Menu screen

This article is about the menu screens in Minecraft. For the Minecraft Dungeons menu, see Dungeons:Menu screen. For the Minecraft Blast menu, see Menu screen (Blast).

There are related tutorial pages for this topic!

See Tutorial:Menu screen (Bedrock Edition) and Tutorial:Menu screen (Java Edition).

The menu screens are a part of Minecraft's UI with free mouse movement, usually outside of gameplay. After opening the game, menu screens allow players to join worlds or servers, adjust settings, and more. Some menu screens can be accessed in-game; these are not to be confused with the actual gameplay UI including the heads-up display and inventories.

Description

The game launches with a red splash screen containing the Mojang Studios logo and a loading progress bar.‌^{[JE only]} In Bedrock Edition, this is followed by a gray Minecraft splash screen containing the logo, a progress bar, and progress percentage. It is also shown when the game refreshes.

Next, the title screen opens, the first of many menus. Navigating through the menu screens can be done as follows:

Keyboard & mouse

There is free mouse movement. Left-clicking on a button or toggle changes its state or opens a new menu/pop-up. Hovering over objects highlights them and sometimes shows a tooltip.‌^{[JE only]} Scrollbars and sliders can be dragged; the mouse scroll wheel can be used to scroll through scrollable sections. Text input fields can be selected to start typing; using the mouse text can be selected here.

Navigating through the menus can also be done using the keyboard. ↹ Tab or ⇧ Shift + ↹ Tab moves focus over the elements, ⏎ Return selects an element.​ Arrow keys can also be used to move focus. In Bedrock Edition, Menu Cancel or ⌫ Backspace returns to the previous menu, and the [ and ] keys by default open the next or previous tab in a screen.

Controller‌^{[BE only]}

The joystick or D-pad can be used to move focus over elements. The right joystick scrolls through scrollable sections. Pressing or selects an element. Selecting a text input field opens the console's keyboard, if supported. Pressing or returns to the previous menu. Controller hints can be enabled in the settings to display the available options in each menu.

Touch‌^{[BE only]}

Objects can be selected by tapping on them. A scrollbar appears on the right in scrollable sections which can be dragged, where the rest of the menu can also be dragged to scroll. Selecting a text input field opens the device's touch keyboard. Pressing the device's back button returns to the previous menu.

Music

Background music plays while the player is in the main menus from a special music pool containing tracks from the latest music update, and some permanent menu screen tracks. While in a menu during gameplay and not while the game is paused,‌^{[BE only]} the regular gameplay music and other sounds continue.

In Java Edition, main menu music stops playing as soon as the loading world screen gets opened. In Bedrock Edition, it continues playing and fades out when the player spawns in the world. Similarly, gameplay music fades out when quitting a world and menu music starts playing.

List of menu screens

• Title Screen – the menu shown upon game startup allowing for access to worlds.
• Server list – a menu which allows players to join and save the servers they visit.
• Game Menu – a menu accessible during gameplay which allows players to quit to title or disconnect from a server, access options, enable LAN – and etc.
• Select World‌^{[JE only]} – allowing one of multiple worlds to be accessed.
  • World Options‌^{[JE only]} – a menu to manage the world settings and management.
• Play‌^{[BE only]} – allowing one of multiple worlds, Realms, and servers to be accessed.
  • Create New World – a menu allowing for the configuration of multiple aspects for a new world.
    • Seed Templates‌^{[BE only]} – a menu to choose a preset seed with specific features or terrain.
  • Edit world‌^{[BE only]} – a menu to manage the world settings.
• Options‌^{[JE only]} – which are configurable via a series of menus in Java Edition.
• Settings‌^{[BE only]} – which are configurable via a series of menus in Bedrock Edition.
• Controls – a subset of options, also given a dedicated menu.
  • Super Secret Settings – which applies in-game shaders, removed after Java Edition 1.9.
• How to Play‌^{[BE only]} – a menu which shows built-in guides designed to help new players to Minecraft.
• Loading world screen – the menu shown while entering or leaving a world.
• Realms Hub – a social hub for members of a Realm in Bedrock Edition.
• Inbox‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
• Chat^{[note 1]} – a messaging system to communicate with players and execute commands.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Music

History

Java Edition

Java Edition Indev
0.31			20100131-2156				The title screen was added.
Java Edition Infdev
20100327							Added the Single player menu.
20100629							Added the "Loading..." screen.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.4							Replaced the "Loading..." screen with a Mojang splash screen.
v1.0.10							Added the Multiplayer menu.
Java Edition
1.7.2			November 15, 2013				Added soundtracks “Mutation”, “Moog City 2”, “Floating Trees”, and ”Beginning 2”, which play in menu screens. This change only applies if the game is restarted on the left date or later.
1.14			19w06a				Added loading bars while loading the game and reloading resources.
1.15			?				Highlighted buttons no longer have yellow (  #FFFFA0) text.
1.15.2			pre1				Clicking the "Multiplayer" button from the title screen now displays a disclaimer stating that "Online play is not rated".
1.17			21w03a				Holding ⇧ Shift while clicking menu buttons now cycles through options in the reverse order.
1.18			21w42a				"Infinite Amethyst", "Left to Bloom", "One More Day", "Stand Tall" and "Wending" can now play in the menu screens.
1.19			22w16a				"Aerie", "Firebugs" and "Labyrinthine" can now play in the menu screens.
							"Infinite Amethyst", "Left to Bloom", "One More Day", "Stand Tall" and "Wending" can no longer play in the menu screens.
1.20			23w17a				"A Familiar Room", "Bromeliad", "Crescent Dunes", and "Echo in the Wind" can now play in the menu screens.
							"Aerie", "Firebugs", and "Labyrinthine" can no longer play in the menu screens.
1.20.5			24w09a				Replaced the dirt background with a panorama in all menu screens.
1.21			24w18a				"Deeper", "Featherfall", "Eld Unknown", "Endless", "pokopoko", "komorebi", "Puzzlebox", "Watcher", and "yakusoku" can now play in the menu screens.
							"A Familiar Room", "Bromeliad", "Crescent Dunes", and "Echo in the Wind" can no longer play in the menu screens.
1.21.6			25w20a				"Below and Above", "Broken Clocks", "Fireflies", "Lilypad", and "O's piano" can now play in the menu screens.
							"Deeper", "Featherfall", "Eld Unknown", "Endless", "pokopoko", "komorebi", "Puzzlebox", "Watcher", and "yakusoku" can no longer play in the menu screens.
			pre3				The button clicking sound is now controlled by the "UI" source.
26.2			snap7				"Ebb", "Home", "Memories", "Nightly", and "Shores" can now play in the menu screens.
							"Below and Above", "Broken Clocks", "Fireflies", "Lilypad", and "O's piano" can no longer play in the menu screens.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
Demo							Added the title screen.
v0.7.3							Replaced the background with a panorama.

Trivia

• The Bedrock Edition menu screens can loop in different ways:
  • "Create new world" → "Resource Packs" → "Marketplace" → "Purchase world" → "Create world template" → "Resource Packs" → "Marketplace" etc.
  • "Social" → "Friend's profile" → "Friend's friends" → "Own profile" → "Friends" → "Friend's profile" → "Friend's friends" → "Own profile" etc. This loop can also be performed in-game.

Notes

References