Redstone Dust

Redstone dust is a mineral that can transmit redstone power as a wire when placed as a block. It is also used in crafting and brewing.

Obtaining[]

Mining[]

Redstone ore mined using an iron pickaxe or higher drops 4 or 5 redstone dust (or more with Fortune, averaging at 6 redstone dust with Fortune III). If mined with Silk Touch, the block drops itself instead of redstone dust.

Natural generation[]

15 lengths of redstone dust are naturally generated as part of the trap in each jungle pyramid. 5 lengths of redstone dust can be found in one type of jail cell room in a woodland mansion. In ancient cities, multiple pieces of redstone dust can be found integrated into circuitry.

Breaking[]

Redstone dust can be broken instantly using any tool, or without a tool, and drops itself as an item.

Redstone dust is removed and drops as an item if:

• its attachment block is moved, removed, or destroyed
• water or lava flows into its space
• a piston tries to push it or moves a block into its space

Mob loot[]

Witches have a chance of dropping 0–2 redstone dust upon death. This is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0–5 redstone dust.

Chest loot[]

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
Redstone Dust	Dungeon	Chest	1–4	26.6%
	Mineshaft	Chest	4–9	14.5%
	Stronghold	Storeroom chest	4–9	18.6%
		Altar chest	4–9	12%
	Village	Temple chest	1–4	44.8%
	Woodland mansion	Chest	1–4	26.6%
Bedrock Edition
Redstone Dust	Dungeon	Chest	1–4	26.6%
	Mineshaft	Chest	4–9	14.5%
	Stronghold	Storeroom chest	4–9	15.2%
		Altar chest	4–9	11.6%
	Village	Temple chest	1–4	44.8%
	Woodland mansion	Chest	1–4	26.6%

Crafting[]

Redstone dust can be crafted from blocks of redstone.

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Block of Redstone	9

Smelting[]

Name	Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Redstone Dust	Redstone Ore or Deepslate Redstone Ore + Any fuel	0.7

Trading[]

In Java Edition, novice-level cleric villagers sell two redstone dust for one emerald.

In Bedrock Edition, novice-level cleric villagers sell four redstone dust for one emerald.

Villager gifts[]

In Java Edition, when the player has the Hero of the Village status effect, clerics might throw that player a redstone dust as a gift.

Usage[]

Redstone dust is used for brewing, crafting, and in redstone circuits by placing it on the ground to create redstone wire. It can also be used to power redstone components.

Brewing ingredient[]

Name	Ingredients	Brewing recipe
Mundane Potion	Redstone Dust + Water Bottle
Increased Duration	Redstone Dust + Potion of Fire Resistance or Potion of Invisibility or Potion of Night Vision or Potion of Poison or Potion of Regeneration or Potion of Slowness or Potion of Strength or Potion of Swiftness or Potion of Water Breathing or Potion of Weakness or Potion of Leaping or Potion of Slow Falling

Crafting ingredient[]

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Description
Block of Redstone	Redstone Dust
Clock	Gold Ingot + Redstone Dust
Compass	Iron Ingot + Redstone Dust
Copper bulb or Exposed Copper bulb or Weathered Copper bulb or Oxidized Copper bulb	matching Copper Blocks + Blaze Rod + Redstone Dust	444
Detector Rail	Iron Ingot + Stone Pressure Plate + Redstone Dust	6
Dispenser	Cobblestone + Bow + Redstone Dust		The bow can be of any durability. Enchantments on the bow do not affect the resulting dispenser.
Dropper	Cobblestone + Redstone Dust
Note Block	Any Planks + Redstone Dust
Observer	Cobblestone + Redstone Dust + Nether Quartz
Piston	Any Planks + Cobblestone + Iron Ingot + Redstone Dust
Powered Rail	Gold Ingot + Stick + Redstone Dust	6
Redstone Lamp	Redstone Dust + Glowstone
Redstone Repeater	Redstone Torch + Redstone Dust + Stone
Redstone Torch	Redstone Dust + Stick
Target	Redstone Dust + Hay Bale

Redstone component[]

When placed in the world, redstone dust becomes a block of "redstone wire"^{[more information needed]}, which can transmit redstone power.

