Minecraft 26.3 "Wilderness Bound" is out

Minecraft Java Edition 26.3 came out on September 15, 2026. The third game drop of the year is called "Wilderness Bound". The Bedrock Edition got version 26.50 alongside it. Before the release, Mojang published ten snapshots, three pre-releases and three release candidates. You can find the full list of changes in the official patch notes on minecraft.net.

What is new

• Dappled Forest: a new autumn biome that generates near cold biomes. It features Poplar trees, red shrubs, leaf litter as well as brown and shelf mushrooms. Sheep, chickens, cows, pigs, rabbits and foxes spawn here in their cold variants.
• Poplar trees: new Poplar trees in red, orange and yellow, plus fallen Poplar trees. Poplar wood comes as a full wood set with slabs, stairs, doors, signs, a shelf and boats.
• New plants: red shrubs can be spread with bone meal. Shelf mushrooms are bouncy.
• Straw bed: crafted from three hay bales, which gives you four beds. It can only be used once, does not reset your spawn point and does not work in the Nether or the End.
• Cushion: a seat in 16 colors, crafted from wool slabs of the matching color.
• New building blocks: wool and concrete stairs and slabs, each in all 16 colors.
• Abandoned camp: a new structure that can generate in 18 biomes, with chests and barrels full of loot. Secret chests in these camps also hold new explorer maps, for example to Ancient Cities, Mineshafts and Desert Pyramids.
• Spectator mode: players in spectator mode can now use portals to teleport.
• Realms: owners can create and manage up to five invite codes. Render distance and simulation distance can now be set as well.
• Languages: Gothic is now supported.
• Small things: the Adventure Mode icon in the game mode switcher is now the Buried Treasure Map.

What this means for your server

Mojang worked on performance: chunk generation is faster, and locating structures with /locate performs better too. Your server benefits from this most when players explore new areas. In addition, persistent mobs now stop their random walking when no player is nearby. Regular mobs already behaved this way.

A few technical changes are worth knowing before you update:

• Java 25: this version requires at least Java SE 25.
• Whitelist: the default value of white-list in server.properties is now true. If the file is created fresh, only whitelisted players can join. Check the value after the update.
• Data packs: the data pack format moves to 121.0. Several world generation registries were renamed, and mob spawn settings were moved out of biomes. Custom world generation data packs will very likely need adjustments.
• Server software: according to the changelog, some log lines that server software might look out for have been removed. Tools that parse the console may get confused by this.
• Old maps: existing explorer maps in old worlds are converted to the new map items automatically on load.

How to move your server to 26.3

Your server has to run 26.3 so players with the current client can join.

Here is how:

1. Take a backup
   Back up your world before you switch versions. An update cannot simply be undone.

2. Check plugins, mods and data packs
   If you use plugins, mods or custom data packs, check whether versions for 26.3 are available. Without a matching version, the server may not start or features may stop working.

3. Switch the version
   Move your server to 26.3 as described in our guide.

4. Check the configuration
   After the first start, look at server.properties, especially white-list, so your community does not get locked out unexpectedly.

5. Start and test the server
   Start the server, watch the console and join once yourself before you tell your community. All players need the 26.3 client as well.

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