The best Minecraft texture pack is a very subjective thing. Each player is looking for something different with a texture pack, whether it’s hyper-realistic high-resolution textures, low-resolution performance boosting packs, or somewhere in between the two.
Below you’ll find some of the very best texture packs for Minecraft Java Edition 1.16.5. They range from 512x all the way down to 8x and less, and I’ve also included a section at the bottom of the guide explaining how to install Minecraft texture packs.
On this page:
Best Minecraft texture packs for 1.16.5
There are thousands of texture packs available for Minecraft Java Edition, but I’ve done my best to narrow those thousands down to just a couple dozen or so.
The list starts with the highest-resolution packs, and works its way down to the lowest-resolution packs. Be warned that the higher the resolution, the more your game’s performance may suffer. So spend some time trying out different packs to find which works best for your PC. Also note that most of these texture packs require Optifine to use.
If you’re looking for Bedrock/Pocket Edition texture packs, check out our list of the best free Minecraft Bedrock texture packs!
Best realistic texture packs (512x, 256x,128x, 64x)
We’ll start this list with our picks for the best realistic texture packs for Minecraft. Each of the below packs is at least 64×64, four times the resolution of Minecraft’s default textures.
Sapixcraft (512x-16x)
Sapixcraft texture packs stand out from the rest in a couple of ways. Firstly, there are lots of packs to choose from, each at a different resolution ranging from 16x all the way up to a staggering 512x so you can pick the right pack for your machine.
Secondly, Sapixcraft, while available at very high resolutions, doesn’t go for the hyper-realistic route with its textures. Instead, everything is more colourful and cartoon-like, making your worlds very easy on the eyes.
Download link: Sapixcraft
Dark Renaissance (256x)
Dark Renaissance is an extremely high-fidelity texture pack based on another long-extinct pack inspired by the Dark Souls series of games. As such, installing Dark Renaissance will instantly give your worlds and builds a darker, more mysterious atmosphere.
The foliage on this texture pack is absolutely top-notch as well, and really makes you feel like you’re discovering a Minecraft landscape for the first time again.
Download link: Dark Renaissance
LB Photo Realism Reload (128x)
LB Photo Realism Reload is a very popular realistic texture pack, with the particular lure of not straying too far from the default Minecraft textures. Instead, it just ramps up the resolution and quality, giving any Minecraft vista an instant and effective makeover.
Download link: LB Photo Realism
Misa’s Realistic (64x)
Misa’s Realistic texture pack walks a fine line between realistic, high-res textures and performance. The tones of Misa’s pack are just a little desaturated, making it easier to play Minecraft for extended periods; but its bold style, particularly with building blocks, still allows you to pick out the little details even at a distance.
Download link: Misa’s Realistic
Soartex Fanver (64x)
Soartex Fanver is one of the most downloaded texture packs on this list, and for good reason. This continuation of the original Soartex pack again opts out of the full realism approach, instead working to give every Minecraft block and item added colour and detail.
Download link: Soartex Fanver
Best Minecraft Shaders | Best Minecraft Mods | Best Minecraft Servers | Minecraft Commands & Cheats | Minecraft house ideas | How to find a Minecraft Village | How to tame a fox in Minecraft | How to make Minecraft Fireworks
Best 32x texture packs
Here are our picks for the best 32x Minecraft texture packs. These packs will run better on your machine than the above realistic packs, but they’ll still each have sharper and clearer textures than regular Minecraft.
Anemoia (32x)
Anemoia’s wonderfully unusual, alien-like textures are guaranteed to give you back that sense of wonder at setting foot in a new Minecraft world. If you’re looking for a vibrant, punchy texture pack that still packs in twice as much detail as vanilla Minecraft, then Anemoia is a good place to start.
Download link: Anemoia
Annahstas Beastrinia (32x)
Annahstas Beastrinia is a colourful texture pack inspired by Pokemon’s various looks. It’s vibrant and brimming with life, and also has the unusual effect of making even naturally-occurring terrain look somewhat manmade and bricklike. It’s a great look, and one you might want to consider adopting for your latest Minecraft world.
Download link: Annahstas Beastrinia
Epic Adventures (32x)
Epic Adventures is a lovely 32x texture pack which stays very true to the default Minecraft look, despite the added pixel density. Of particular note here is the wonderful fluffiness of both the clouds and the leaves on trees.
Download link: Epic Adventures
Faithful (32x)
I remember using Faithful what feels like (and could well have been) nearly a decade ago. It’s one of the longest-standing texture packs, and it rose to stardom by remaining – you guessed it – incredibly faithful to the vanilla textures. If default Minecraft has 32×32 textures, it would look like this.
Download link: Faithful
Wanderlust (32x)
Wanderlust is many things, but in particular it’s a great texture pack for underground spaces like the ravine shown in the above screenshot. Just look at the cragginess of those rocks. It just makes you want to run your hand over them.
Wanderlust takes Minecraft’s textures in a slightly murkier direction but keeps everything looking rich and beautiful in the process.
Download link: Wanderlust
Best 16x texture packs
These are the best 16x texture packs we’ve found for Minecraft Java Edition. The default Minecraft textures are also 16x, so you’ll find these texture packs change up the style of the visuals while keeping the same number of pixels in each block.
BlockPixel (16x)
BlockPixel is a very stylised texture pack. Far from trying to make everything look realistic, BlockPixel revamps almost every texture in the game and remakes them out of lots of little blocks and chunks. It’s an odd look, but I absolutely adore it. Even mundane blocks like grass and wood bark look amazing and refreshing with BlockPixel.
