Talk:NBT format

I just created this page because it was sorely needed. Does anyone have any suggestions? LB 01:17, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

sure: You reverted my changes about the compression method. But this little detail is essential for developers. If you dont want it in the "File Format"-Section then put it somewhere else please. --80.134.26.27 09:12, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

You can start a new section (eg "Other Formats") and explain when zlib is used. I believe all scenarios are: GZip compressed/uncompressed files, GZip or zlib compressed within region files, and another kind of compression for multiplayer chunk sending. The reason I remove it from the File Format section was because the only NBT files we're aware of (this doesn't include region files) use either GZip or are uncompressed. I know it's lazy of me to revert your edit, but I'm pressed for time (and honestly shouldn't be writing this). I may do it later... LB^(T|C) 01:37, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

I'm tired of going nowhere just because I forget pages are case sensitive. So I'll just leave this here. Firebastard 09:34, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

How to check which Program supports which NBT Version? --Sfan5 16:28, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

There are only two versions of the NBT format - 19132 and 19133. An easy way is to have a firework in your inventory and try to load your level.dat file with the program. If it can't load it, it probably only supports 19132. If it can, it supports 19133. NBTEdit supports 19132, and NBTExplorer supports 19133. LB^(T|C) 02:43, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

32,767 UTF-8 Code Points (see UTF-8 format; most commonly-used characters are a single code point).

Not sure if other definitions exist, but as the term is normally used, a unicode code point (see Wikipedia) is the same thing as a character. What is likely meant is "32767 bytes in UTF-8 (see UTF-8 format; most commonly used characters are encoded by a single byte)." Arancaytar 15:10, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

Actually, no - some characters require multiple code points. Check out these for instance:

(Deleted because the abuse filter picks these up as part of an obviously unrelated edit, preventing constructive change - see page history if viewing is desired. - 08:40, 7 December 2020 (UTC))

LB^(T|C) 23:16, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

Oh, okay; I didn't think of clusters. But can the string then truly contain 32767 code points of any kind (up to 4 octets each), rather than 32767 octets? Arancaytar 14:35, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure, I'll wait for an expert to respond to this one. Sorry for this useless response... LB^(T|C) 21:14, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

Looking at the code, I don't think the page is currently accurate. Writing and reading NBT strings uses the java.io.DataOutput.writeUTF() and java.io.DataInput.readUTF() methods, which employ a slight modification of the UTF-8 standard. The length of the stored data is an unsigned 16-bit integer, which lets it contain up to 65,535 bytes. Each char is encoded as 1-3 bytes; supplementary characters (above U+FFFF) use two chars, so each code point can use up to 6 bytes. Worst-case scenario is as few as 10,922 code points; best case is 65,535 ASCII characters. -- Orthotope 04:11, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

This page is a great idea, however it needs much more info. An example of how DataTags could be used in the /give command would be great.Mokiki 04:11, 8 September 2013 (UTC)

The string are UTF8, but does the 2 byte size specify the number of bytes or the number of unicode code points? I am guessing bytes?114.77.189.179 02:24, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

Minecraft's implementation uses writeUTF, so the size is the number of bytes, not the number of UTF8 code points. LB^(T|C) 04:40, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

The page says that there are only 12 tag types, yet I've run across TAG_boolean elsewhere on the wiki. (Chunk Format Skull Block Entity) Is there any reason why this isn't included? --Zero318 (talk) 04:51, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

There is no Boolean type stored for NBT data. The "Value" stored on the skull is a JSON object (encoded) rather than NBT, which does include a boolean. Skylinerw (talk) 12:48, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

Hi, I'm playing with NBT files and noticed that statement in the wiki: Additionally, almost every root tag has an empty name string and encapsulates only one Compound tag with the actual data and a name. All the files I examined seem to start with that "unnamed root compound". Could someone point me to examples of NBT actually used in Minecraft 1.13+ where the root is not a compound whose name is empty?

-- Sylvain [[[Special:Contributions/80.67.177.9|80.67.177.9]] 21:25, 8 October 2019 (UTC)]

The page has a ton of information, but there's nothing to help an amateur use the information (i.e. without writing a mod).

Can someone please explain, step-by-step, how to implement usage of a tag? Specifically, I would like to know how to undo the 1.18 change to light level requirements near spawners, so please use that as an example.

Thank you! SirDaddicus (talk) 16:13, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

Or, can someone point me to a location where I can learn how to use a tag? SirDaddicus (talk) 19:25, 21 September 2021 (UTC)

Even if it's not on this Wiki. SirDaddicus (talk) 18:28, 23 September 2021 (UTC)

You can't change light level requirements they are part of source code not nbt. PromisedName (talk) 00:42, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

I suggest the balloon text of Data Types icon be changeable in declaration or context.

In description of JSON format, e.g. Data_pack, the icon's balloon text is different from RFC8259 reffered.

Surely NBT format looks like a superset of JSON format, although I think JSON terms should be used on JSON description. Confusing terms between JSON and NBT would be undesireble for firsttime learners too.

Thank you for your concideration. – Unsigned comment added by Karakufire (talk • contribs) at 14:00, 2 October 2022 (UTC). Sign comments with ~~~~

Numberic icons have special meanings when in description of JSON format: they mean the field will be casted into this data type by the game when reading this json file. Although in JSON, there're no double, int, long, etc., programs will cast number into expected data type when parsing it.

But I agree that confusing terms should be avoided.--Chixvv (talk) 14:52, 2 October 2022 (UTC)

The article currently mentions that conversion from NBT to JSON is only used for ambient particles in custom biomes and in processor lists, however I'm unsure of what this is supposed to mean (wouldn't ambient particles be a conversion from JSON to NBT?) and whether these are truly the only places this conversion is used by the game.

(note: the current edit is by me, but the info about NBT -> JSON conversion was adapted from a previous edit) Thinker :3 (talk) 18:51, 31 December 2024 (UTC)

This article is missing links to NBT path, though I'm not sure the best way to do it. Perhaps a section where NBT path is the main article?

I'm hesitant on proposing a merge since this article is already quite long, and I suggest any such proposal start a new topic. – ZacNVR (talk) 00:01, 8 June 2025 (UTC)

I experimented with creating a section in my user sandbox, but found it was difficult to say much without going into too much detail, and so the final draft felt lacking. Instead, I added a {{for}} template at the top of the page. – ZacNVR (talk) 01:53, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

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