How to Get a Cape in Minecraft (Java and Bedrock)

Skins change how your character looks, but a cape is the real flex. Capes flow behind your player as you run, they show on top of any skin, and because Mojang hands most of them out rather than selling them, wearing one says you were there for something. The catch is that Java and Bedrock handle capes very differently, so the route to getting one depends on your edition. Here is how capes work, every realistic way to get one, and how to put it on.

What Capes Are (and Are Not)

A cape is a cosmetic item attached to your character's shoulders. It is completely separate from your skin, so you can mix and match freely, and your cape design even carries over onto your elytra when you glide. Capes grant no gameplay advantage. What makes them special is scarcity: most official capes were tied to events, milestones or contributions to the game, and many can never be earned again.

How to Get Capes on Bedrock

Official events

Bedrock has historically been the generous edition. Attendees of the old in-person Minecon events received capes, and Mojang has given capes to every Bedrock player for livestreamed celebrations, most famously the Founder's Cape from Minecon Live 2019. Milestone and holiday capes, such as the recent Twitch, TikTok and creeper capes, appear for limited windows and usually ask you to claim them while the promotion runs. Miss the window and the cape is gone, so claim event capes the moment you see them.

Marketplace skin packs

The Bedrock Marketplace sells and gives away skin packs, and many of them include a cape as part of the outfit. Some packs are built entirely around capes. One warning from experience: check that the cape is a real, separate cape and not simply painted onto the back of the skin, because a painted cape will not flap, move or show on an elytra.

Contributions and animated capes

A tiny number of players earn capes directly from Mojang for contributing to the game; the players who suggested pigmen and turtles received capes for their ideas, and Mojang staff wear their own. For everyone else, community-made animated capes exist for download on Bedrock, but remember that unofficial capes like these are only visible to you. Other players just see a capeless character.

How to Get Capes on Java

Java capes are rarer, because Java has no Marketplace. The realistic sources are:

• Official events and votes: Mojang increasingly brings event capes to Java too, including capes tied to the annual Mob Vote and the creeper cape released for the 15th anniversary celebrations.
• Contributor and staff capes: awarded by Mojang for exceptional contributions, records and ideas. You cannot apply for these in any normal sense.
• Account and edition bonuses: long-time players may already own capes from past promotions, such as the cape given to players who owned both Java and Bedrock on PC. It is worth checking your profile before assuming you have nothing.
• OptiFine cape: the most accessible Java cape. Donating to OptiFine lets you design your own cape, and it is visible to every other player running OptiFine, which is a large share of the Java community.
• Cape mods: mods such as Advanced Capes let you wear any design, but mod capes are only visible to you unless other players use the same system.

How to Equip or Change Your Cape

On Bedrock, open the Dressing Room from the main menu, choose Edit Character, select Capes in the left sidebar, pick your cape and press Equip.

On Java, you have two routes. On the Minecraft website, sign in, open your Profile, click Change Skin under the Java section and scroll down to select a cape. In the Launcher, open the Skins tab, hover over your skin, open the three-dot menu, choose Edit, select the cape and press Save and Use. If the cape section is empty, you do not own an official cape yet, and one of the methods above is your next step.