End sky

The End sky is an inverted cube rendered in the End dimension.

Description

The End sky is rendered exclusively in the End dimension. Much like the panorama, six texture planes are rendered in a cube surrounding the camera. The texture is repeated 16 times to an edge, for a total of 256 instances of the texture per face (1536 for the entire cube). It is also rotated when facing east, south and west, and mirrored when facing up, north, and west.^[1]

The texture file will always point to environment/end_sky, a pixelated noise similar to TV snow, grayscale in Bedrock Edition or tinted purple in Java Edition.

This texture is then tinted
 #282828 in Java Edition, or purple​ in Bedrock Edition.

In Bedrock Edition, this is also multiplied with the sky fog color (
 #0B080C), although fog does not obstruct the End sky. The Night Vision effect brightens the fog and therefore colors it very bright purple.

With Vibrant Visuals, the End sky is colored dark purple around and below the horizon, and black at zenith. This color is rendered as atmospheric fog behind the transparent End sky texture. See here for details.

The texture itself is unaffected by air, water, and lava‌^{[BE only]} fog, but not ender dragon fog in Java Edition. The End sky texture is not rendered with "Beautiful Skies" disabled.

End flash

The End flash is a weather-like event that occurs at random spots in the sky, at differing heights above the horizon, while a rumbling sound effect plays. There is a 30 second delay between flashes, and each flash lasts between 5 and 19 seconds, with some fading.

With Vibrant Visuals, End flashes are purple colored global directional light sources, which can produce purple illumination and reflections on objects and cast shadows in the opposite direction of the flash. Specifically, the light is colored
 228, 93, 255, and its intensity is 3 lux. During an End flash, dense and purple volumetric fog becomes visible.

On classic graphics, End flashes use a purple "flash" texture, and block lighting becomes purple tinted during the flash.‌^{[JE only]} The texture is obstructed by ender dragon fog, leaving only the tinting and sound as tangible effects.

End flashes can be disabled in the accessibility settings. Furthermore, the flash's graphics are not visible with "Beautiful Skies" disabled, but this does not disable the sound effects.

Sounds

In Java Edition:

In Bedrock Edition:

History

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4				The End dimension, added in this version, has this unique skybox.
							The file used is stored at misc/tunnel.png.
1.3.1			12w23a				misc/tunnel.png has changed from to .
1.6.1			13w24a				misc/tunnel.png has been renamed and moved to assets/minecraft/textures/environment/end_sky.png.
1.21.9			25w33a				Added the End flash.
			25w34a				The sound effect produced by an End flash now has a higher delay.
			25w35a				The saturation of purple light produced by End flashes is no longer affected by the brightness setting or the Darkness effect.
			25w36a				While the ender dragon fog effect is active, the flash source in the sky is not visible and the brightness of the light affecting the world is reduced.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition
v1.0.0			alpha 0.17.0.1				The End dimension, added in this version, has this unique skybox.
Unknown
?							The texture file used is this. It is unknown if this was the first texture, or if it was subsequently changed. It is also unknown what color is applied.
Bedrock Edition
1.21.80 Experiment Vibrant Visuals			Preview 1.21.80.25				Vibrant Visuals are now available. As such, the End flash is now visible.
?							End flashes now have associated audio.
1.21.90			?				The End flash was not visible.
			Preview 1.21.90.23				The End flash is now visible again in the End.
26.20			Preview 26.20.20				The End flash is now visible in Fancy and Simple graphics modes.

Legacy Console Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

Issues

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

Gallery

Textures

• 
  The old End sky texture in Java Edition, used before 12w25a
• 
  The current End sky texture in Java Edition
• 
  The End sky texture in Bedrock Edition
• 
  The End flash texture without Vibrant Visuals in Bedrock Edition

Screenshots

• 
  An End sky screenshot with the Night Vision effect
• 
  Fog during an End flash
• 
  An End flash with ray tracing. It is not a directional light source and rendered as a plain texture, but without the graphics from Fancy.

References