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This article is about the decorative block. For the item, see Iron Ingot.

Iron bars are blocks that serve a similar purpose to glass panes, but made of iron instead of glass.

Obtaining[]

Breaking[]

Iron bars can be mined using any pickaxe. If mined without a pickaxe, it drops nothing.

Block Iron Bars
Hardness 5
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default 25
Wooden 3.75
Stone 1.9
Iron 1.25
Diamond 0.95
Netherite 0.85
Golden 0.65
  1. Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Natural generation[]

Iron bars can be found in parts of strongholds, woodland mansions, desert and plains villages, igloo basements, ruined portals, and trail ruins.

In the End, 2–3 obsidian pillars have iron bars around their end crystals.

Post-generation[]

Iron bars regenerate on end pillars when the ender dragon is respawned.

Crafting[]

Ingredients Crafting recipe
Iron Ingot

16

Iron bars are not a source of iron. Once crafted, iron bars cannot be smelted into iron nuggets or ingots.

Usage[]

Arrow Slits

Iron bars used to create arrow slits.

As with glass panes and fences, iron bars can be used to create narrow slits when placed between a door and a solid block. Mobs can see through and attack through these gaps, and arrows may be shot through them. Also as with fences and glass panes, arrows cannot be shot through iron bars themselves.

Endermen seen through iron bars do not become angry. The ender dragon cannot destroy iron bars (some of the end crystals are protected by them), which makes them a useful material in the End.

Placement[]

Iron bars can be placed in much the same way as fences or glass panes. If no solid block is adjacent to the bars, they have appearance of a slim, tall column. If something is placed next to iron bars, they appear either flat, Curve shaped, T junction shaped or Cross shaped, depending on the blocks surrounding it.

Curing[]

Iron bars speed up the curing process of zombie villagers.

Sounds[]

Java Edition:

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Block brokenBlocksOnce the block has brokenblock.metal.breaksubtitles.block.generic.break1.01.216
Block placedBlocksWhen the block is placedblock.metal.placesubtitles.block.generic.place1.01.216
Block breakingBlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenblock.metal.hitsubtitles.block.generic.hit0.250.7516
None[sound 1]Entity-DependentFalling on the block with fall damageblock.metal.fallNone[sound 1]0.51.2516
FootstepsEntity-DependentWalking on the blockblock.metal.stepsubtitles.block.generic.footsteps0.151.516
  1. a b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
BlocksOnce the block has brokendig.stone1.01.1-1.2
BlocksWhen the block is placeduse.stone1.01.2-1.25
BlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenhit.stone0.30.75
PlayersFalling on the block with fall damagefall.stone0.41.0
PlayersWalking on the blockstep.stone0.351.0
PlayersJumping from the blockjump.stone0.121.0
PlayersFalling on the block without fall damageland.stone0.221.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierFormTranslation key
Iron Barsiron_barsBlock & Itemblock.minecraft.iron_bars

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID FormItem ID[i 1]Translation key
Iron Barsiron_bars101Block & Giveable Item[i 2]Identical[i 3]tile.iron_bars.name
  1. ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
  2. Available with /give command.
  3. The block's direct item form has the same id as the block.

Block states[]

See also: Block states

Java Edition:

Name Default value Allowed values Description
eastfalsefalse
true
When true, the iron bars extend from the center post to the east.
northfalsefalse
true
When true, the iron bars extend from the center post to the north.
southfalsefalse
true
When true, the iron bars extend from the center post to the south.
waterloggedfalsefalse
true
Whether or not there's water in the same place as these iron bars.
westfalsefalse
true
When true, the iron bars extend from the center post to the west.

History[]

