Tutorials/X-ray Glitches - Minecraft Wiki - Fandom

This page demonstrates the use of a bug to make a contraption.  Bugs of this nature may be fixed at any time without warning. When this happens, the contraption will cease to work.Use at your own risk.

X-ray glitches allow the player to see certain features that are normally hidden behind blocks.

Contents

• 1 Why bother?
• 2 General approach
• 3 Java Edition
  • 3.1 Composter and gravity block method
• 4 Bedrock Edition
  • 4.1 Piston and slab method
  • 4.2 Falling snow method
  • 4.3 Chain-lava method
  • 4.4 Pig method
• 5 Trivia

Why bother?[]

X-ray glitches are useful for locating underground structures such as dungeons and mineshafts. They can also help you find end portal rooms once you are near a stronghold. If you are in the Nether, you can use x-ray glitches to locate fortresses and bastions.

Make sure that you're allowed to use this glitch in servers, though. For most servers, this can count as cheating because you can see the surroundings for mobs, loot chests or precious ores. If others catch you cheating, they can forbid you to do something or even ban you off the server.

General approach[]

For time efficiency, the game only renders block surfaces if there is a transparent block between the surface and the player. For this purpose, transparent generally means that the player can see through the block, although lava is also transparent for this purpose.

Normally, the camera is inside a transparent block, unless the player is suffocating, in which case the game renders blocks differently. However, it is possible for the camera to be inside a block, but the game does not register that the player is inside. In this case, the player "x-rays" through blocks immediately in the front.

Java Edition[]

Composter and gravity block method[]

Update: This no longer works as of Java version 1.18

This method works by putting the player into the crawl animation using a falling block while inside of a composter.

Video by Lewis

The method requires the following:

• 1 composter
• 1 of any solid falling block (Sand, gravel, and concrete powder all work)

To execute the glitch, simply position yourself inside of a composter and place the falling block above your head so it falls on top of the composter and puts you into the crawl position. It might be easier to see underground spaces if you dig a 1x1 hole downwards a few blocks before placing a composter down at the bottom and executing the glitch there.

Bedrock Edition[]

Piston and slab method[]

This method works by pushing a slab into the player's head. Since slabs are partial blocks, the game does not consider the player to be inside a block. This trick has two main variants: One for looking upward and one for looking downward.

To x-ray upward, you need the following:

• 1 lever
• 2 redstone
• 1 piston
• 2 slab

It is recommended to have multiple slabs, so you can see more. The main setup is as follows, where everything is at head height:

Again, you may wish to surround your head with top slabs wherever possible, to maximize visibility. When you are ready, activate the lever, and the glitch will begin almost immediately.

To x-ray downward, you need the following:

• 1 lever
• 2 redstone
• 2 pistons
• Several slabs
• Several full blocks
  • This should include at least 1 sand or other gravity-affected block.

To set this up, start with the same setup as before, but place 2 pistons (1 at head height and one at foot height). The lower piston has a solid block in front, while the upper piston has a bottom slab. Surround yourself with additional blocks, with slabs on top, to maximize visibility. After you pull the lever, the x-ray glitch does not happen yet. Therefore, you can destroy the redstone, including the pistons, and surround yourself further. For the location that was the piston head, placing the full block is tricky, as you cannot look at a suitable surface. Instead, place the sand above where you want it to land, then place the slab as normal. When you are ready to trigger the glitch, enter sneak mode, and your eyes will lie below the top of the slab.

Falling snow method[]

This method works by gravity-affected blocks landing at the player's feet and piling up to the player's eye level. It can only be used to x-ray downward. You need the following materials:

• 1 sand (or other cubic, gravity-affected block)
• 4 top snow
• Lots of slabs (optional, but increases visibility)

To begin, dig a 1-deep hole, and surround it with bottom slabs. Place a solid block above the hole, high enough that you can walk underneath. Next, place the sand on top, then stack the snow. Finally, stand in the hole, break the block, and enter sneaking.

Chain-lava method[]

This method allows you to X-ray through a lava sea in the Nether.

• As many chains as desired.

All you need to do is place the chains sideways and you're done.

Pig method[]

Another X-ray hack allows you to ride a pig in a 1 1/2 block high space. Place top slabs one block up from the floor, then ride a pig beneath them. This should glitch you into the ceiling. The only challenge about this hack is getting a pig down to the bedrock layer (which is most effective). It is easy to just push the pig down a shaft into a water landing at the bottom.

Trivia[]

• In Bedrock Edition the Stripe Lands may be considered an x-ray bug, in that they follow the same rules for what blocks are visible. This is why the sides of blocks do not always render.