Smithing ingredient[]

Ingredients	Smithing recipe	Description
Any Armor Trim + Any Armor Piece + Redstone Dust	Upgrade Gear	All armor types can be used in this recipe, a netherite chestplate is shown as an example.

Trim color palette

The following color palette is shown on the designs on trimmed armor:

Placement[]

Redstone dust can be placed on opaque blocks as well as glowstone, upside-down slabs, glass, upside-down stairs, and hoppers. It can also be placed on some transparent blocks; see Opacity/Placement for more information. It cannot be placed suspended in midair, even with commands, which is not unintentional.^[1]

Redstone wire configures itself to point toward adjacent redstone power components and transmission component connection points. Redstone wire also configures itself to point toward adjacent redstone wire one block higher or lower – unless there is a solid opaque block above the lower redstone wire.

If there is only one such adjacent redstone component, redstone wire configures itself into a line pointing both at the neighbor and away from it. If there are two or more such adjacent components, redstone wire connects them in the form of , , , or as needed.

When there are no adjacent components, a single redstone wire configures itself into a plus sign, which can provide power in all four directions. By right-clicking it can be changed into a dot, which does not provide power to any of the four directions.

In Bedrock Edition, redstone wire automatically configures itself to point toward adjacent blocks or mechanism components. In Java Edition, it does not. If such a configuration is desired, the other neighbors of the redstone wire must be arranged to create it, i.e the redstone dust must be placed in a way that it would be pointed at the block’s location even if it were not there.

When redstone wire is reconfigured after placement, it does not update other redstone components around it of the change unless that reconfiguration also includes a change in power level or another component provides an update. This can create situations where a mechanism component remains activated when it shouldn't, or vice versa, until it receives an update from something else – a "feature" of redstone wire that can be used to make a block update detector.

Behavior[]

Redstone wire can transmit power, which can be used to operate mechanism components (doors, pistons, redstone lamps, etc.). Redstone wire can be "powered" by a number of methods:

• from an adjacent power component or a strongly-powered block
• from the output of a redstone repeater or redstone comparator
• from adjacent redstone wire. The powering dust can be a level higher or lower, but with restrictions:
  • Redstone dust can be powered by redstone dust that is one level lower, or on an opaque block one level higher. A transparent block cannot‌^{[Java Edition only]} pass power downward.
  • The block "between" the two dust blocks must be air or transparent. A solid block there "cuts" the connection between the higher and lower dust.

The "power level" of redstone dust can vary from 0 to 15. Most power components power-up adjacent redstone dust to power level 15, but a few (daylight sensors, trapped chests, and weighted pressure plates) may create a lower power level. Redstone repeaters output power level 15 (when turned on), but redstone comparators may output a lower power level.

Power level drops by 1 for every block of redstone wire it crosses. Thus, redstone wire can transmit power for no more than 15 blocks. To go further, the power level must be re-strengthened – typically with a redstone repeater.

Powered redstone wire on top of, or pointing at, an opaque block provides weak power to the block. A weakly-powered block cannot power other adjacent redstone wire, but can still power redstone repeaters and comparators, and activate adjacent mechanism components. Transparent blocks cannot be powered.

When redstone wire is unpowered, it appears dark red. When powered, it becomes bright red at power level 15, fading to darker shades with decreasing power. Powered redstone wire also produces "dust" particles of the same color.

While redstone wire always provides power to the directions it points into, it can still point into directions in which it cannot give power. If redstone wire comes in the form of a cross, the player can right-click to toggle it between a cross and dot. A redstone dot does not power anything adjacent to it, but powers the block under it.

