Minecraft Dye

Minecraft Dye

Trading

Wandering traders can sell 3 dyes for an emerald.

Wandering traders can sell 3 lapis lazuli for one emerald.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Wandering traders can sell 3 bone meal for one emerald.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Wandering traders can sell 3 cocoa beans for one emerald.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Wandering traders can sell 3 ink sacs for one emerald.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Lapis lazuli can also be traded in amounts of 1–2 per emerald from cleric villagers.‌^{[Legacy Console Edition only]}

Apprentice-level cleric villagers sell one lapis lazuli per emerald.‌^{[Java and Bedrock editions only]}

Other

Blue dye can be crafted from lapis lazuli, which is mined from ores underground in amounts of 4–8 per block. Lapis lazuli can be found in 25.4% of village temple chests in stacks of 1–4, in 61.5% of shipwreck treasure chests in stacks of 1–10, and in 16.9% of chest minecarts in Mineshafts in stacks of 4–9.

Brown dye can be crafted from cocoa beans, which are harvested from cocoa pods in amounts of 1–3 per fully grown pod. A pod that is not fully grown will only yield one cocoa bean. In Bedrock Edition cocoa beans can be found in 50.0% of bonus chests in stacks of 1–2.

Black dye can be crafted from ink sacs, which can be dropped when a squid dies, in amounts of 1–3 per squid. Using the Looting enchantment can increase this amount. In Bedrock Edition ink sacs can be found in 40.0% of stronghold storeroom chests in stacks of 1–3.

Ink sacs can also be created using 1 iron, 1 sulfur, and 4 oxygen in the compound creator‌^{[Bedrock and Education editions only]}.

Green dye can be found in 14.3% of desert village house chests in stacks of 1.

Yellow dye can be found in 20.8% of village mason chests in stacks of 1.

Usage

Dyeing wool and mobs

Players can dye wool by placing white wool and a dye in a crafting grid.

White Wool + Matching Dye

Dyes can be used on sheep to change the color of the wool. After shearing a colored sheep, they will drop the corresponding color of the wool, and they will also keep the color of their wool when it regenerates. Breeding colored sheep will result the baby sheep's color to be one of the parental sheep's color, or a resulting color of the combination of both parental sheep's color. Note that the color combining follows the same rules that dyes use – red and yellow sheep will produce an orange lamb, but a blue and yellow sheep cannot create a green lamb. The unlimited reproduction of colored sheep makes dyeing and shearing sheep infinitely more efficient than just dyeing wool directly.

Dye can also be used on tamed wolves. Using a dye on a tamed wolf will change the color of the wolf's collar (which is red by default) to the color of the dye.

Dye can also be used on shulkers to change the color of the shell.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Dye can also be used the same way as tamed wolves on tamed ocelots or cats. Using a dye on a tamed cat will change the color of its collar (which is also set to red by default) to the corresponding dye.

Dyeing terracotta

Terracotta can be dyed by placing 8 blocks around a dye on a crafting table.

Terracotta + Matching Dye

Staining glass

Stained glass can be stained by placing 8 blocks of glass around a dye on a crafting table. Just like regular glass, stained glass can be crafted into stained glass panes. The recipe for this is the same as with regular glass.

Glass +
Matching Dye

Dyeing armor

A graph showing all combinations of two dyes on a tunic.

Leather armor can be dyed by:

• Crafting dyes with a piece of leather armor.‌^{[Java and Legacy Console editions only]}
• Dousing the leather armor or leather horse armor in a cauldron to which dyes have been added.‌^{[Bedrock and Legacy Console editions only]}
• Combining the dye with a piece of leather armor in the inventory.‌^{[Legacy Console Edition only]}

There are a possible combination of 12,326,391 colors, as it is possible to put more than one dye on the crafting bench alongside the leather armor. Armor can be dyed multiple times with previous colors affecting the final outcome. Colored armor can be reverted to their original color using a cauldron with undyed water.

