrel can be thrown onto a player and make them appear as if they were "wearing" or "hiding" under the block.
- While wearing a barrel, the player's vision becomes largely obstructed and they can see only through a narrow window; when sneaking, it will disguise the player as a barrel block.

Gallery

LadyAgnes tweets a screenshot of an updated savanna village, which features some barrels.^[1]
A close up of the barrels in the previous image.
Something similar to the unused fish barrel in the camp in Minecraft Dungeons.
Player's vision while hiding inside a barrel in the April Fool's update 2022.
Barrels placed next to each other facing opposite directions.
A blast furnace, smoker and barrel.