Sounds[]

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	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	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
	None[sound 1]	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.stone.fall	None[sound 1]	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:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.stone	0.27 [sound 1]	0.5
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.stone	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	step.stone	0.3	1.0
	Players	Jumping from the block	jump.stone	0.12	1.0
	Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.stone	0.22	1.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Redstone Dust	Identifier	Form	Translation key
Block	redstone_wire	Block	block.minecraft.redstone_wire
Item	redstone	Item	item.minecraft.redstone

Bedrock Edition:

Redstone Dust	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Block	redstone_wire	55	Block & Ungiveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3]	tile.redstone_wire.name
Item	redstone	373	Item	—	item.redstone.name

Block states[]

Java Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
east	none	none side up	The way redstone dust connects to the east, side can also mean down.
north	none	none side up	The way redstone dust connects to the north, side can also mean down.
power	0	0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15	The redstone dust's current power level.
south	none	none side up	The way redstone dust connects to the south, side can also mean down.
west	none	none side up	The way redstone dust connects to the west, side can also mean down.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	Description
redstone_signal	0x1 0x2 0x4 0x8	0	0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15	0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15	The redstone dust's current power level.

Achievements[]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other
		Dispense with This	Construct a Dispenser.	—	20G	Bronze

Video[]

Note: These videos do not show all uses for redstone in crafting and all methods of obtaining. This video is also outdated, as of 1.13 Java Edition, redstone is now called Redstone Dust.

History[]

