Minecraft Skin Sizes: 64x64, 64x32 and HD 128x128

5 October 2026

Written by FoxyNoTail, official Minecraft Marketplace Partner (2-Tail Productions) with 140 skin packs and 336 Marketplace items.

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What size is a Minecraft skin?

Minecraft Bedrock accepts three PNG sizes: 64×64 (the standard, used by the official Microsoft sample), 64×32 (legacy, no separate left limbs), and 128×128 (HD, double resolution). For skin packs, 64×64 is the safest choice: it works on every platform that supports custom skins and gives you a full body plus overlay layers.

Every Minecraft skin is a flat PNG image, and the image size you choose determines how much detail you can paint. This guide covers the three sizes you will encounter: 64×64, 64×32 and 128×128, and what each one looks like under the hood, and which one to use when you are building a skin pack.

The short answer: 64×64 is the standard. It is what the official Microsoft sample pack uses, it works on every platform that supports custom skins, and it gives you enough room for a full body plus overlay layers. Start here unless you have a specific reason to go smaller or larger.

Supported skin sizes

Minecraft Bedrock accepts three PNG dimensions for custom skins on Windows and mobile devices:

64×64 pixels: the standard size. Separate left and right arms and legs, full overlay layer. This is what the official Microsoft sample skin pack uses.
64×32 pixels: the legacy format. No separate left limbs; the game mirrors the right arm and right leg to create the left side.
128×128 pixels: the "HD" size. The same layout as 64×64 but every coordinate is doubled, giving you twice the pixels for finer detail.

Which one should you use? For a skin pack, 64×64 is the safest choice. The official documentation and sample pack both use it. 128×128 is supported for single-skin imports on Windows and mobile, but its behaviour inside a .mcpack skin pack is not explicitly documented by Microsoft. Some community reports say it works, others do not. If you want maximum compatibility, stick with 64×64.

Need a starting point? Grab one of my free skin templates. They are 64×64 PNGs with the correct layout already drawn, so you just paint over them.

The 64×64 skin layout

A 64×64 skin is a flat 64-pixel-wide by 64-pixel-tall image. Each body part occupies a specific rectangular region, and the overlay (outer) layer sits directly below or beside the inner layer. The table below shows the pixel origin (top-left corner) and size of every part, taken from Mojang's vanilla geometry.humanoid.custom definition.

Part	Size (W × H × D)	UV origin (x, y)	Overlay	Overlay origin	Inflate
Head	8 × 8 × 8	0, 0	hat	32, 0	0.5
Body	8 × 12 × 4	16, 16	jacket	16, 32	0.25
Right arm	4 × 12 × 4	40, 16	right sleeve	40, 32	0.25
Left arm	4 × 12 × 4	32, 48	left sleeve	48, 48	0.25
Right leg	4 × 12 × 4	0, 16	right pants	0, 32	0.25
Left leg	4 × 12 × 4	16, 48	left pants	0, 48	0.25

Reading the table: the head starts at pixel (0, 0) and is 8 pixels wide, 8 tall, 8 deep. Its overlay (the "hat" layer) starts at (32, 0). The body starts at (16, 16), and its jacket overlay is at (16, 32). The arms and legs follow the same pattern: inner layer on top, overlay directly below.

Tip: when you open a 64×64 template in an image editor, the top 16 rows (y = 0-15) hold the head and hat. Rows 16-31 hold the body, right arm, and right leg (plus their overlays in rows 32-47). Rows 48-63 hold the left arm and left leg (plus their overlays). Keeping this mental map makes it much easier to paint without smearing one part onto another.

You can grab a pre-drawn 64×64 template from my free skin templates page, or build one from scratch with the Skin Pack Creator tool in your browser.

Inner and outer layers

Every Minecraft skin has two layers:

Inner layer: the base body. This is what you see when no overlay is painted.
Outer layer (overlay): a slightly larger shell that sits on top. Use it for hats, glasses, jackets, sleeves, and trousers.

