Redstone Torch

Not to be confused with Red Torch.

Redstone Torch

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

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Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool	Any tool
Blast resistance	0
Hardness	0
Luminous	Yes (7) (when lit)
Transparent	Yes
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color	0 NONE
Note block instrument	Default (Harp)

A redstone torch is a non-solid block that produces a full-strength redstone signal on all sides adjacent to it, except for its attached block, and can power the block directly above it. It deactivates while the block it is attached to is powered.

Obtaining

In Java Edition, the inactive redstone torch cannot be obtained as an item without commands. In Bedrock Edition, it can be obtained via inventory editing.^[1]

Breaking

A redstone torch can be broken instantly using any tool, or without a tool, and drops itself as an item.

Block	Redstone Torch
Hardness	0
Breaking time (secs)
Default	10.05 (JE) 0.05 (BE)

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

A redstone torch is removed and drops as an item if:

• its attachment block is moved, removed, or destroyed
• water flows into its space
• a piston pushes it or moves a block into its space

When lava flows into a redstone torch's space, it will be destroyed without dropping anything.

Natural generation

A single redstone torch is found inside each igloo. In ancient cities, multiple redstone torches can be found integrated into circuitry.

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Redstone Dust + Stick

Usage

Light

Redstone torches give off a light level of 7.

When the Render Dragon Features for Creators experiment is enabled in Minecraft Preview, the top part of redstone torches emits colored point lighting with
 #c32c1f. This causes the bottom part of the torch to render a small square shadow, and the surrounding texture to render diagonal lines of shadow in all directions.

Crafting ingredient

Redstone torches can be used to craft activator rails, redstone comparators, and redstone repeaters.

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Activator Rail	Iron Ingot + Stick + Redstone Torch	6
Redstone Comparator	Redstone Torch + Nether Quartz + Stone
Redstone Repeater	Redstone Torch + Redstone Dust + Stone

Redstone component

Redstone torches can be used to power blocks and transmission components such as redstone dust, activate mechanism components such as pistons, or invert redstone signals like a NOT Gate.

Placement

The placement conditions of a redstone torch are identical to the ones of a normal torch, it can be attached to (some exceptions might apply):

• the top or sides of any conductive block (examples: stone, soul sand, slime blocks, dispensers, etc.)
• the top of a non-conductive block that is at least 16 pixels tall and has a 2×2 pixels surface under where the redstone torch would be positioned (examples: glass panes, vertical chains, fences, etc.)
• the full side surfaces of a non-conductive block (examples: glass, stairs, open trapdoors, etc.)

Redstone torches cannot be attached to the bottoms of any blocks.

Attempting to attach a redstone torch to an invalid surface can cause it to "snap" to a valid surface adjacent to the same space. For example, if a fence is on the ground, attempting to attach a redstone torch to the side of the fence causes the redstone torch to be attached to the top of the ground next to the fence instead.

Activation

A redstone torch turns off when it is powered from the back (if placed on the side of a block) or from below (if placed on top of a block) and turns on again upon being depowered. In Bedrock Edition, a redstone torch placed on a (sticky) piston turns off when the piston is powered: this mechanic is known by the community as "soft inversion".^[2]

Effectively, a redstone torch inverts the signal applied to its attachment block: power level 0 is changed to 15 and power levels 1 to 15 are changed to 0 (for an alternative that produces a greater range of output power levels, consider a redstone comparator in subtraction mode).

Walls, fences, glass, slabs, hoppers,^{[note 1]} and stairs are non-conductive, so redstone torches attached to them cannot be deactivated.

A redstone torch takes 2 game ticks (0.1 seconds barring lag) to change state. In Java Edition, redstone torches do not respond to all 2 game tick pulses.

Behavior

A lit redstone torch strongly powers the block above itself and weakly powers its other direct neighbor blocks, excluding the one it is attached to. It also produces the same particles as redstone dust.

A redstone torch experiences "burn-out" when it is forced to turn off more than eight times in 60 game ticks (3 seconds). After burning out, a redstone torch produces a "smoke" particle‌^{[Java Edition only]} and a hiss similar to an extinguished fire, deactivates, and then ignores attempts to change its state until the number of state changes in the last 60 game ticks drops to fewer than eight.

In Java Edition, a redstone torch might or might not attempt to turn itself back on after 160 ticks (8 seconds) depending on the update chain that caused it to burn out.^[3] If the redstone torch does attempt to turn itself back on, then it is not able change state until that attempt is performed.

In Bedrock Edition, each redstone torch can only burn itself out; the redstone torch needs to be in a circuit that causes it to power itself with no delay, otherwise it does not burn out.

A burned-out redstone torch turns back on after receiving a block update. There is no limit on how often a single redstone torch can burn out.

