Bedrock and Java version numbers: why they never match

They are different programs

This is the fact everything else follows from, and it surprises people who assume Minecraft is one game with two skins.

Java Edition is written in Java, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and is what the modding ecosystem, the server software on this site and the plugin catalogue are all built around.

Bedrock Edition is written in C++ and runs on consoles, phones, tablets and Windows. It is a separate codebase with a separate save format, a separate network protocol and separate release engineering.

Two separate programs, developed by different teams, shipped through different stores, on different schedules. Their version numbers were never going to line up, and there is no mapping table because there is nothing to map.

Java's scheme changed in 2026

Java Edition used 1.MAJOR.MINOR for its whole life. In practice the leading 1 never moved, so everything from 2011 to 2025 was "1 point something", and the second number did all the work: 1.16, 1.17, 1.18, up to 1.21.11 in December 2025.

From 2026 it uses a calendar scheme: year dot drop. So 26.1 is the first major drop of 2026 and 26.2 is the second. There is no 1.22 and never was; 26.1 took its place. See is 26.1 the same as 1.22.

Snapshots kept their old naming, because it was already a calendar scheme: 26w14a is the snapshot from week 14 of 2026.

Bedrock's scheme is its own thing

Bedrock has continued with its own numbering, which behaves differently in ways that matter if you are comparing:

• The third number goes much higher. Bedrock ships small updates far more often, partly because store submissions and platform certification make its release rhythm different.
• A version can differ per platform for a while. Console store approvals do not land at the same moment as a mobile release, so the same update reaches players on different days under the same number.

So a Bedrock number and a Java number cannot be ordered against each other. They are not the same scale, and neither is a version of the other.

Comparing them properly

If you want to know which edition currently has a feature, compare two things:

• Release dates. Both editions publish them. This is the only common axis.
• The feature itself. A major drop reaches both editions at roughly the same time. What is in each one is the question worth asking, not what the number says.

The version list here covers Java Edition and orders it by Mojang's own manifest chronology, which is the same reason it can put 26.2 after 1.21.11 correctly.

Where the difference actually bites

Servers. Everything on this site, Paper, Purpur, Fabric, NeoForge, plugins, mods, is Java Edition. Bedrock has its own server software and its own add-on ecosystem, and none of it is interchangeable.

Worlds. Different save formats. A Java world does not open in Bedrock and vice versa without a conversion tool, and conversion is lossy.

Mods versus add-ons. Java mods change the game's code. Bedrock add-ons work within a sanctioned scripting and behaviour-pack system. Neither is a way to run the other's content.

Multiplayer. A Bedrock client cannot join a Java server. A translation layer on the server side, Geyser, makes it possible from the server's side. Letting Bedrock players join covers what that does and does not deliver.

The practical version

• The two numbers do not compare. Do not try.
• Anything about servers, plugins, mods or Java runtimes on this site is Java Edition.
• If you are buying, hosting or modding, decide the edition first. Almost every other decision follows from it and none of them transfer.