Resource Pack Fonts and Custom Glyphs

All font assets live in the RP/font/ directory of a resource pack. You do not register fonts in a manifest or blocks-style catalog file; the engine automatically scans RP/font/ on pack load and overrides matching files from the vanilla pack.

Every bitmap font sheet in Bedrock is divided into a strict 16 by 16 grid, giving 256 character slots per image. The resolution of a single cell is determined automatically by dividing the image width by 16. A 128x128 image yields 8x8 pixel characters, while a 256x256 image yields 16x16 pixel characters. The image must always have a 1:1 aspect ratio and its dimensions should be a power of two (128, 256, 512, or 1024) so the UI texture sampler does not blur or clip cell edges.

When the game renders basic English text, numbers, and standard punctuation, it looks up RP/font/default8.png first. Despite the number 8 in its filename, this texture does not have to be 8 pixels per cell. You can supply a 256x256 or 512x512 PNG at RP/font/default8.png to create a higher-resolution typeface.

Bedrock calculates proportional character widths dynamically by scanning each cell in default8.png from left to right. It stops at the last column that contains a pixel with an alpha value above zero, and adds a standard kerning gap after that column. Because of this automatic scanner, even a faintly visible stray pixel (such as alpha 1 out of 255) on the far right of a cell will force that letter to render with a wide blank gap after it.

To add custom icons—such as custom currency badges, custom hunger shanks, or faction emblems—without overwriting readable letters across the game, you place sprites inside Unicode's Private Use Area (PUA), which runs from U+E000 to U+F8FF. In Bedrock's file naming scheme, a sheet named glyph_XX.png holds the 256 characters for the hexadecimal block XX. The row (0 through F from top to bottom) gives the third hex digit, and the column (0 through F from left to right) gives the fourth hex digit.

Wait before drawing onto glyph_E0.png or glyph_E1.png: vanilla Bedrock already uses those two sheets for controller buttons, keyboard prompts, touch screen arrows, and Minecoin symbols. Overwriting glyph_E0.png with a mostly blank sheet containing only two of your own icons will turn every controller button prompt in the user's game into invisible blank spaces. Either copy the vanilla glyph_E0.png and paint into its unused rows, or start a brand new sheet at a higher range like RP/font/glyph_E2.png (which maps to U+E200 through U+E2FF).

On custom glyph_XX.png sheets, characters are often treated as full-width icons if they contain color. If you draw an 11x11 icon in the middle of a 16x16 cell on glyph_E2.png, the game may crop the empty transparent columns and shift the icon left. To force a custom glyph to stay centered and keep a consistent 16x16 box width, place a single pixel with an alpha value of 1 (out of 255) in the top-left corner and bottom-right corner of its 16x16 cell.

Once your sprite sheet is saved at RP/font/glyph_E2.png, you reference its cells by their Unicode characters. The top-left cell (row 0, column 0) is U+E200; the cell immediately to its right (row 0, column 1) is U+E201; the first cell on the second row (row 1, column 0) is U+E210.

In JSON files—such as Rawtext inside tellraw commands, item components, or JSON UI—and in TypeScript or JavaScript files for @minecraft/server, you can write the standard Unicode escape sequence \uE200. In .lang localization files, however, backslash escapes like \uE200 are printed literally as text rather than converted into a character. For .lang files, you must copy and paste the raw UTF-8 character itself into the file and ensure the file is saved with UTF-8 encoding.

import { world } from "@minecraft/server";

// U+E200 = RP/font/glyph_E2.png (Row 0, Column 0)
// U+E201 = RP/font/glyph_E2.png (Row 0, Column 1)
const ICON_RUBY = "\uE200";
const ICON_MANA = "\uE201";

world.afterEvents.itemUse.subscribe((event) => {
  const player = event.source;
  
  // Append §r after colored text if a custom icon follows,
  // otherwise the active § color code will tint the sprite.
  player.onScreenDisplay.setActionBar(
    `${ICON_RUBY} §fRubies: §a12§r   ${ICON_MANA} §fMana: §b80/100`
  );
});

Bedrock's font renderer multiplies every pixel of a glyph by the currently active formatting color. Standard white text is unaffected because multiplying by white (RGB 255, 255, 255) leaves your sprite's original colors intact. However, if a glyph appears inside an item name or chat line after a color code like §c (red) or §7 (gray), the entire RGB sprite is tinted dark red or gray.

Always insert a reset code (§r) or white code (§f) immediately before a full-color custom glyph, and then re-apply your text color code right after the glyph.

{
  "format_version": "1.20.50",
  "minecraft:item": {
    "description": {
      "identifier": "wiki:ruby_coin",
      "menu_category": {
        "category": "items"
      }
    },
    "components": {
      "minecraft:icon": {
        "texture": "ruby_coin"
      },
      "minecraft:display_name": {
        "value": "§r\uE200 §dRuby Coin"
      }
    }
  }
}

In addition to bitmap grids, Bedrock includes a TrueType font used when the 'Smooth Font' toggle is enabled in language settings or when requested by a custom JSON UI screen. In JSON UI text elements, you can select between font styles using the font_type property.

Keep in mind that switching a JSON UI label to smooth font only alters standard text glyphs; inline PUA icons from glyph_XX.png still render from their bitmap sheets alongside the smooth text.

Applies to all stable Minecraft Bedrock versions (1.16.0 through 1.21+). No experimental toggles are required to override fonts or add glyph_XX.png sheets.

Read out of the game itself, so the ids match the version you are building for.