Iron Ore
| Renewable |
No |
|---|---|
| Stackable |
Yes (64) |
| Tool | |
| Blast resistance |
3 |
| Hardness |
3 |
| Luminant |
No |
| Transparent |
No |
| Flammable |
No |
| Catches fire from lava |
No |
Iron ore is a mineral block found underground. It is smelted into iron ingots, which are used to make tools and armor.
Contents
Obtaining[edit]
Breaking[edit]
Iron ore must be mined with a stone pickaxe or higher, or else it drops nothing. Unlike most ores, iron ore always drops itself, regardless of whether the player used Silk Touch.
| Block | Iron Ore | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 3 | |
| Tool | ||
| Breaking time[A] | ||
| Default | 15 | |
| Wooden | 7.5 | |
| Stone | 1.15 | |
| Iron | 0.75 | |
| Diamond | 0.6 | |
| Netherite | 0.5 | |
| Golden | 1.25 | |
- ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Natural generation[edit]
Iron ore can generate in the Overworld in the form of mineral veins. Iron ore attempts to generate 20 times per chunk in veins of size 1-14, from levels 0 to 63, in all biomes. As of Java Edition 1.16.4, on average they generate 112 ores per chunk.
Usage[edit]
The primary usage of iron ore is to obtain iron ingots.
Smelting ingredient[edit]
| Ingredients | Smelting recipe |
|---|---|
| Iron Ore + Any fuel |
Note Blocks[edit]
Iron ore can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sound.
Sounds[edit]
| Sound | Subtitle | Source | Description | Namespaced ID | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Block broken | Blocks | Breaking the block | block.stone.break | subtitles.block.generic.break | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| None[sound 1] | Blocks | Falling on the block with fall damage | block.stone.fall | None[sound 1] | 0.5 | 0.75 | 16 | |
| Block breaking | Blocks | Mining the block | block.stone.hit | subtitles.block.generic.hit | 0.25 | 0.5 | 16 | |
| Block placed | Blocks | Placing the block | block.stone.place | subtitles.block.generic.place | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| Footsteps | Blocks | Walking on the block | block.stone.step | subtitles.block.generic.footsteps | 0.15 | 1.0 | 16 |
| Sound | Source | Description | Namespaced ID | Volume | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blocks | Breaking the block | dig.stone | 1.0 | 0.8 | |
| Blocks | Falling on the block with fall damage | fall.stone | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
| Blocks | Mining the block | hit.stone | 0.37 | 0.5 | |
| ? | Blocks | Jumping from the block | jump.stone | 0.12 | 1.0 |
| ? | Blocks | Falling on the block without fall damage | land.stone | 0.22 | 1.0 |
| Blocks | Walking on the block | step.stone | 0.3 | 1.0 | |
| Blocks | Placing the block | use.stone | 1.0 | 0.8 |
Data values[edit]
ID[edit]
| Name | Namespaced ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|
| Iron Ore | iron_ore | block.minecraft.iron_ore |
| Name | Namespaced ID | Numeric ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Ore | iron_ore | 15 | tile.iron_ore.name |
Video[edit]
History[edit]
| Java Edition Classic | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 2009 | Notch shows interest in adding iron ore. | ||||
| May 23, 2009 | Notch says he accomplished adding iron veins in stone. | ||||
| 0.0.14a |  Added iron ore.
| ||||
| Iron ore spawns in huge veins, sometimes big enough to protrude into 3 caverns, and could be as big as 167 blocks. | |||||
| 0.26 SURVIVAL TEST | Breaking iron ore now gives the player 1–3 blocks of iron when mined. | ||||
| Java Edition Indev | |||||
| 0.31 | ? | Iron ore no longer drops blocks of iron when mined. | |||
| 20100129 | Before the furnace was added, players had to smelt ore by dropping ore blocks onto fire. | ||||
| Iron ore now drops itself when mined. | |||||
| 20100201-2 | Iron ore now requires a stone, iron, or diamond pickaxe to be successfully obtained. | ||||
| Java Edition Infdev | |||||
| Minecraft Infdev | 20100227-1 | Iron ore no longer generates. | |||
| 20100320 | Iron ore veins now generate, but differently. | ||||
| 20100325 | Ore veins now appear more like they do today. | ||||
| 20100327 | Iron ore now regenerates after the world is reloaded, assuming that the positions of the ore blocks were replaced by stone. | ||||
| 20100330 | Iron ore no longer regenerates. | ||||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.3.1 | 12w22a | Smelting iron ore, along with other ores, blocks and items, gives the player experience orbs when taking the item out of the furnace. One stack of iron ore gives the player approximately 2 levels of experience. | |||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 15. | |||
| Texture Update | 2018 |  A texture of iron ore has now been proposed. | |||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | The texture of iron ore has now been changed. | |||
| 1.14.1 | Pre-Release 1 | The texture of iron ore has now been changed, once again. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.3.0 | Added iron ore. | ||||
| 0.12.1 | ? | Iron ore now gives experience when smelted. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | The texture of iron ore has now been changed. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added iron ore. |
| ? | Smelting iron ore now gives experience. | ||||
| 1.90 | The texture of iron ore has now been changed. | ||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | Added iron ore. | ||||
Issues[edit]
Issues relating to "Iron Ore" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia[edit]
- About 0.6 percent of a Minecraft world consists of iron ore.
Gallery[edit]
A vein of iron ore.
A total of 20 iron ore blocks were obtained from this vein, which was most likely composed of two smaller veins.
Iron ores exposed in a ravine.
An exposed iron ore block that generated in a hole in the ground leading to a cave.
A vein of iron ore.