The outer layer is 0.5 pixels bigger than the inner layer on the body, arms, and legs, and 1 pixel bigger on the head. That small offset is what prevents the overlay from z-fighting (flickering) with the inner surface in-game.

Transparency rule: in Bedrock Edition, any pixel with an opacity of 25/255 or lower is treated as fully invisible. Pixels above that threshold are visible. In practice this means you should use fully transparent (alpha = 0) pixels for the parts of the overlay you do not want to show, and fully opaque pixels where you do. Half-transparent pixels in the 1-25 range will not render at all.

If your overlay looks like a flat sticker floating in front of the body rather than wrapping around it, you are probably painting on the inner layer instead of the outer layer. Check the UV origins in the table above; the overlay regions are the ones listed in the "Overlay origin" column.

Old 64×32 skins

The 64×32 format is the original Minecraft skin size. It is 64 pixels wide but only 32 pixels tall, which means there is no room for separate left arm and left leg regions.

Instead, the game mirrors the right arm and right leg to create the left side. Whatever you paint on the right arm automatically appears (flipped) on the left arm, and the same for the legs.

Pros: smaller file, simpler to paint (only one arm, one leg).
Cons: both arms must be identical, both legs must be identical. No asymmetric designs.

64×32 is still accepted by Minecraft Bedrock on Windows and mobile when you import a single skin. However, for skin packs the official documentation and sample use 64×64, so I recommend 64×64 for anything you plan to share or sell.

HD 128×128 skins

The 128×128 size is the same layout as 64×64 with every coordinate doubled. The head that started at (0, 0) and was 8×8×8 now starts at (0, 0) and is 16×16×16. The body, arms, legs, and all overlay regions scale the same way. You get four times the total pixels, which lets you paint much finer detail: individual hair strands, small text on a shirt, intricate patterns.

128×128 is supported for single-skin imports on Windows and mobile devices. You pick the PNG in the Dressing Room, choose Classic or Slim, and the game handles the rest.

Inside a skin pack: Microsoft's official skin-pack documentation does not state a size limit, and the sample pack uses 64×64. Community reports on 128×128 textures inside a .mcpack are mixed. Some players say it works, others report the skin falling back to a default. If you are building a pack for distribution, test on at least one device before publishing. For maximum compatibility, 64×64 remains the safe default.

If you want to try HD skins, the Skin Pack Creator tool lets you upload a 128×128 PNG and package it into a .mcpack right in your browser. No install needed.

FAQ

What is the best Minecraft skin size?

For most people, 64×64. It is the standard, it is what the official sample uses, and it works everywhere custom skins are supported. Go to 128×128 only if you need the extra detail and you have tested it on your target platform.

Can I use a 64×32 skin in a skin pack?

The official documentation and sample pack use 64×64. A 64×32 PNG will technically load as a single imported skin, but for a .mcpack skin pack I would stick with 64×64 to avoid compatibility surprises.

Do I need to paint both the inner and outer layer?

No. The inner layer is the minimum: it is the base body. The outer layer is optional and is only needed if you want a hat, jacket, sleeves, or pants overlay. If you leave the outer layer fully transparent, the skin looks like a plain body, which is perfectly fine.

Why do my arms look cut off or have a gap?

You probably chose the wrong model type. A Classic (4-pixel arm) skin set to Slim (3-pixel arm), or vice versa, will show a visible stripe or gap. Re-import the skin and pick the matching option, or change the geometry field in skins.json to geometry.humanoid.custom (Classic) or geometry.humanoid.customSlim (Slim).

Where can I get a skin template?

My free skin templates page has 64×64 PNGs with the layout pre-drawn. You can also use the Skin Pack Creator to build and download a complete .mcpack without leaving your browser.

Does 128×128 work on consoles?

Consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch) do not support custom skin imports at all, neither 64×64 nor 128×128. On consoles you use Marketplace skin packs or the Character Creator.