Cape

This article is about the capes in Minecraft. For the capes in Minecraft Dungeons, see MCD:Cape. For the capes in Minecraft Dungeons II, see MCD2:Cape.

Capes are special commemorative items that are shown on the back of the player's skin. They are purely cosmetic and do not alter any gameplay. Wearing a cape also changes the appearance of the elytra to match the look of the respective cape.

Unlike skins, capes cannot be custom-made and have to be earned. In addition, they cannot be transferred between accounts. Some capes can be earned through various promotions, while others are not available to the general public.

Various mods offer unofficial capes for players to use. These capes, however, are only visible to other users of those mods. Only capes added by Mojang Studios are featured below.

Overview

Capes are rectangular and are 16x10x1 pixels in size. They attach to the top of the player's back and sit at an angle, such that the bottom of the cape is separated from the player's back by a few degrees.

Capes remain immobile as long as the player wearing them does not move. They flap upwards when the player moves along the x and z-axes, as well as when falling, including the brief descent after jumping. Flying or bouncing straight upwards instead causes the cape to become flush with the player's back, although even slight horizontal movement made while moving upwards is enough to override this. The degree that the cape flaps upward increases depending on the player's speed, such that sprinting causes the cape to go higher than simply walking. This degree is much higher on Bedrock Edition than on Java Edition; sprint-jumping at normal speed will cause a cape to go well above 90 degrees from the player's back on the former while it stays around 45 degrees from it on the latter.

Capes can tilt slightly to either side, particularly when using mounts such as boats or horses.

Obtaining

With the exception of the Pan Cape, capes that are available to the general public can only be obtained through limited-time promotions. Some types of promotions that distribute capes are social media campaigns, event servers, and in-person events. Capes cannot be obtained after their respective promotions have ended.^{[note 1]}

Modern capes are often distributed to both editions of the game at the same time, although logging into Bedrock Edition is often required to activate such capes in Java Edition.^[1]

Equipping

Java Edition

In Java Edition, capes can either be equipped in the skin creation menu in the Minecraft Launcher, or on the profile page on the Minecraft website.

Java Edition capes are not shipped as game resources, but are instead stored on Mojang's servers in the same way as skins are. This allows newer capes to be used on older versions of Java Edition in the same way that newly created skins can be used on older versions.^{[note 2]} The cape that a player currently has equipped is publicly displayed on the Mojang API along with their current skin.

Bedrock Edition

In Bedrock Edition, capes can be equipped in the Capes section on the Character Creator.

Further information

Java Edition

For about a decade after the introduction of capes in 2010, Java Edition capes could be split into five groups:

• Mojang capes, given only to Mojang employees.
• MINECON capes, distributed to attendees of the convention. Around 27,000 of these capes are known to exist.^{[note 3]}
• Personal capes, which were given to single individuals as appreciation for something they did.
• Volunteer capes, given to contributors in various programs, such as Crowdin, Mojira, and the Realms map making program.
• Competition capes, given to those who had won competitions in Mojang's other games, Scrolls and Cobalt. These competitions were short-lived, with only the top players winning these capes, so only around 30 of these capes exist.

Of these, only MINECON capes were available to the public in significant numbers. Therefore, at the time, capes were far more exclusive items than they are today.

As Minecraft became more popular, however, this exclusivity caused capes, and accounts that had them, to become premier items on black markets.^[2] Partly due to this, accounts with rare capes have been known to be common targets of hacking attempts^[3][4] and unwanted solicitation. This exclusivity grew in 2017 when MINECON events became livestreams and stopped distributing capes, leading to a period of almost five years between MINECON 2016 and the account migration in 2021 where no new Java Edition capes could be obtained by the public.

Since the account migration, which granted the Migrator Cape to all Java Edition players who migrated, various capes have been available to the general public without being tied to in-person events. This is likely in order to avoid the problems associated with the aforementioned exclusivity.

Bedrock Edition

In Bedrock Edition, capes are Character Creator items, and as such are assigned a rarity, usually Legendary.

Although cape support on Bedrock Edition was added in 2016, it was used exclusively for skin packs until 2019. Capes included in skin packs can only be equipped with their corresponding skin; for example, the MINECON 2016 Skin Pack included Steve and Alex skins wearing all MINECON capes from 2011 to 2016, but these capes are locked to the skin pack, so they cannot be used with custom skins in the same way that their Java Edition counterparts can. For documentation purposes, capes from skin packs are considered to be separate from standard capes, which can be freely equipped with any skin. Statements about capes on this wiki will exclude these by default.

There were a few exclusive capes on Bedrock, starting with the Founder's Cape, which was released in 2019. A second cape, called the Pan Cape, was given to all Bedrock Edition players for free starting in 2020 and is still given out to this day. Thus far, it is the only cape on either edition to automatically be given out to all players without any known time limit.

Not long after this, however, the Java Edition account migration occurred, which ultimately led to the introduction of cross-platform capes.

On May 8, 2025, the Founder's Cape and Pan Cape were distributed to Java Edition players as well. The Progress Pride Cape is currently the only cape exclusive to Bedrock Edition.