The game has a specific formula for calculating the color of dyed armor: each color, in the RGB color model, has a red value, green value, and blue value. For each dye in the crafting grid, and the armor itself (if it is already dyed), the red, green, and blue values are added to running totals. In addition, a running total of the highest value (be it red, green, or blue) is also kept. After this, each total is divided by the number of colors used. This effectively produces the average red, green, blue, and maximum values. The maximum value of the average RGB values is also calculated. Finally, each average RGB value is multiplied by the average maximum value, and divided by the maximum of the average RGB values. The modified average RGB values are then used as the final color. This procedure can be summed up with the following equations:

for each color (all "total" variables start at 0 before counting):
 totalRed = totalRed + redValue
 totalGreen = totalGreen + greenValue
 totalBlue = totalBlue + blueValue
 totalMaximum = totalMaximum + max(red, green, blue)
 numberOfColors = numberOfColors + 1

averageRed = totalRed / numberOfColors
averageGreen = totalGreen / numberOfColors
averageBlue = totalBlue / numberOfColors
averageMaximum = totalMaximum / numberOfColors

maximumOfAverage = max(averageRed, averageGreen, averageBlue)
gainFactor = averageMaximum / maximumOfAverage

resultRed = averageRed * gainFactor
resultGreen = averageGreen * gainFactor
resultBlue = averageBlue * gainFactor

Due to the way this formula works, the resulting color will never be darker than the average of the input colors, and will often be lighter and more saturated. Of course, the resulting color will never be lighter or more saturated than the lightest or most saturated input color. In addition, this formula will never create an RGB value higher than 255 (which would be invalid in the 8 bit RGB color model).

If leather armor is renamed on an anvil, it will retain its name when dyed or undyed.

Dyeing firework stars

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 will add a "fade to color" effect to it, overwriting any existing fade colors.

Gunpowder + Any Dye (1-8) + Extra ingredient (optional)

Matching Firework Star + Any Dye

Banner patterns

Main article: Banner § Patterns

Dyes are used in most banner patterns to determine which pattern and what color is used.

Dyeing shulker boxes

Shulker boxes are generated in a light shade of purple (like the purpur block), but can be dyed any color. They can also be re-dyed as often as desired.

Shulker Box	Any Shulker Box + Matching Dye

Creating concrete powder

Dyes can also be used to craft concrete powder, which can then be set into their respective concrete blocks (they cannot be dyed directly).

Sand + Gravel + Matching Dye

Creating balloons

Dye can be used to craft balloons.‌^{[Bedrock and Education editions only]}

^{Latex + Matching Dye + Helium + Lead}

Creating glow sticks

Dye can also be used to craft glow sticks.‌^{[Bedrock and Education editions only]}

Polyethylene + Hydrogen Peroxide + Matching Dye + Luminol

Dyeing beds

Players can dye beds by placing a white bed and any color dye in a crafting grid. Only white beds can be dyed.

White Bed + Matching Dye

Dyeing water inside cauldrons

Water can be dyed in a cauldron by holding any dye in the hand and pressing use on a cauldron filled with water.‌^{[Bedrock and Legacy Console editions only]}

Signs

Dye can be used on a sign to change the text color.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Trading

12 dye can be sold to shepherd villager.

Other uses

Dyes have other uses specific to those colors‌^{[Bedrock and Legacy Console editions only]}; see their separate articles for details.

• Ink sacs are used to craft dark prismarine and book and quill, and sold to librarian villager.
• Cocoa beans are used to craft cookies and can be planted on the side of a jungle wood block to grow more cocoa beans.
• Lapis lazuli is used in enchanting and to craft the lapis lazuli block.
• Bone meal is used to fertilize various plants, craft the bone block, and create huge mushrooms.

These items all have dye color equivalents.

Colors

Primary

These primary dyes are created only from ingredients spawned naturally in a world.

Name	Source	Color	Notes
Red Dye	Poppy Rose Bush Red Tulip Beetroot	Red	Made by placing a poppy, red tulip, beetroot, or rose bush on a crafting grid.
Yellow Dye	Dandelion Sunflower	Yellow	Made by placing a dandelion or sunflower on a crafting grid.
Green Dye	Cactus	Green	Made by cooking cactus in a furnace.
Black Dye	Ink Sac Wither Rose	Black	Made by placing an ink sac or wither rose on a crafting grid.
Brown Dye	Cocoa Beans	Brown	Made by placing cocoa beans on a crafting grid.
Blue Dye	Lapis Lazuli Cornflower	Blue	Made by placing a lapis lazuli or cornflower on a crafting grid.
White Dye	Bone Meal Lily of the Valley	White	Made by placing a bone meal or lily of the valley on a crafting grid.

