Dropper

This article is about the block that drops projectiles as an item. For the block that can fire projectiles, see Dispenser.

Dropper

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Item description‌[BE only]	Eject items
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	3.5
Hardness	3.5
Luminous	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color	11 STONE
Note block instrument	Bass Drum

A dropper is a low-capacity storage block that can eject its contents into the world or into other containers when given a redstone signal.

Obtaining

Breaking

A dropper can be mined with a pickaxe, in which case it drops itself and its contents. If mined without a pickaxe, the dropper drops only its contents.

Block	Dropper
Hardness	3.5
Tool
Breaking time (sec)[A]
Default	117.5 (JE) 17.5 (BE)
Wooden	12.65 (JE) 2.65 (BE)
Stone	11.35 (JE) 1.35 (BE)
Copper	11.05 (JE) 1.05 (BE)
Iron	10.9 (JE) 0.9 (BE)
Diamond	10.7 (JE) 0.7 (BE)
Netherite	10.6 (JE) 0.6 (BE)
Golden	10.45 (JE) 0.45 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Cobblestone + Redstone Dust

Usage

A dropper can be used as a container or as a redstone component to move items.

A dropper can be placed so that its output faces in any direction, including up or down. When placed, the dropper's output faces toward the player. With default textures, the droppers output side looks like a face when positioned for horizontal output. Otherwise, the output side has a square hole.

In Java Edition, droppers cannot be moved by pistons.

Container

A dropper has 9 slots of inventory space.

To open the dropper GUI, use the Use Item control. To move items between the dropper inventory and the player inventory or hotbar while the dropper GUI is open, drag or shift-click the items. To exit the dropper GUI, use the ⎋ Escape control.

By default, the GUI of a dropper is labeled "Dropper". A dropper's GUI label can be changed by naming the dropper in an anvil before placing it. In Java Edition, droppers can also be renamed by using the /data command (for example, to label a dropper at (0,64,0) "Alice's Dropper", use /data merge block 0 64 0 {CustomName:'"Alice's Dropper"'}).

In Java Edition, a dropper can be "locked" (or subsequently unlocked) by setting the dropper's lock tag with the /data command. If a dropper's lock tag is not blank, the dropper cannot be accessed except by players holding an item that matches the item predicate in the lock tag. For example, to lock a dropper at (0,64,0) so that only players holding an item named "Alice's Key" can access the dropper, use /data merge block 0 64 0 {lock:{components:{"custom_name":"Alice's Key"}}}.

Redstone component

A dropper can be used to eject items, or push items into another container.

Activation

A dropper can be activated by:

• an adjacent active power component (exceptions: a redstone torch does not turn ON a dropper it is attached to)
• an adjacent powered opaque block (strongly-powered or weakly-powered)
• a powered redstone repeater or redstone comparator facing the dropper
• powered redstone dust configured to point at the dropper, or on top of it; a dropper is not activated by adjacent powered redstone dust that is configured to point in another direction.

In addition to the methods above, droppers in Java Edition can also be activated by quasi-connectivity. A dropper activates if one of the methods above would activate a mechanism component in the block above the dropper, even if there is no mechanism component there (even if the block above the dropper is air or a transparent block), but only when the dropper receives a block update (including a redstone update within two blocks of the dropper).

A dropper has a delay of 4 game ticks (0.2 seconds) between activation and a response. During this time, additional inputs are ignored.

In Bedrock Edition, the dropper can only activate on the input/consumer redstone tick (C-tick).

Behavior

When activated, a dropper waits 4 game ticks (0.2 seconds) and then ejects one item from its inventory. The dropper does not continue to eject items while activated — ejection occurs only on the initial activation (the rising edge of an input signal). To eject multiple items, repeatedly activate the dropper with a clock circuit.

If multiple slots are occupied by items, a random occupied slot is chosen for ejection. The slot is chosen when an item is ejected, not when the dropper is initially activated, thus it is possible to move items into or out of a dropper between its activation and item dispensing.

If the dropper is facing a container, the ejected item is transferred into the container. If the container it is facing is full, or the item cannot be inserted into the container, the dropper does not activate. Examples of containers that items cannot be inserted into include chests that cannot be opened because of a solid block above them, and droppers that are already in an activated state.

Otherwise, the item is ejected in the direction the dropper is facing, as if a player had used the drop control. Even items that would be treated differently by a dispenser (such as arrows) are simply ejected by a dropper.

A dropper makes a clicking noise (the random.click sound event) when activated empty or when ejecting items into air. It is silent when it successfully transfers an item into any kind of chest or barrel, or another dropper.

A dropper is an opaque block, so powering it directly can cause adjacent mechanism components (including other droppers) to activate as well.

A line of droppers, each pushing items into the next dropper, is known as a dropper pipe. A dropper pipe must be clocked to move items, but can be clocked to move items faster than a hopper pipe's transfer rate. When a dropper pipe pushes items upward, it is known as a droppervator (short for "dropper elevator").

A dropper that is directly powered by redstone will activate before any adjacent droppers activated during the same game tick. In a droppervator or dropper pipe, this has the effect of moving the item in the directly-powered dropper 2 blocks in one game tick. First, the item is ejected from the directly powered dropper. Then, during the same game tick, this item is ejected from the adjacent dropper.

Container interactions

Some containers interact with droppers in specific ways:

Barrel, boat with chest, dispenser, dropper

Droppers interact normally with barrels, boats with chests, dispensers, and other droppers.

