Minecraft on Windows: Choose Java or Bedrock, Then Start

A PC purchase of Minecraft includes two editions, Java and Bedrock. They are not two labels for one save. Java runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, it is the edition associated with mods, and it does not cross-play with consoles. Bedrock on this computer is Minecraft for Windows. It cross-plays with Bedrock on consoles and phones, and it is the edition with the Marketplace. The catalog page is Minecraft for Windows. Softcoria does not host the launcher or the game. Buy the PC edition on the official Java and Bedrock store page.

You sign in with a Microsoft account. After that, the launcher updates the game. This guide does not name a version number. The launcher is the update, and a number printed here would only go stale. A site that offers a numbered Minecraft installer is not the path this article describes. How to Safely Download and Install Software on Windows is the check to apply before you pay anywhere other than that store page.

Choose the edition before a world exists

Decide before you create anything you would be sorry to leave behind. Java is the edition for mods, and for people playing on Windows, macOS, or Linux. It will not cross-play with consoles. Bedrock is the edition for a group that includes a console or a phone. On Windows that product is Minecraft for Windows, and the Marketplace belongs to Bedrock rather than to Java. Both come with the one PC purchase. Installing one does not uninstall the other. A world still belongs only to the edition that created it.

Friends are usually the reason the choice is obvious. If they are on a Bedrock console or a phone, your Windows game has to be Bedrock too. This page uses the store page’s line: Bedrock cross-plays with Bedrock consoles and phones. Java’s matching line is the limit: no cross-play with consoles. Mods point the other way. If the reason you are buying is mods, you want Java, and the console friends are not in that world.

Also calledMinecraft: Java EditionMinecraft for Windows Where it runsWindows, macOS, and LinuxWindows, as the Bedrock PC edition Other playersNo cross-play with consolesCross-play with Bedrock consoles and phones Extras named with itModsMarketplace Comes with the PC purchaseYesYes

The requirements are two lists

Java’s published minimum is Windows 10 64-bit or Windows on ARM, 8 GB of RAM with a discrete GPU or 12 GB with integrated graphics, Vulkan 1.3, 2 GB of VRAM, and a Core i3-10100 or a Ryzen 3 3100. The recommended Java PC is a separate list: Windows 11, 16 GB of RAM, a GPU in the RTX 2060 class, and 6 GB of VRAM. Those recommended figures do not add another processor. This guide will not supply one.

Read the memory line as two cases, not as “8 GB is enough.” Eight gigabytes is the discrete-GPU case. Integrated graphics move the published floor to 12 GB. A laptop with 8 GB and no separate graphics card does not meet the Java minimum as written, even if the processor name sounds recent. Vulkan 1.3 is on that same minimum. This article does not add a click-path for proving Vulkan support. The requirement is the one the store page states.

Bedrock’s minimum is shorter and lower: Windows 10 version 19041 and 4 GB of RAM. A Microsoft account is required. Vulkan, the VRAM numbers, and the Core i3-10100 or Ryzen 3 3100 are Java figures. Do not paste them onto Minecraft for Windows just because both editions arrived in one purchase. Open Settings > System > About for the Windows version and the system type. x64 vs x86 vs ARM64 Windows explains that screen if the Java line “Windows 10 64-bit or Windows on ARM” is the part you are unsure about. The Bedrock minimum quoted here does not add its own ARM sentence.

Buy, sign in, and create the world in one edition

The store page is the purchase. The launcher is the program that purchase installs. Softcoria’s page can tell you what the game is. It is not a second checkout and it does not store the files.

1. Buy the PC edition on minecraft.net. One payment includes Java and Bedrock.
2. Install the launcher from that purchase.
3. Sign in with a Microsoft account.
4. Choose Java or Bedrock. Let the launcher update the edition. Do not download a numbered build from somewhere else.
5. Create a world only after that edition is the one running.