Java Edition Beta
July 11, 2011Notch revealed two new screenshots of a stronghold (in two different brightness settings) where the bars can be clearly seen alongside other common stronghold blocks. The lighting differences have been explained a bit (though not necessarily completely correctly) by a user on the forums.
1.8Pre-releaseIron Bars (unconnected) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (N) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (E) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (S) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (W) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NS) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (EW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NE) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (ES) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (SW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (ESW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NSW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NEW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NES) JE1 BE1
Iron Bars (texture) JE1 BE1 Added iron bars.
Iron Bars (connected vertical) JE1 Iron bars currently do not render their side edge faces. Also, their top and bottom faces are correctly not rendered when connected to other blocks.
Java Edition
1.0.0Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6The breaking time for iron bars is now greatly reduced, and depends on the pickaxe's material.
1.4.212w32aZombie villagers can now be cured. Putting iron bars close to the zombie villager helps speed up the process.
1.7.213w41aIron bars now connect to glass, stained glass and glass panes.
1.814w03aIron Bars 14w03a Iron bars now appear completely opaque.
14w03bIron bars now render as normal again.[1]
14w10aIron Bars (connected vertical) JE2 Iron bars on top of one another display now a texture at the top/bottom joint of the two blocks.
1.915w31aIron Bars (unconnected) JE2 Iron bars without any connecting blocks are now 2x2 pixels in footprint (rather than Iron Bars (unconnected) JE1 BE1.)
Iron Bars (NESW) JE2 Iron Bars (N) JE2 Iron Bars (E) JE2 Iron Bars (S) JE2 Iron Bars (W) JE2 Iron Bars (NS) JE2 Iron Bars (EW) JE2 Iron Bars (NE) JE2 Iron Bars (ES) JE2 Iron Bars (SW) JE2 Iron Bars (NW) JE2 Iron Bars (ESW) JE2 Iron Bars (NSW) JE2 Iron Bars (NEW) JE2 Iron Bars (NES) JE2 The outside edges of iron bars now have textures.
The tallest obsidian pillars had iron bars around their end crystals, until 16w07a.
The ender dragon can no longer destroy iron bars.
15w43aIron bars now generate within igloo basements.
15w46aIron bars center beams now have both edge side texture, which has changed the textures from Iron Bars (E) JE2 Iron Bars (S) JE2 to Iron Bars (E) JE3 Iron Bars (S) JE3.
16w07aIron bars have been removed from obsidian pillars.
pre1Two of the shorter, thinner obsidian pillars in the End now have a cage of iron bars around their end crystals.
1.1116w39aIron bars now generate in woodland mansions.
1.1217w15aIron bars now connect to the solid back sides of stairs.
1.1317w47aPrior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 101.
18w10cWater can now be placed on the same block as iron bars.
1.1418w43aIron Bars (unconnected) Iron Bars (N) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (E) JE4 BE2 Iron Bars (S) JE4 BE2 Iron Bars (W) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NS) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (EW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NE) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (ES) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (SW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (ESW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NSW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NEW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NES) JE3 BE2
The textures of iron bars have been changed.
1.14.3pre3Torches can now be placed on iron bars.
1.1620w15aWalls now connect to the bottom and sides of iron bars.
20w16aIron bars can now generate as part of ruined portals.
1.2023w12aIron bars can now generate in trail ruins.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.8.0build 1Iron Bars (unconnected) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (N) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (E) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (S) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (W) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NS) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (EW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NE) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (ES) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (SW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (ESW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NSW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NEW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NES) JE1 BE1
Iron Bars (texture) JE1 BE1 Added iron bars.
v0.9.0build 1Iron bars now spawn naturally in strongholds and villages.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0alpha 0.17.0.1Iron bars now generate on top of end pillars.
Iron bars now generate within igloo basements.
1.1.0alpha 1.1.0.0Iron bars now generate in woodland mansions.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0beta 1.2.0.2Iron Bars (unconnected) BE2 Iron bars without any connecting blocks are now 2x2 pixels in footprint (rather than Iron Bars (unconnected) JE1 BE1.) [is this the correct version?]
1.10.0beta 1.10.0.3Iron Bars (unconnected) BE2 Iron Bars (N) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (E) JE4 BE2 Iron Bars (S) JE4 BE2 Iron Bars (W) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NS) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (EW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NE) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (ES) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (SW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (ESW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NSW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NEW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NES) JE3 BE2
The textures of iron bars have been changed.
1.16.0beta 1.15.0.51 The inventory icon of iron bars has now been changed to match Java Edition's.
beta 1.16.0.57Iron bars can now generate as part of ruined portals.
Legacy Console Edition
TU5CU1 1.0 Patch 11.0.1Iron Bars (unconnected) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (N) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (E) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (S) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (W) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NS) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (EW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NE) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (ES) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (SW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (ESW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NSW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NEW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NES) JE1 BE1[verify]
Iron Bars (texture) JE1 BE1 Added iron bars.
Iron bars can be found in the Miscellaneous tab in the Creative inventory.
TU19CU7 1.12 Moved iron bars to the Building Blocks tab in the Creative inventory.
TU54CU44 1.52 Patch 241.0.4Iron bars now connect to the solid back side of stairs.
1.90 Iron Bars (unconnected) JE3 Iron Bars (N) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (E) JE4 BE2 Iron Bars (S) JE4 BE2 Iron Bars (W) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NS) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (EW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NE) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (ES) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (SW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (ESW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NSW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NEW) JE3 BE2 Iron Bars (NES) JE3 BE2[verify]
The textures of iron bars have been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0 Iron Bars (unconnected) BE2 Iron Bars (N) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (E) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (S) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (W) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NS) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (EW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NE) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (ES) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (SW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (ESW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NSW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NEW) JE1 BE1 Iron Bars (NES) JE1 BE1
Iron Bars (texture) JE1 BE1 Added iron bars.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Iron Bars" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

  • In Java Edition, a 2×2 area made of iron bars can make a square-shaped hole big enough for the player and most mobs to fit through, but not rain, water, etc. that can be used as an easy entrance for an underwater house, and even an exit if pistons are used. Glass panes work in the same way.
  • If a sign or a painting is placed on iron bars, it appears to float in the air.
  • Despite apparently being thin enough to do so, iron bars do not let a ghast's explosion touch the block beneath them as long as the block is protected from other angles of the explosion affecting it.
  • If an iron bar is connected to a block and a rail is placed on the block, the top texture of the iron bar disappears.
  • While curing a zombie villager, iron bars placed nearby speed up the healing process. The same happens with beds, and both these things occur in the stereotypical prison cell.
  • Arrows cannot be shot through iron bars.
  • Because iron bars are 1 block high, the player can normally jump over iron bars, unlike fences.

Gallery[]

Renders[]

Screenshots[]

References[]

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