HD Minecraft skins: what they are and when they work

What a 128×128 or larger skin is, and why vanilla Minecraft may not show it.

Standard is 64×64

A normal Minecraft skin is a 64×64 PNG. An HD skin uses the same layout at double or quadruple that size — 128×128 or 256×256 — so each face of the model has four or sixteen times the detail.

Where they work

Vanilla Minecraft accepts 64×64 only. HD skins need a mod such as CustomSkinLoader or OptiFine, or a server that serves skins itself.

Downscaling

An HD skin can be shrunk to 64×64 in the editor, but fine detail is lost — a pattern drawn at 128 pixels across cannot survive being halved. Skins marked Standard on this site are already 64×64 and need nothing.

Other guides

How to download and apply a skinDownload a skin as a PNG and apply it in Minecraft Java Edition, on any launcher or through minecraft.net.How to use the skin editorChange any skin in your browser — paint, pick colours, preview in 3D and save the PNG.Classic or slim: which model is this skin for?What the two Minecraft arm models mean, and how to tell which one a skin was drawn for.Minecraft capes: how they workWhat a Minecraft cape is, which accounts have one, and what you can do with a cape PNG.