There is no shared world sitting above both editions. Switching editions in the launcher changes which game you are about to play. It does not carry yesterday’s save across. If the people waiting for you are on consoles or phones, Bedrock — Minecraft for Windows — has to be the edition you create the world in. If you came for mods, create the world in Java and leave the console plan for a different world, in Bedrock, later.

Why a Java world will not open in Bedrock

A world is that edition’s save. Java writes a Java world. Bedrock writes a Bedrock world. The store page includes both so you can play either one. It does not describe a save that both editions load. When Bedrock refuses the world you made in Java, the refusal is the split between the editions, not a broken download and not a launcher that failed to update.

The purchase does not convert the world for you. Creating it again, inside the other edition, is the step that stays inside what that store page sells. The new world starts empty. The builds and the position from the Java world remain in Java. That is a bad surprise only if the first evening was spent in the edition you did not mean to keep. It is still the way the two editions behave.

Cross-play runs into the same wall. A friend on a Bedrock console or phone can meet you in Minecraft for Windows. They cannot meet you inside the Java world, because Java does not cross-play with consoles. Moving the Java save across so they could join is not a feature of the PC purchase, and this guide will not invent a converter to paper over it. Start the shared world in Bedrock.

When the launcher, the PC, or the world is wrong

• The launcher does not show the game you paid for. Sign in with a Microsoft account. The account is required. Finish the purchase on the official store page before you look for a missing edition.
• Java stutters or will not keep the minimum. Check the split: discrete GPU with 8 GB of RAM, or integrated graphics with 12 GB, plus Vulkan 1.3, 2 GB of VRAM, and a Core i3-10100 or Ryzen 3 3100. The recommended target is higher: Windows 11, 16 GB, an RTX 2060-class GPU, 6 GB of VRAM.
• You are on Windows on ARM. Java’s minimum includes that case. Read system type before you assume a 64-bit Windows installer story applies. Bedrock’s published floor here remains Windows 10 version 19041 and 4 GB of RAM.
• Bedrock will not open a world. If you created it in Java, that is expected. Make a new world in Bedrock.
• Console friends cannot join. They need the Bedrock edition. Java will not cross-play with their consoles.
• Someone sent a version number to download. Ignore it. Open the launcher and let it update the edition you selected. This article deliberately does not repeat a game version.

Other games in the catalog are listed under games for Windows. None of them turns a Java world into a Bedrock world.

FAQ

Does one PC purchase include Java and Bedrock?

Yes. The official PC store page sells them together. You still choose an edition before you create a world. Owning both does not make one edition open the other’s world.

Which edition plays with consoles and phones?

Bedrock. On Windows it is Minecraft for Windows, and it cross-plays with Bedrock consoles and phones. Java does not cross-play with consoles. Java runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

What PC does Java require?

The published minimum is Windows 10 64-bit or Windows on ARM, 8 GB of RAM with a discrete GPU or 12 GB with integrated graphics, Vulkan 1.3, 2 GB of VRAM, and a Core i3-10100 or Ryzen 3 3100. Recommended is Windows 11, 16 GB of RAM, an RTX 2060-class GPU, and 6 GB of VRAM.

What PC does Bedrock require?

The published Bedrock minimum is Windows 10 version 19041 and 4 GB of RAM. A Microsoft account is required. The Java GPU and CPU figures are not the Bedrock minimum.

Why will Bedrock not open my Java world?

They are different editions with different worlds. A world created in Java is not a Bedrock world. Create a new world in the edition you want to play. The PC purchase does not convert the save.

Which Minecraft version should I download?

Do not chase a version number. Install the launcher from the official PC purchase, sign in, and let the launcher update the edition you chose.

On this site

• Minecraft — the Softcoria page. The purchase and the launcher stay on minecraft.net.
• x64 vs x86 vs ARM64 Windows — how to read system type before you match the Java minimum.
• How to Safely Download and Install Software on Windows — what to check before a download that is not the official store page.
• Games — the category for other Windows games.