05.08.2026

Minecraft 26.3 Java Edition Download

The 26.3 update for Minecraft: Java Edition will change familiar forest areas and add more possibilities for decorative building. The version will become the full third game drop of 2026 and will be released in the third quarter. At the center of the update will be a new biome — the Mottled Forest, filled with unusual vegetation, unique tree species, and a new structure to explore.

1. World Generation

2 New Blocks

3 Changes

4 Major Bug Fixes

5 Download Links

Version 26.3 has not been released yet, but snapshots are available!

World Generation

The Mottled Forest is a new autumn biome that appears near cold regions. New trees grow here — poplars, along with red bushes, brown mushrooms, and bracket fungi, while the ground is covered with dry leaves. Spruce trees can sometimes be found among the other trees. Fallen trunks generate here more often than in other forests, and bracket fungi appear on both living and fallen poplars. Sheep, chickens, cows, pigs, rabbits, and foxes inhabit the biome. Some animals can have a snowy coloration.

Abandoned Camp is a new natural structure that can appear in many forest and plains biomes, including taiga, savanna, swamps, jungles, cherry groves, and the Mottled Forest. The camp has many variants: they differ in the color of wool stairs, vegetation, cobwebs, trees, gardens, and other details. Some camps contain barrels and chests with loot. Regular caches can contain copper equipment, buckets, compasses, maps, and fireworks. Secret chests contain more valuable items, including iron equipment, gold, diamonds, and potions.

New Blocks

The update will introduce a complete set of poplar blocks. A sapling can grow into a red, yellow, or orange poplar, and the foliage will have corresponding shades. The wood can be used to create logs, stripped logs, planks, stairs, slabs, signs, doors, fences, gates, trapdoors, buttons, pressure plates, shelves, and other standard elements. A regular poplar log can also be purchased from the wandering trader.

Red Bush is a decorative plant found in the Mottled Forest that resembles a regular bush in appearance. When bone meal is used, another red bush appears nearby. The plant can also be processed in a composter.

Wool Stairs and Slabs are crafted from wool and are available in all sixteen colors. In addition to decorative building, they block vibrations just like regular wool and carpets.

Straw Bed allows the player to skip the night once without changing the respawn point. After being used, it breaks, while in the Nether and the End it breaks immediately when the player tries to lie down. Such beds can be found in abandoned camps. Four of them can be crafted from three hay bales.

Bracket Fungus is a new fungus that grows on poplar trunks. It has small and large variants: the small one can be enlarged with bone meal, while breaking a large one drops two small ones. Entities that fall onto a bracket fungus bounce off with a unique sound. The fungus is used to make mushroom stew, is sold by the wandering trader, and can be composted.

Cushion is a new entity that the player can sit on. It is available in sixteen colors and is crafted from three wool slabs of the corresponding shade. The cushion is placed on a flat surface and automatically aligns with blocks. It has no collision, so other entities can pass through it, except for other cushions. It cannot be moved, and if the supporting block is destroyed, the cushion also breaks.

Changes

· The side texture of the hay bale has been updated: the ropes are now positioned at an equal distance from the edges and match the design of the straw bed. Signs no longer automatically process click events added to custom text.

· Pottery sherds are now data-driven and retain their data after dropping from a decorated pot. Any two mushrooms can now be used to prepare suspicious stew and mushroom stew.

· When using a shield together with a hoe or shovel, lowering the shield is given priority. To till the soil or create a path, you will need to hold Shift.

· Random movement and swimming of non-despawning mobs are disabled when there are no players nearby. This should reduce unnecessary load on the world.

· The armadillo no longer curls up in liquids, while the sulfur cube has received modified sounds from the standard archetype. The wandering trader now sells poplar saplings, logs, and bracket fungi.

· A drowned with a trident switches to melee combat if the player is within three blocks. Its attack deals eight points of damage, which is four hearts.

Major Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue that could cause chunks to frequently fail to load under certain conditions.
Fixed a crash that could cause a player to be kicked from the server due to an incorrectly processed waypoint packet.
Fixed disconnection from the game when sending messages with chat delay enabled.
Fixed piston desynchronization that caused players and other entities to move differently.
Fixed the ability to ignite TNT in Adventure mode.
Spawn protection now prevents farmland from being trampled and turtle eggs from being destroyed.
Fixed accidental elytra activation after a single jump input in lava.
Hits to the Ender Dragon's head once again deal increased damage.
Fixed issues with game modes in local worlds, including incorrect switching and resetting after reconnecting.
Fixed an issue that prevented the game from using hardware acceleration through Vulkan on some devices.