Minecraft texture packs vs resource packs: What's the difference?

Minecraft texture packs and resource packs are great tools that players can use to easily change the appearance of their game. Although functionally similar, there are some key differences between the two.

The term "texture pack" is mostly regarded as an outdated term only used by OG Minecraft players these days.

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What is the difference between texture packs and resource packs in Minecraft?

Originally, the best way to change the appearance of the Minecraft game instance was by installing something called a "texture pack." Texture packs first became popular around 10 years ago and have since seen millions of downloads from the wider Minecraft community.

As of the Minecraft 1.6.1 update, however, Mojang (the creators of Minecraft) made the decision to depreciate the current texture pack system. Instead of texture packs, resource packs were chosen to be supported by all versions past Minecraft 1.6.1.

In essence, resource packs service all of the key functionality of texture packs, allowing players to change the appearance of all blocks and items in the game. Unlike texture packs, however, resource packs provide players with far more control over changing Minecraft's finer details, including default sounds, fonts, languages, animations, and more.

In modern times, resource packs are the primary way to change Minecraft's aesthetics

One major advantage of resource packs is that they can now intentionally omit item textures, with the game simply filling in the blanks with corresponding Minecraft default vanilla textures. This allows resource packs to be much smaller in size, not to mention being easier to create and maintain.

Another big advantage for the resource pack system is the fact they can stack. This means that players can mix and match textures from entirely different resource packs at once.

How to convert an old texture pack to a resource pack in Minecraft

Players wanting to use an old texture pack with the current version of Minecraft can use this helpful tool made by Mojang in order to convert texture packs into an updated resource pack format.

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