Dye

{
 "title": "Dyes",
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 "label": "(link to Rarity article, displayed as Rarity tier)"
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 "field": "Yes",
 "label": "(link to Renewable resource article, displayed as Renewable)"
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 "label": "Stackable"
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 "invimages": [
 "White Dye",
 "Light Gray Dye",
 "Gray Dye",
 "Black Dye",
 "Brown Dye",
 "Red Dye",
 "Orange Dye",
 "Yellow Dye",
 "Lime Dye",
 "Green Dye",
 "Cyan Dye",
 "Light Blue Dye",
 "Blue Dye",
 "Purple Dye",
 "Magenta Dye",
 "Pink Dye"
 ],
 "images": [
 "White Dye.png",
 "Light Gray Dye.png",
 "Gray Dye.png",
 "Black Dye.png",
 "Brown Dye.png",
 "Red Dye.png",
 "Orange Dye.png",
 "Yellow Dye.png",
 "Lime Dye.png",
 "Green Dye.png",
 "Cyan Dye.png",
 "Light Blue Dye.png",
 "Blue Dye.png",
 "Purple Dye.png",
 "Magenta Dye.png",
 "Pink Dye.png"
 ]
}

Dyes are a set of sixteen items used to change the color of wool, wool stairs​^{[upcoming: Third Drop 2026]}, wool slabs​^{[upcoming: Third Drop 2026]}, carpets, terracotta, concrete powder, glass, shulker boxes, beds, candles, bundles, harnesses, the patterns on banners, firework stars, certain mobs, and text on signs and hanging signs. In Bedrock Edition, they can be used to dye water in a cauldron (which is thereafter used to dye leather armor) and shulkers; in Java Edition, leather armor can be dyed directly. In Minecraft Education, they can be used to dye balloons and glow sticks.

In Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education, bone meal, ink sacs, lapis lazuli, and cocoa beans can generally substitute for white dye, black dye, blue dye, and brown dye, respectively, in crafting recipes and for use in dyeing items or mobs. However, they have other important uses that are not related to color, and are therefore not considered true dyes. They are mentioned in this article only regarding their use as dyeing agents; see their individual articles for complete information about them.

Most dyes can be crafted from flowers and a few other items; some dyes can be crafted by combining multiple dyes of different colors, and every dye is sold by the wandering trader. Some dyes can be found in loot, and green dye is obtained by smelting cactus. In Bedrock Edition, tertiary colors, along with their regular crafting recipes, can be crafted with primary colors. For example, magenta can be crafted with one red dye and two white dyes.

In Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education, lapis lazuli, bone meal, and ink sacs, singly or in any combination, can be substituted for blue dye, white dye, and black dye, respectively, in any recipe. These substitutions are not shown in the recipes given here. Substitution must be total: You cannot use a combination of lapis lazuli and blue dye in the same recipe, for example.

{ "item": "Blue Dye", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.0444444444444444, "structure": "Trail Ruins", "container": "Suspicious gravel" }

{ "item": "Green Dye", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.14254173828500694, "structure": "Village", "container": "Desert house chest" }

{ "item": "Orange Dye", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.0444444444444444, "structure": "Trail Ruins", "container": "Suspicious gravel" }

{ "item": "Light Blue Dye", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.0444444444444444, "structure": "Trail Ruins", "container": "Suspicious gravel" }

{ "item": "Yellow Dye", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.0444444444444444, "structure": "Trail Ruins", "container": "Suspicious gravel" }

{ "item": "Yellow Dye", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.20842461344544605, "structure": "Village", "container": "Mason's chest" }

{ "item": "White Dye", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.0444444444444444, "structure": "Trail Ruins", "container": "Suspicious gravel" }

Wandering traders may sell 3 of any dye for 1 emerald.

In Bedrock Edition, wandering traders have a chance of 8.5% (increased by 1% per level of Looting) to drop 3 dyes when killed while showing the item as trade offer, if the player holds an emerald.

Dye can be used to add dye to undyed items through crafting, and to craft dyed items directly. In Bedrock Edition, bone meal, ink sacs, lapis lazuli, and cocoa beans can be substituted for the corresponding dye in any of the following usages unless otherwise specified.

A piece of wool in any color can be dyed by combining 1 wool with any dye in a crafting grid.

A wool stair in any color can be dyed by combining 1 wool stair with any dye in a crafting grid.​^{[upcoming: Third Drop 2026]}

A wool slab in any color can be dyed by combining 1 wool slab with any dye in a crafting grid.​^{[upcoming: Third Drop 2026]}

A carpet of any color can be dyed by combining 1 carpet with any dye in a crafting grid.

Terracotta can be stained by placing 8 blocks of terracotta around a dye in a 3×3 crafting table. Stained terracotta can not be restained to a different color.

Dyes can be used to craft concrete powder, which can then be set into their respective concrete blocks. Concrete powder and concrete cannot be redyed.