Cross-platform capes

After the migration from Mojang accounts to Microsoft accounts in 2021, ownership of both Java Edition and Bedrock Edition was tied to a single account. In 2022, both editions were merged into one bundle, ensuring that all players would always have access to both. These changes allowed capes to be obtained in both editions at the same time after fulfilling the requirements, which became the standard. All capes released to the public after the merger were released for both editions, with the sole exception of the aforementioned Progress Pride Cape.

There may have been some hesitancy on Mojang's part to grant capes distributed through Bedrock Edition event servers to Java Edition accounts. This is supported by the fact that the Cherry Blossom Cape and the MCC 15th Year Cape, the first two capes tied to event servers, were not originally announced for Java. Ultimately, both of these capes were added to Java Edition after the conclusion of their respective events. Since then, capes added by live events have been announced for and immediately granted to both editions upon completion of the requirements.

Legacy Console Edition

Three Xbox 360 Edition capes were known to exist, none of which were permanently made available to the general public.

• The Microsoft Xbox Cape, which was available only for Microsoft employees^[5]
• The Xbox 1st Birthday Cape, which was temporarily shown on all players during the Xbox edition's first anniversary
• The Classic Mojang Cape, which was given out to Mojang employees^[6]

Like Bedrock Edition, most of the Legacy Console Editions also featured skin packs, some of which came with capes.

The now-defunct Xbox 360 marketplace had some cosmetic Xbox avatar items based off of capes available for purchase. These include avatar versions of the Xbox 1st Birthday Cape and all of the MINECON capes released before 2016. These can be viewed on the Xbox 360 avatar items page.

List of capes

Ownership capes

These capes were given to players for owning or logging into Minecraft games during certain time periods.

• 
  Pan Cape
• 
  Migrator Cape ‌^{[JE only]}
• 
  Vanilla Cape
• 
  Common Cape
• 
  Hero Cape
• 
  Twisted Cape

Staff capes

These capes were only given out to employees of Mojang or Microsoft.

• 
  Classic Mojang Cape ‌^{[JE & X360 only]}
• 
  Microsoft Xbox Cape ‌^{[X360 only]}
• 
  4J Studios Cape ‌^{[X360 only]}
• 
  Mojang Cape
  ‌^{[JE only]}
• 
  Mojang Studios Cape

Event capes

Physical event capes

These capes were released in connection with in-person events, such as MINECON, Minecraft Experience, or TwitchCon.

• 
  MINECON 2011 Cape ‌^{[JE only]}
• 
  MINECON 2012 Cape ‌^{[JE only]}
• 
  MINECON 2013 Cape ‌^{[JE only]}
• 
  MINECON 2015 Cape ‌^{[JE only]}
• 
  MINECON 2016 Cape ‌^{[JE only]}
• 
  Minecraft Experience Cape
• 
  Moonlight Trail Cape
• 
  Crafter Cape

Virtual event capes

These capes were released through or in connection with online events, such as Minecraft Live, social media campaigns, or event servers.

• 
  Founder's Cape
• 
  Progress Pride Cape‌^{[BE only]}
• 
  Cherry Blossom Cape
• 
  Follower's Cape
• 
  Purple Heart Cape
• 
  15th Anniversary Cape
• 
  MCC 15th Year Cape
• 
  Mojang Office Cape
• 
  Home Cape
• 
  Menace Cape
• 
  Yearn Cape
• 
  Copper Cape
• 
  Zombie Horse Cape
• 
  Builder Cape
• 
  Aurora Cape

Personal capes

These capes were manually given to people from the community, often as appreciation for something they did. They are only available in Java Edition.

• 
  Bacon Cape
• 
  Millionth Customer Cape
• 
  dB Cape
• 
  Snowman Cape
• 
  Cheapsh0t's Cape
• 
  Spade Cape
• 
  Prismarine Cape
• 
  Turtle Cape
• 
  Birthday Cape
• 
  Valentine Cape
• 
  Oxeye Cape
• 
  Blueprint Cape

Competition capes

These capes were given to players who won competitions of Mojang's other games. They are only available in Java Edition.

• 
  Scrolls Champion Cape
• 
  Cobalt Cape

Volunteer capes

These capes were given to volunteers in various programs. They are only available in Java Edition.

• 
  Translator Cape
• 
  Chinese Translator Cape
• 
  Moderator Cape
• 
  Realms MapMaker Cape

Other capes

Announced capes

On April 22, 2026, Anthony Toczek, the Head of Influence at Mojang, stated that they were "actively working" on a YouTube cape, but were "still building the tech to make drops work there".^[7]

Temporary capes

These were briefly shown on all players for certain periods of time without being added to their accounts.

• 
  Christmas 2010 Cape ‌^{[JE only]}
• 
  New Year 2011 Cape ‌^{[JE only]}
• 
  Xbox 1st Birthday Cape ‌^{[X360 only]}
• 
  Scrolls Champion Cape ‌^{[JE only]}

Skin pack capes

Various skin packs for Bedrock Edition include capes as part of their included skins.

API testing capes

These capes were added in some form by Mojang Studios, but should not be considered official.