Tutorials
Introductory	Menu screen Game terms Newcomer survival The first day/beginner's guide The second day The third day Hunger management Things not to do Simple tips and tricks Your first ten minutes Shelters Best biomes for homes Best building materials Building and construction Navigation Shelters Shelter types
General	Achievement guide Advancement guide Best enchantments guide Breaking bedrock Combat Complete main adventure Creating a village Downgrading Dual wielding End survival Exploring caverns Gathering resources on peaceful difficulty Getting food quickly Headless pistons Hitboxes Horses Indestructible end crystals Mapping Measuring distance Minecraft in education Mining Diamonds Fossils Ancient Debris Nether hub Nether portals Nether survival Organization Pillar jumping PvP PvP bases Spawn-proofing Summoning jockeys The Void Time-saving tips Thunderstorm survival Units of measure Village mechanics Trading X-ray glitches
Challenges	Acquiring a conduit Curing a zombie villager Defeating temples Defeating a village raid Defeating a Nether fortress Defeating a bastion remnant Defeating a monster room Defeating a pillager outpost Defeating a woodland mansion Defeating a monument Defeating an End city Defeating the Ender dragon Defeating the Wither Exploring an ancient city Obtaining every music disc Non-standardsurvival Adventure survival Half hearted hardcore Hardcore mode Surviving in a single area indefinitely Infinite desert survival Island survival Manhunt Mob switch Nomadic experience Skywars survival Superflat survival Flat survival Ultra hardcore survival Challenge maps Beating a challenge map Creating a challenge map
Constructions	Adding beauty to constructions Airlock Architectural terms Building a cruise ship Building a metropolis Building a rollercoaster Building safe homes Building water features Color palette Creating shapes Defense Desert shelter Elevators Endless circling pool Furniture Glazed terracotta patterns Making nice floors Pixel art Ranches Roof types Curved roofs Roof construction guidelines Roof decorations Secret door Settlement guide Underwater home Walls and buttresses Water gate Water-powered boat transportation
Farming	Blocks and items Amethyst Armor Azalea Bamboo Basalt Bedrock Blaze rod Bone meal Cactus Chorus fruit Clay and mud Cobblestone Cocoa bean Copper Crops (Beetroot, Carrot, Potato, Wheat) Dirt Dragon's breath Dripstone Egg Fern Fish Flower Froglight Glow berries Glow ink sac Glow lichen Goat horn Gold Hanging roots Honey Ice Iron Kelp Lava Meat Moss block Mushroom Music disc Nautilus shell Nether growth Nether vine Nether wart Obsidian Powder snow Pumpkin, Melon Rooted dirt Sculk growths Scute Seagrass Sea pickle Snow Soul soil Sugar cane Sweet berries Tree Trident Vine Villager trading hall Wither rose Wool Duplication Mobs Mob farming Mob grinding Monster spawner traps Allay Animals Axolotl Blaze Cat Cave spider Creeper Drowned Ender dragon Enderman Frog Goat Guardian Hoglin Iron golem Magma cube Phantom Piglin bartering farm Raid Shulker Slime Squid Turtle Villager Wandering trader Warden Witch Wither Wither skeleton Zombie Zombie villager Zombified piglin OP farms End of light mob farms
Enchantingand smelting	Enchantment mechanics Anvil mechanics Automatic smelting Manual smelting
Blockbreaking	Blast chamber Igniting TNT underwater Wither cage
Mechanisms	Basic redstone Automatic respawn anchor recharger Basic logic gates Combination locks Command block Flying machines Hopper Item sorting Item transportation Mechanisms Observer stabilizer Randomizers Redstone music Redstone tips Rube Goldberg machine Shulker box storage Villager trading hall Detectors Block update detector Comparator update detector Daylight sensor Day night detector Minecarts Train station Minecarts Storage Storage system Traps Snow golems TNT cannons Trapdoor uses Trap design Traps Pistons Piston uses Piston circuits Quasi-connectivity Zero-ticking Instant repeaters Advancedredstone Advanced redstone circuits Arithmetic logic Calculator Command stats Hourly clock Morse code Printer Redstone computers Redstone telegraph
Servers	Playing on servers Multiplayer Survival Spawn jail Griefing prevention Joining a LAN world with alternate accounts Server setup Setting up a server Server startup script FreeBSD startup script OpenBSD startup script Ubuntu startup script Setting up a Hamachi server Setting up a Minecraft Forge server Setting up a Spigot server Ramdisk enabled server
Technical	Improving frame rate Minecraft help FAQ (IRC channel) Update Java Maps Custom maps Map downloads Command NBT tags Falling blocks Updating old terrain using MCEdit Resource packs Creating a resource pack Loading a resource pack Sound directory Data packs Creating a data pack Installing a data pack Custom world generation CreatingMinecraft media Creating videos Livestreaming Game installation Installing snapshots Joining and leaving the Bedrock Edition beta program How to get a crash report Installing Forge mods Custom Minecraft directory Playing and saving Minecraft on a thumb drive Playing and saving Minecraft on a thumb drive with the old launcher Recover corrupted saved world data Run Minecraft through Google Drive Save game data to Dropbox (world data only) Saved data Dropbox guide
Outdated	Building micro shelters Custom texture packs Door-based iron golem farming Far Lands How to get a crash report Installing mods Man-made lake Managing slimes in superflat mode Minecart booster Potion farming Repeater reboot system Survival with no enabled data packs Update LWJGL Update Minecraft Village chaining Water ladder Water tram