Air

For other uses, see Gas.

Air

Renewable	Yes
Stackable	No
Tool	None
Blast resistance	0
Hardness	0
Luminous	No
Transparent	Yes
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color	0 NONE
Note block instrument	Default (Harp)

Air is an invisible block used to define unoccupied space where other blocks and items could exist; it represents the absence of a block or an item. It is one of the few blocks in the game that players cannot normally interact with.

Cave air‌^{[Java Edition only]} is a variant found only underground in carver caves^{[verify for Java Edition]} and some generated structures along with features like lava lakes.

Void air‌^{[Java Edition only]} is a variant used internally for the 'air' in unloaded chunks and outside of the world height limits (above Y=319 and below Y=-64 in the Overworld, and above Y=255 and below Y=0 in the Nether and the End dimensions).

Appearance

All types of air are completely invisible.

The only exception is that air can be visualized with the use of structure blocks in Save mode: when "Show invisible blocks" is enabled, air is represented as small blue-edged cubes. Air, cave air, and void air are all displayed identically.

Obtaining

In Bedrock Edition, air cannot be obtained in the inventory without editing even with commands.

In Java Edition, the block is completely unobtainable as an item. When attempting to use commands with air as an item ID:

• Using /give does nothing.
• Using /clear will always fail to find any matching items.
• Using /item replace deletes the item in the specified slot.
• Using /summon to attempt to create an item entity (i.e. /summon item ~ ~ ~ {Item:{id:"air"}}) does nothing.

As a block, air can be destroyed or created only by the placement or removal of other blocks respectively. When using commands such as /fill, specifying air deletes other blocks.

Natural generation

Upon world generation, all otherwise empty spaces are occupied by air.

In Java Edition, carver caves and some underground structures generate containing cave air instead, including mineshafts^[1], strongholds, monster rooms, and lava lakes^[2], and void air is used in place of unloaded chunks and above or below the world's buildable area to denote illegal locations for blocks to be put.

Post-generation

When other blocks are destroyed by any means, air is created.

Usage

Air shares some properties with non-solid blocks, including allowing the player or mob to move within that space without suffocating, and also to catch their breath if they are drowning in water.

Cave air and void air have no special properties; they function the same as normal air.

Piston interactivity

Air and its variants are destroyed when pushed by a piston. They cannot be pulled by sticky pistons.

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Block	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Air	air	Block & Item	air parrots_spawnable_on replaceable	block.minecraft.air
Cave Air	cave_air	Block	air replaceable	block.minecraft.cave_air
Void Air	void_air	Block	air replaceable	block.minecraft.void_air

Fluid	Identifier
Empty	empty

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Air	air	413	Block & Ungiveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3] (Numeric: -158)	tile.air.name

Videos

History

Java Edition

Java Edition pre-Classic
Cave game tech test							Added air, which is any space devoid of blocks.
							Air is not internally considered a block.
Java Edition Indev
0.31			20100114				Air now affects liquid blocks that are horizontally adjacent to it. If air is touching the fluid block, there is a 2⁄3 chance for the fluid block to disappear and make the pool recede, and a 1⁄3 chance for the fluid block to fill the air, making the pool spread.
Java Edition
1.7.2			13w38b				Air is now internally a block.[3]
1.9			16w02a				Air is now translatable into other languages.
1.10			16w20a				Air can now be visualized with the use of structure blocks.
1.13			18w06a				Two new variations of air have been added: cave air and void air.
							Carver caves now generate cave air instead of normal air.
							Void air is now internally used at Y values outside the world height boundaries and in unloaded chunks.
1.15			19w39a				Outlines of air shown by "show invisible blocks" by a structure block no longer have black outlines.
26.3			snap2				Cave air no longer generates in Nether caves.

Bedrock Edition

Legacy Console Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

Data history

Trivia

• In Java Edition, in the replace arguments for /fill, cave and void air are treated as regular air, meaning that /fill x y z x y z block replace air also fills cave air and void air. When trying to replace cave or void air, the command fails even if cave or void air is present.

Issues

Issues relating to "Air" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

See also

• Void
• Technical blocks

References