May 21, 2009					Notch shows interest in adding wire-type blocks.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.1					Added redstone dust as an item.
					Added redstone dust as a placed block.
					Redstone dust as a placed block has two power appearances; either completely on, or completely off.
					Redstone dust is used to craft redstone torches.
					At this time, redstone has not been given an official name.
v1.0.2_01					Redstone dust now doesn't connect through solid blocks diagonally down.[needs testing]
					Walking on redstone dust no longer breaks it.[needs testing]
					Active redstone dust now gives off particles.[needs testing]
v1.1.0					Redstone is now used to craft compasses.
v1.2.0		?			Redstone is now used to craft clocks.
Java Edition Beta
1.0					With the addition of inventory tooltips, the item form of redstone dust has been named "Redstone", and the usually unobtainable block form has been named "Redstone Dust".
1.2					Redstone is now used to craft dispensers and note blocks.
1.3					Redstone wire gets darker the farther away it is from a source of power, using a dedicated tint system. Previously, it was fully on until it reached its limit.
					Its particles now appear gray due to not being tinted.
					Redstone is now used to craft redstone repeaters.
1.5					Fully off redstone wire is no longer black.
					Redstone dust can now be placed on snow.
					Redstone is now used to craft powered rails and detector rails.
1.6.6					Redstone dust now checks if the block below has a solid top face or glowstone, allowing it to be placed on it.
1.7					Redstone dust now connects to a repeater without the dust being explicitly pointed at it.
					Redstone can now be used to craft pistons.
1.8		Pre-release			Redstone can now be found in the new stronghold storeroom chests, and in the new mineshaft chests.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3			Redstone can now be brewed in a water bottle to create a mundane potion.
					Redstone can now be found in the new stronghold altar chests.
					Redstone now extends the potions of Fire Resistance, Slowness, Swiftness, Poison, Weakness and Strength.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4			Redstone now extends the new potion of Regeneration.
		RC1			Redstone dust placement on one block has been changed from a "+" to a "•" shape.
?					Redstone wire block particles are now correctly colored.
1.1		11w49a			Fixed redstone update bug.[more information needed]
1.2.1		12w06a			Redstone can now be placed on glowstone.
		12w07a			Redstone is now used to craft redstone lamps.
1.3.1		12w21a			Redstone can now be bought from priest villagers, at 2–4 redstone for 1 emerald, making them renewable.
		12w22a			Redstone dust now generates in jungle temples.
		12w25a			Redstone dust can now be placed on top of upside-down slabs and stairs.
1.4.2		12w34a			Redstone now extends the new potions of Night Vision and Invisibility.
		12w38a			Witches have been added, which sometimes drop redstone when killed.
1.5		13w01a			Redstone can now be used to craft blocks of redstone and droppers.
1.7.2		13w36a			Redstone now extends the new potion of Water Breathing.
1.8		14w02a			Trading has been changed: cleric villagers now sell 1–4 redstone for 1 emerald.
		14w25a			Redstone dust no longer changes to obsidian next to water when lava flows into it.
		14w27a			Redstone now extends the new potion of Leaping.
1.9		15w31a			Some slight changes have been made to redstone wire's appearance - the dot now extends outward with two more pixels, and the south-facing section of bends, T shapes and crosses now has one fewer pixel. It also appears straighter and more continuous in straight wire form.
					Redstone can no longer be added to extended potions or tier-II potions.
		15w44a			The average yield of redstone from dungeon chests has been cut by more than half.
					The average yield of redstone in mineshaft chests has been increased.
		15w46a			The hitbox of redstone now covers only part of the surface of the block below, based on the orientation of the redstone.
1.11		16w39a			Redstone dust can now be found in chests in woodland mansions.
					Redstone can now used to craft observers.
1.13		17w47a			The item form of "Redstone" has been renamed to "Redstone Wire".
					Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 55, and the item's 331.
		17w48a			"Redstone" has been renamed to "Redstone Dust".
		18w07a			Redstone now extends the new potion of the Turtle Master.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of redstone dust has been changed.
		18w50a			Redstone dust can now be found in chests in village temples.
		19w12b			Redstone dust can now be placed on glass, ice and sea lanterns.
		19w13a			Cleric villagers now give redstone dust to players under the Hero of the Village effect.
1.16		20w06a			Redstone dust now has a bottom texture.
		20w09a			Redstone can now be used to craft targets.
		20w18a			Redstone dust placement on one block has been changed from a "•" back to a "+" shape.
					Redstone dust's hitbox is now no longer strictly a cuboid, and more closely matches the shape of the wiring.[2]
					Upward going redstone dust now has a hitbox on the side of the block too, rather than only on the floor.[3]
					Unconnected redstone dust now has all direction block states set to "side".
					The direction block states of redstone dust are now properly set to "side" at the end of a redstone wire on both ends, rather than only the one with other redstone besides it.
					While not accessible in normal gameplay, redstone dust that points into one side, but not the opposite, now visually reaches halfway across the block.
		20w19a			Redstone dust now visually connects when going up soul sand, 8-layer snow stacks and the back side of upside-down stairs.
					Particles are now generated across the length of the redstone wire rather than the center of the block.
		20w21a			Redstone dust placement on one block is now toggleable between a "+" and a "•" shape, by interacting with it.
1.17		21w08a			Redstone dust can now drop and be smelted from deepslate redstone ore.
1.19		22w13a			Redstone wire now generates in ancient cities.
1.20 (Experimental)		23w04a			Redstone dust can now be used as an armor trim material.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.8.0		build 1			Added redstone as an item.
					Redstone is now dropped when mined from redstone ore.
					Redstone can be used to craft compasses and clocks.
		build 2			Redstone can now be used to craft powered rails.
v0.11.0		build 1			Redstone is now used to craft redstone blocks.
v0.12.1		build 1			Redstone has been added to the Creative inventory, but it still cannot be placed.
v0.13.0		build 1			Redstone can now be placed.
					Redstone is now used to craft redstone lamps, note blocks, detector rails and redstone torches.
v0.14.0		build 1			Redstone is now used to craft dispensers and droppers.
v0.15.0		build 1			Redstone is now used to craft pistons and observers.
Pocket Edition
1.0.4		alpha 1.0.4.0			Cleric villagers now sell 1–4 redstone for an emerald.
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			Redstone can now be found in woodland mansions.
Bedrock Edition
?					Placed redstone now assumes its current appearance with a more solid center. Its linear state appearences are unknown.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of redstone has been changed.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.1			Redstone can now be found in desert village temple chests.
		beta 1.11.0.4			Cleric villagers now sell 4 redstone as part of their first tier trade.
1.16.210		beta 1.16.210.57			"Redstone" has been renamed to "Redstone Dust".
1.17.0		beta 1.16.230.52			Redstone dust can now drop and be smelted from deepslate redstone ore.
1.19.0		beta 1.19.0.26			Redstone wire now generates in ancient cities.
1.19.80		beta 1.19.80.21			Redstone dust can now be used as an armor trim material.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added redstone.
TU3					Redstone now connects to a repeater without the dust being explicitly pointed at it.
		1.90			The texture of redstone has been changed.
		1.95			Redstone can now be placed on glass.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added redstone dust.