• 
  size-m cape
• 
  Snail cape
• 
  ICU cape #1
• 
  ICU cape #2
• 
  Frog cape

Vote Update capes

These capes were part of the April Fools joke snapshot 23w13a_or_b. Within the snapshot, they can be obtained by passing proposals. All of them intentionally use the misspelling "caep".

• 
  Awesom caep
• 
  Blonk caep
• 
  No-Circle caep
• 
  Nyan caep
• 
  Squid caep
• 
  Veterinarian caep

Unused capes

These capes were designed, but never actually released.

MINECON 2011 cloak vote

These capes were featured in a poll where readers could vote for the design of the MINECON 2011 cape.^[8] The red creeper cape (#2) won with 42% of the votes^[9] and was chosen as the cape design for MINECON 2011.^[10] The blue cape with the pickaxe (#1), which received 33% of the votes,^[9] was later reused for MINECON 2012. The remaining cape designs, however, have never been used.

11 other capes were designed for the vote, but were ultimately excluded from it. The existence of and designs for these 11 capes were revealed in The World of Minecraft.

Recreations of unused capes

Row 1	2011 Minecon Cape	2012 Minecon Cape
Texture
Row 2
Texture

Customer support tool capes

Mojang has confirmed that a number of unused Java Edition capes have existed in the Customer Support tool, which have never been shown to the public. Some of them, such as the Birthday Cape, were first given an owner a long time after they had been made.^[11]

History

This section details more general history regarding capes. The history of specific capes is documented on their respective articles.

Cape release history

Cape	Java Edition release date	Bedrock Edition release date
Classic Mojang Cape	December 20, 2010	N/A
Millionth Customer Cape	January 12, 2011	N/A
dB Cape	April 21, 2011	N/A
Snowman Cape	August 19, 2011	N/A
MINECON 2011 Cape	October 10, 2011	N/A
Translator Cape	May 16, 2012	N/A
MINECON 2012 Cape	November 24, 2012	N/A
cheapsh0t's Cape	October 11, 2013	N/A
MINECON 2013 Cape	October 30, 2013	N/A
Scrolls Champion Cape	November 7, 2014	N/A
Moderator Cape	December 25, 2014	N/A
Spade Cape	2015[note 4]	N/A
Chinese Translator Cape	June 4, 2015	N/A
MINECON 2015 Cape	July 9, 2015	N/A
Mojang Cape	October 7, 2015	N/A
Realms MapMaker Cape	December 15, 2015	N/A
Cobalt Cape	February 2016[note 4]	N/A
Prismarine Cape	June 20, 2016	N/A
MINECON 2016 Cape	September 26, 2016	N/A
Turtle Cape	February 5, 2018	N/A
Founder's Cape	May 8, 2025	October 29, 2019
Pan Cape	May 8, 2025	February 12, 2020
Birthday Cape	April 30, 2021	N/A
Migrator Cape	July 9, 2021	N/A
Mojang Studios Cape	July 25, 2021	July 25, 2021
Vanilla Cape	August 31, 2022	August 31, 2022
Progress Pride Cape	N/A	August 1, 2023
Cherry Blossom Cape	October 26, 2023	October 13, 2023
Purple Heart Cape	July 1, 2024	May 15, 2024
15th Anniversary Cape	May 17, 2024
Follower's Cape	July 1, 2024	May 18, 2024
MCC 15th Year Cape	August 5, 2024	July 28, 2024
Minecraft Experience Cape	October 23, 2024	October 18, 2024
Mojang Office Cape	December 13, 2024
Home Cape	March 18, 2025
Menace Cape
Yearn Cape	April 2, 2025
Common Cape	May 6, 2025
Copper Cape	October 15, 2025	October 13, 2025
Zombie Horse Cape	December 18, 2025
Moonlight Trail Cape	May 27, 2026	May 15, 2026
Crafter Cape	May 30, 2026
Builder Cape
Aurora Cape	September 29, 2026
Hero Cape
Twisted Cape

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Issues

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

Gallery

Mojang images

• 
  The millionth customer cape
• 
  The millionth customer cape
• 
  First image of a cape in Bedrock Edition
• 
  Microsoft employees had this Xbox 360 Cape on Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition.
• 
  This is the first image showcasing the Turtle Cape given to BillyK_ by jeb_ on reddit.
• 
  Mojang cape designs shared by jeb_ on twitter
• 
  Revised design of Minecon 2015 Cape elytra by jeb_ showed on reddit
• 
  Minecraft 15th Anniversary Cape animation
• 
  The MC Championship cape
• 
  Minecraft Experience Cape
• 
  Eyeblossom redeem page
• 
  Render of the Menace cape shown in the redeem page on Minecraft.net
• 
  Render of the Home cape shown in the redeem page on Minecraft.net
• 
  A screenshot from Minecraft LIVE – March 2025 where the then unnamed Yearn Cape for completing the "A Minecraft Movie" Bedrock Event Server was first revealed^[13]
• 
  A person in a crafter cape holding out a diamond sword
• 
  Ditto, but with a builder cape

Notes

References