Glass can be stained by placing 8 blocks of glass around a dye in a 3×3 crafting grid.

Glass panes can be stained by placing 8 glass panes around a dye in a 3×3 crafting grid.

A shulker box can be dyed by combining it with any dye in a crafting grid. A dyed shulker can be re-dyed using the same crafting recipe. A dyed shulker box can only be undyed using a cauldron.

A bed of any color can be dyed, by combining it with any dye in a crafting grid.

An undyed candle can be dyed by combining it with any dye in a crafting grid.

A bundle of any color can be dyed, by combining it with any dye in a crafting grid.

A harness of any color can be dyed, by combining it with any dye in a crafting grid.

A firework star can have a single color or a combination of up to eight colors when crafted with dyes. Adding one or more dyes to a crafted firework star adds a "fade to color" effect to it, overwriting any existing fade colors.

Dye can be used to craft balloons.

Dye can be used to craft glow sticks. There are no light gray or black variants.

Dyes are used to add a banner pattern to a banner. When using a loom, each pattern uses 1 dye, which determines the color of that pattern.

Water can be dyed in a cauldron by holding any dye in the hand and pressing use on a cauldron filled with water.

Leather armor, wolf armor, leather horse armor can be dyed:

• In Bedrock and Legacy Console editions, armor is dyed by using it on a cauldron filled with dyed water. This consumes 1 layer of water but does not change the color of the water.
  • The armor can be undyed by using it on a cauldron with undyed water. This does not change the water's color to the color of the armor, and changes the armor to have no dye color.
  • Adding a dye to dyed water mixes the color of the water with the color of the dye, as 2 colors (using the formula below). The game does not remember which colors were placed into the cauldron. It just mixes the current color with the added dye, using the formula below. So, blue + pink + blue + pink is not the same as pink + blue + pink + blue.
• In Java Edition, it is possible to craft more than one dye with the armor, and armor can be dyed multiple times with previous colors affecting the outcome.
  • Colored armor can be reverted to its original color by using it on a cauldron with undyed water.
  • Since multiple dyes can be combined at once, more colors of dyed armor are obtainable in Survival. The exact number is 5,713,438. See this discussion for more information.

Armor retains its enchantments and name when dyed or undyed.

Mixing samples

Java Edition:

👁 ItemSprite yellow-dye.png: Sprite image for yellow-dye in Minecraft
= #FED83D

👁 ItemSprite red-dye.png: Sprite image for red-dye in Minecraft
+ 👁 ItemSprite blue-dye.png: Sprite image for blue-dye in Minecraft
+ 👁 ItemSprite white-dye.png: Sprite image for white-dye in Minecraft
= #C898BE

👁 ItemSprite green-dye.png: Sprite image for green-dye in Minecraft
+ 👁 ItemSprite red-dye.png: Sprite image for red-dye in Minecraft
+ 👁 ItemSprite pink-dye.png: Sprite image for pink-dye in Minecraft
= #B56D51

Each edition of the game uses a specific formula for calculating the color of dyed armor. In this formula, the color of armor or cauldron water, and each dye color, in the RGB color model, has a red value, green value, and blue value.

Dyes can be used on sheep to change the color of the wool. Shearing a colored sheep drops the corresponding color of the wool, and the sheep retains the color when the wool regenerates. Killing colored sheep drops one block of wool with the corresponding color. Breeding colored sheep produce a lamb colored as one of the parent sheep, or a color resulting from the combination of both parents' colors. The color combining follows the same rules that dyes use – red and yellow sheep produce an orange lamb, but a blue and yellow sheep cannot create a green lamb. In case the colors of the colored sheep do not mix, the color of a lamb is randomly chosen between the two parents with equal chance. The unlimited reproduction of colored sheep makes dyeing and shearing sheep infinitely more efficient than just dyeing wool directly.

Dye can be used on a tamed wolf or cat to change the color of its collar from the default red to the color of the dye.

Dye can be used on a sign or a hanging sign to change the text color. In Bedrock Edition, ink sacs cannot be used for this purpose; black dye must be used to change the text to black. A sign cannot be dyed if its color is already the color of the dye. Attempting to dye it will not use the dye and will open the menu to edit the sign, if possible. A sign defaults to black text when placed.

Apprentice, journeyman, and expert-level shepherd villagers buy 12 of any of the dyes for an emerald.

The "color codes" are used to determine the color imparted on banners, dyed leather armor, leather horse armor and wolf armor, wolf and cat collars, beacon beams, tropical fish, sheep, and firework stars. The hex value is shown in the extended tooltips of dyed armor; however, to set the color using an NBT data tag in a command, the decimal value must be used instead. The color values for firework stars are slightly different. In Java Edition, sheep's wool uses different colors than the base dye values, appearing noticeably darker.

Color codes are usually encoded using the corresponding numeric ID, although e.g. signs store the color name instead to represent text color.