Brewing stand

A dropper facing toward a brewing stand from above deposits only into the ingredient slot and it can insert only valid brewing ingredients. A dropper facing toward a brewing stand from the sides or from below can deposit only blaze powder in the fuel slot, or filled bottles into the three brew slots.

Chest, trapped chest

Large chests and large trapped chests are treated as a single container: a dropper depositing into a large chest fills up the entire chest. Trapped chests being accessed by a player trigger any adjacent droppers, depositing items into the chest if they are facing toward it.

Chiseled bookshelf

A dropper facing toward a chiseled bookshelf from any direction can insert books, books and quills, written books, enchanted books, and knowledge books.

Crafter

Droppers can insert ingredients in the crafting grid. Items are distributed in enabled slots, going left to right starting from the first row; if the crafter has all item slots filled then items are added to the lowest count item stack of the same type.

Composter

A dropper facing toward a composter from above can push compostable items into the composter, with a chance of increasing the compost level as if the player used the item on the composter.

Decorated pot

Droppers can deposit up to a stack of a single type of item into a decorated pot. Items are not inserted if the decorated pot is full or the pot contains a different item.

Ender chest

Droppers cannot interact with ender chests in any way.

Furnace, blast furnace, smoker

A dropper facing toward a furnace from above deposits only into the ingredient slot. It can insert any item, including items that can't be smelted by the furnace. A dropper facing toward a furnace from the sides or from below deposits only into the fuel slot, and only items that are usable as fuel.

Hopper

A dropper facing toward a hopper can insert items even if the hopper is locked by an active redstone signal.

Shelf

A dropper facing towards a shelf can insert items into available slots. It will try to add to a stack of the same type, inserting into the first empty slot if it can't, doing so from left to right. The dropper does not activate if the item cannot fit in the shelf.

Jukebox

A dropper can insert music discs into a jukebox from any direction. The dropper does not activate if the jukebox is already playing a disc.

Lectern

Droppers cannot interact with lecterns in any way.

Minecart with chest, minecart with hopper

A dropper can insert items into minecarts with chests and minecarts with hoppers if any part of the entity's hitbox is within the dropper's target block-space. A dropper can fill a minecart with hopper even if the latter has been locked by an activator rail.

Shulker box

Droppers cannot put shulker boxes into other shulker boxes. Otherwise, droppers interact with shulker boxes normally.

Crafting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Crafter	Iron Ingot + Crafting Table + Redstone Dust + Dropper

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

stone sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.stone.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block placed​[until: JE 26.4]	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.stone.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.stone.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.25	0.5	16
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.stone.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.stone.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

stone sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.stone	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	place.stone	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.stone	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.37	0.5
	​Footsteps	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.4	1.0
	​Footsteps	Players	Walking on the block	step.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.3	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.12	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.22	1.0

Unique

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Translation key
Dropper	dropper	Block & Item	block.minecraft.dropper

Name	Identifier
Block entity	dropper

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Dropper	dropper	125	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3]	tile.dropper.name

Name	Savegame ID
Block entity	Dropper

Block states

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Block data

A dropper has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

Videos

History

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.5			13w03a				Added droppers.
							Droppers are crafted using 7 cobblestone, one hopper, and one piece of redstone: Ingredients Crafting recipe Cobblestone + Hopper + Redstone
							The top and bottom textures of droppers currently remain fixed regardless of the facing direction.
			13w04a				Droppers can now face all six directions.
							The crafting recipe of droppers has now been changed, removing the hopper from the middle.
			13w10b				Activated droppers now do not fire if they receive a block update.
1.8			14w25a				The models of dropper have been changed.
1.9.1			pre1				Droppers can now use loot tables.
1.14			18w43a				The textures of droppers have now been changed.
1.19.3 Experiment Update 1.20			22w44a				Droppers can now interact with chiseled bookshelves.
1.19.4			23w07a				Droppers can now interact with jukeboxes.
1.20.3 Experiment Update 1.21			23w42a				Droppers can now be used to craft crafters.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.14.0			build 1				Added droppers.
v0.15.0			build 1				Droppers can now be moved by pistons.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The textures of droppers have now been changed.
1.20.50 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.20.50.21				Droppers can now be used to craft crafters.
1.21.50			Preview 1.21.50.24				Droppers drop themselves only if mined using a pickaxe, matching Java Edition.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU19	CU7	1.12	1.12	1.12	Patch 1		Added droppers.
			1.90				The textures of droppers have now been changed.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added droppers.

• 
  The first image of droppers (bottom) released by Mojang.
• 
  The 13w03a banner featuring a dropper and a minecart with hopper.
• 
  A dropper in action.

Data history

Issues

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

Trivia

• The dropper is similar in appearance with the dispenser in the fact that they both resemble a face when not facing up or down.
  • This similarity is pushed further by the fact that the dropper's crafting recipe is the same as the dispenser but without a bow.

Gallery

Renders

Java Edition

• 
  Facing south
• 
  Facing west
• 
  Facing north
• 
  Facing east
• 
  Facing up
• 
  Facing down

Bedrock Edition

• 
  Facing south
• 
  Facing west
• 
  Facing north
• 
  Facing east
• 
  Facing up
• 
  Facing down

In other media

• 
  A dropper as it appeared in Minecraft Earth
• 
  A dropper as it appeared in MCC x Minecraft 15th Anniversary Party

See also

• Dispenser
• Hopper

External links

• "Block of the Week: Dropper" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, October 8, 2020.