Download link: BlockPixel
Bloom (16x)
Bloom is as vibrant as any texture pack on this list, but it also manages to somehow strike a balance between familiarity and cartooniness with its charming repeating textures. The world looks great but the items are where Bloom really shines, looking like they’ve been plucked out of an SNES game.
Download link: Bloom
Jicklus (16x)
Jicklus certainly achieves its author’s goal of crerating a more rustic look for Minecraft without resorting to higher resolutions. All the textures in this pack look bucolic and organic, and the sides of mountains and cliffs in particular look wonderful as a result.
Download link: Jicklus
Jolicraft (16x)
Jolicraft is an interesting mix of vibrant colours and more muted pastel colours. This mix adds a very powerful and bold look to any Minecraft landscape. I particularly love the new textures for the different Minecraft mobs, both passive and hostile. The Endermen are wonderful.
Download link: Jolicraft
Legend (16x)
Legend is a very desaturated texture pack which gives Minecraft a very fresh look. It doesn’t stray terribly far from the original block textures, but the art for each item has been overhauled to give Minecraft a more fantasy RPG feel. If this appeals to you, Legend is a great and lightweight texture pack that you should consider installing.
Download link: Legend
Quadral (16x)
Quadral gives Minecraft players a wonderfully crisp and punchy look, making great use of patterns to create interesting landscapes that eschew realism in favour of character. Whether you’re atop a mountain, deep underground, or in the Nether, Quadral’s impact on the textures around you will make you feel like you’re playing a different game altogether.
Download link: Quadral
Stay True (16x)
Stay True is possibly the subtlest of all the texture packs in this list, more so even than Faithful. Rather than looking to overhaul the entire Minecraft appearance, Stay True changes small details, from making leaves bushier to adding some variation in stone brick colouring, to new, more subtle weather effects. A great option for fans of vanilla Minecraft.
Download link: Stay True
Unity (16x)
Unity is another very pretty texture pack which reduces the saturation in many textures in order to make the colour palette of Minecraft more natural and believable.
It’s also worth noting that Unity has an addon texture pack, Unity Dark, which makes all your HUD elements and screens dark and easier on the eyes. Highly recommended.
Download link: Unity
Best PvP texture packs (8x, 1x)
PvP texture packs are so-named for their low resolution, high performance, and simplistic look. With resolutions of 8x or lower, these packs are great for boosting performance, particularly on lower-end machines.
Bytecraft (8x)
Bytecraft accomplishes an awful lot considering it’s using only half the resolution of default Minecraft for each texture. With Bytecraft each vista looks just as detailed and characterful as vanilla, but you’ll likely find you can run Minecraft much more easily on lower-end machines with Bytecraft installed.
Download link: Bytecraft
Rodrigo’s Pack (8x)
Rodrigo’s Pack is a true PvP pack: not only does it increase performance by lowering the overall texture resolution, but it also makes use of clean, flat surfaces to make everything crystal clear even at long distances. A great option for UHC and other PvP Minecraft games.
Download link: Rodrigo’s Pack
Ultra FPS Booster (1x)
Ultra FPS Booster pushes PvP texture packs to the extreme with its so called 1×1 texture resolutions. That’s right, almost every block in the game is a single flat colour, including ores.
It will take a while to get used to this pack, but there’s no denying its power both as a tool for clarity and as a way of dramatically increasing your frame rate while playing Minecraft.
Download link: Ultra FPS Booster
Best misc texture packs
Let’s finish up this list of the best Minecraft texture packs with a couple of packs which offer you a more practical benefit than just changing the look of the world.
Xray Ultimate
Xray Ultimate is a solid example of a Minecraft X-Ray pack for Java Edition. These packs are infamous for their cheaty method of making absolutely every block invisible except for ores, allowing you to see straight through the world and find out where all the ores are.
There are plenty of legimitate uses for X-Ray packs, but I must warn you that if you’re trying to use this pack on a server to gain an advantage over other players, you’ll likely be found and banned from the server. If you’re having that much trouble finding Diamonds, be sure to check out our guid on how to find Diamonds in Minecraft.
Download link: Xray Ultimate
Visible Ores
Visible Ores is far less ethically questionable than an X-Ray pack. It doesn’t expose ores that you couldn’t already see: it just gives every ore block an outline and emissive light to help you see them more easily. If you find yourself repeatedly missing ores the first time you head through a cave, then Visible Ores might be the best texture pack for you.
Download link: Visible Ores
How to install Minecraft texture packs for Java Edition
To install any of the above Minecraft texture packs for the latest version of Java Edition, here’s what you need to do:
- Download your chosen texture pack. It will appear in your Downloads folder as a ZIP file.
- Open up a new window of Windows Explorer and type into the address bar: “%appdata%\.minecraft” and hit Enter. You’ll be brought to your Minecraft directory.
- Click on the “resourcepacks” folder to open it.
- Move the ZIP file of your downloaded texture pack into this “resourcepacks” folder.
- Launch Minecraft. In the Settings menu, click on “Resource Packs”, find your downloaded texture pack in the left column and click the arrow icon that appears when you hover over it. Then click Done and start playing!
That brings our list of the best Minecraft texture packs to a close for now. If you’re looking for the perfect new world to match your new texture pack, be sure to check out our list of the best Minecraft seeds for Java Edition!