Redstone wire "item"[]

The following content is transcluded from Technical blocks/Redstone Wire.

Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.1					Redstone wire has an extra, unobtainable item form corresponding to its block ID. It can be obtained via inventory editors with numeric item ID 55.
					Unlike the obtainable redstone dust item, this unobtainable form can replace blocks such as water.
Java Edition Beta
1.6		Test Build 3			Redstone wire items can be obtained from the newly added debug chests, mainly from the 24th slot of the 2nd chest from the left, and the 8th slot of the 6th chest from the left.
		release			Debug chests no longer spawn, preventing redstone wire items from being obtained this way.
1.8		Pre-release 2 ;)			Added pick block functionality. This changes the currently selected slot to any containing this otherwise-unobtainable redstone dust item, but does not allow it to be obtained if not already in the hotbar.
Java Edition
1.2.5		pre			Pick Block now returns the actually obtainable redstone dust item.
1.3.1		12w15a			Redstone wire items can now be obtained via Pick Block in creative.
		12w16a			Pick Block once again returns the actually obtainable redstone dust item.
					Redstone wire items can now be obtained in singleplayer worlds via the /give command using the respective numeric ID.
1.7.2		13w37a			The direct item form of redstone wire has been removed from the game. It no longer exists as an item in any way, only as a placed block.
Pocket Edition Alpha
?					Redstone wire can exist as an item.
Legacy Console Edition
?					Redstone wire exists as an item.[4]

Appearances[]

Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.1					The redstone wire item uses this texture in inventories, when held in first person view or as a dropped item.
?					The redstone wire item uses the aforementioned texture when held in third person.
Java Edition Beta
1.3					The redstone wire item now uses this texture in inventories, when held in first or third person view or as a dropped item.
					This is due to the redstone wire texture changing in this version to use tints.
Java Edition
1.4.2		12w34a			The redstone wire item now uses the aforementioned texture when in an item frame.
Bedrock Edition
?					Redstone wire looks like this in the inventory.
Legacy Console Edition
?					Redstone wire looks like this as an item.[4]

Names[]

Java Edition

Item names did not exist prior to Beta 1.0.

• Beta 1.0 - 13w36b: Redstone Dust
• (As block name, item does not exist) 13w37a - 17w47a: Redstone Dust
• (As block name, item does not exist) 17w47a and onwarda: Redstone Wire

Bedrock Edition

• ? - ?: Redstone Dust

Gallery[]

Renders[]

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Bedrock Edition

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Screenshots[]

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  First image of redstone dust on top of slabs and stairs.

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  Olivia using a scarce amount of redstone dust.

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  Sunny using a very long strip of redstone dust.

In other media[]

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  Official T-shirt artwork "Powered By Redstone" made by JINX.

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  Pixel art of redstone dust.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Redstone", "Redstone dust", or "Redstone wire" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

• Five updates for Windows 10 released from 2016 to 2018 were codenamed "Redstone", referencing Minecraft.^[5]
• The block has 1,296 possible block state combinations, the highest of all blocks as of 1.15.2, beating fire's 512 and note block's 800.
• According to Minecraft Education, redstone dust contains radioactive elements.

References[]