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

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

Bedrock Edition:

wood sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.wood	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	place.wood	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8
	​Axe strips	Blocks	When an axe strips a log or wood block [sound 1]	use.wood	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	1.0	0.8
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.wood	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.23	0.5
	​Footsteps	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.wood	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.4	1.0
	​Footsteps	Players	Walking on the block	step.wood	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.3	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.wood	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.12	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.wood	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.18	1.0

Unique

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Redstone Torch	redstone_torch	Block & Item	wall_post_override	block.minecraft.redstone_torch
Redstone Wall Torch	redstone_wall_torch	Block	None	block.minecraft.redstone_wall_torch

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Redstone Torch	redstone_torch	76	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3]	tile.redstone_torch.name
Unlit Redstone Torch	unlit_redstone_torch	75	Block & Ungiveable Item[i 4]	Identical[i 3]	tile.unlit_redstone_torch.name

Block states

Java Edition:
Floor:

Wall:

Bedrock Edition:

Videos

History

Java Edition

Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.1							Added redstone torches.
							Redstone torches currently emit flame particles when lit.
v1.0.2_01							Redstone torches now strongly power only the block above them.[5]
							Redstone torches now emit redstone dust particles when lit.
v1.1.0							Redstone torches can no longer be placed on leaves when the graphics are set to Fancy.
v1.2.0_02							Redstone torches no longer duplicate in multiplayer.
Java Edition Beta
1.3							Redstone torches are now used to craft redstone repeaters.
1.6			Test Build 3				Torches can no longer be placed on leaves in fast graphics.
1.6.6							Redstone torches can now be placed on glowstone.
1.7							Redstone torches can now be placed on the top of fences.
1.7.3							A redstone torch duplication bug when using pistons has been corrected.
							Redstone torches no longer produce both redstone torch particles and uncolorized (white) redstone dust particles when broken.
1.8			Pre-release				Changed lighting.
Java Edition
1.2.1			1.2				The requirement for redstone torches to burn out has been changed from being turned off 8 times in the span of 100 game ticks to being turned off 8 times in the span of 60 game ticks. Because of this change, clocks that include three redstone torches powering each other in a loop can now be used reliably.
			12w07a				Redstone torches can now be placed on the top of glass.
1.3.1			12w18a				As a result of singleplayer being changed to an internal server, redstone torches no longer produce smoke particles when burning out.
			12w25a				Redstone torches can now be placed on upside-down slabs and stairs.
1.4.4			1.4.3				Redstone torches now have a bottom texture, visible on wall torches or torches placed on top of glass.[6]
1.5			13w01a				The way redstone torches update has been changed. As a result, burn-out clocks that use only two redstone torches are now reliable.
							Redstone torches can now be used to craft redstone comparators and activator rails.
1.8			14w07a				Redstone torches placed on walls are now rotated cuboids rather than a parallelpiped. Their top texture now also rotates accordingly.
			14w25a				Burned-out redstone torches no longer randomly fix themselves.
							Redstone torches are now incorrectly affected by directional shading.
			14w33c				Redstone torches are no longer affected by directional shading.
1.9			15w43a				A redstone torch now generates as part of igloos.
			15w46a				Mobs no longer spawn on redstone torches.
1.12			pre4				Torches can no longer be placed on top of jack o'lanterns.[7]
1.13			17w48a				Redstone torches can now be placed on the top of jack o'lanterns once again.
1.14			18w43a				The texture of redstone torches has been changed.
			19w12b				Redstone torches can now be placed on ice, glowstone and sea lanterns.
			19w14a				Redstone torches once again produce smoke particles when burning out.
1.19			22w13a				Redstone torches now generate in ancient cities.
1.21.2			24w33a				The item texture and models for redstone torches have changed.
			24w38a				Unlit redstone torches are now affected by directional shading.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.13.0			build 1				Added redstone torches.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0			alpha 0.17.0.1				A redstone torch now generates as part of igloos.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.13			beta 1.2.13.5				The back faces of redstone torches now render.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of redstone torches has been changed.
1.21.123							The back faces of redstone torches no longer render.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added redstone torches.
TU19	CU7	1.12	1.12	1.12			Redstone torches can now be used to craft redstone comparators and activator rails.
TU43	CU33	1.36	1.36	1.36	Patch 13		A redstone torch now generates as part of igloos.
			1.90				The texture of redstone torches has been changed.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added redstone torches.

Data history

Trivia

• In Bedrock Edition, the unlit redstone torch model has a gap in its texture from above.

Issues

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

Gallery

Renders

Java Edition

• 
  Redstone torch
• 
  Unlit redstone torch
• 
  Redstone wall torch
• 
  Unlit redstone wall torch

Bedrock Edition

• 
  Redstone torch
• 
  Unlit redstone torch
• 
  Redstone wall torch
• 
  Unlit redstone wall torch

In other media

• 
  Noor catching a redstone torch
• 
  Several characters carrying redstone torches in Introducing New Default Skins!
• 
  Action figure of Steve holding a redstone torch
• 
• 
  Official replica of a redstone torch
• 
  ThinkGeek produced redstone torch
• 
  Charger shaped like a redstone torch
• 
  Redstone torches in A Minecraft Movie
• 
  A redstone torch as it appears in Minecraft Earth

Notes

References