Quasi-Primary

These dyes can be created from a single ingredient spawned naturally in a world, or by combining other dyes.

Name	Source	Color	Obtaining Naturally
Orange Dye	Orange Tulip	Orange	Made by placing an orange tulip on a crafting grid.
Light Blue Dye	Blue Orchid	Light Blue	Made by placing a blue orchid on a crafting grid.
Magenta Dye	Lilac Allium	Magenta	Made by placing a lilac or allium on a crafting grid.
Pink Dye	Peony Pink Tulip	Pink	Made by placing a peony or pink tulip on a crafting grid.
Light Gray Dye	Azure Bluet Oxeye Daisy White Tulip	Light Gray	Made by placing an azure bluet, oxeye daisy, or white tulip on a crafting grid.
Lime Dye	Sea Pickle	Lime Green	Made by smelting a sea pickle in a furnace.

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID
Red Dye	red_dye
Green Dye	green_dye
Purple Dye	purple_dye
Cyan Dye	cyan_dye
Light Gray Dye	light_gray_dye
Gray Dye	gray_dye
Pink Dye	pink_dye
Lime Dye	lime_dye
Yellow Dye	yellow_dye
Light Blue Dye	light_blue_dye
Magenta Dye	magenta_dye
Orange Dye	orange_dye
Black Dye	black_dye
Brown Dye	brown_dye
Blue Dye	blue_dye
White Dye	white_dye

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID
Dye	dye	351

Item data

The color of a dye item depends on its metadata. The "color codes" are used to determine the color imparted on sheep, wolf collars, and dyed leather armor. The hex value is shown in the extended tooltips of dyed leather armor; however, to set the color using an NBT data tag in a command, the decimal value must be used instead.

	Data		Description	Color Code		Sample
	Dec	Hex		Dec	Hex
	0	0x0	Ink Sac	1908001	#1D1D21
	1	0x1	Red Dye	11546150	#B02E26
	2	0x2	Green Dye	6192150	#5E7C16
	3	0x3	Cocoa Beans	8606770	#835432
	4	0x4	Lapis Lazuli	3949738	#3C44AA
	5	0x5	Purple Dye	8991416	#8932B8
	6	0x6	Cyan Dye	1481884	#169C9C
	7	0x7	Light Gray Dye	10329495	#9D9D97
	8	0x8	Gray Dye	4673362	#474F52
	9	0x9	Pink Dye	15961002	#F38BAA
	10	0xA	Lime Dye	8439583	#80C71F
	11	0xB	Yellow Dye	16701501	#FED83D
	12	0xC	Light Blue Dye	3847130	#3AB3DA
	13	0xD	Magenta Dye	13061821	#C74EBD
	14	0xE	Orange Dye	16351261	#F9801D
	15	0xF	Bone Meal	16383998	#F9FFFE
	16	0x10	Black Dye	1908001	#1D1D21
	17	0x11	Brown Dye	8606770	#835432
	18	0x12	Blue Dye	3949738	#3C44AA
	19	0x13	White Dye	16383998	#F9FFFE

Achievements

Main article: Achievements

	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Availability				Xbox points earned	Trophy type (PS)
				Xbox	PS	Bedrock	Nintendo
	Rainbow Collection	Gather all 16 colors of wool.	All the colors of wool do not have to be in the inventory at the same time, but must have been picked up by the player once.	Xbox One	Yes	Yes	Wii U, Switch	30G	Silver
				Xbox 360		Alt		20G
	Tie Dye Outfit	Dye all 4 unique pieces of leather armor.		Yes	Yes	Yes	Wii U, Switch	15G	Bronze
	Change of Sheets	Dye your bed a different color		Yes	Yes	No	Wii U, Switch