Glowing Obsidian

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Glowing Obsidian
Glowing Obsidian.png



Yes (12)

Blast resistance






Yes (64)



Catches fire from lava


Data value

dec: 246 hex: F6 bin: 11110110

Namespaced ID


Information icon.svg
This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.
This item has been officially made unobtainable.
It can still be obtained using third-party software. However, this can cause unexpected behavior such as bugs and crashes.

Glowing obsidian is a Bedrock Edition exclusive block that has no use, other than decorating.


Glowing obsidian can be picked up with a diamond pickaxe.

Block Glowing Obsidian
Hardness ?
Breaking time[note 1]
Hand ?
Wooden ?
Stone ?
Iron ?
Diamond ?
Golden ?

In versions of Pocket Edition Alpha from 0.5.0 to 0.12.0, glowing obsidian was created when a nether reactor structure was active. The nether reactor's functionality has since been removed, leaving add-ons or inventory editors as the only remaining ways to obtain glowing obsidian. It is not in the player's Creative inventory.


Glowing obsidian has no purpose other than decoration and lighting up areas.


Pocket Edition Alpha
0.5.0Glowing Obsidian.png Added glowing obsidian.
Glowing obsidian is generated from the conversion of the blocks that make up the reactor (nether reactor core, cobblestone and gold blocks) upon activation.
Glowing obsidian cannot be retrieved as a drop, instead regular obsidian is dropped.
Glowing obsidian takes the same amount of time to mine as obsidian using any pickaxe.
Glowing obsidian is a solid block that emits a light level of 12.
Glowing obsidian emits red smoke particles within close proximity to it so long as it existed.
Glowing obsidian turns into obsidian after a short amount of time.
Glowing obsidian has the same blast resistance as normal obsidian.
If the nether reactor core is mined out while the nether reactor was active, the glowing obsidian won't turn into obsidian after the reactor is deactivated. This also caused by the reactor to stop spawning items. If the gold blocks are mined out before they change to glowing obsidian, the gold blocks are preserved, and the nether reactor continues spawning items.
0.7.1Wooden and stone pickaxes no longer make glowing obsidian yield obsidian.
0.7.3Glowing obsidian now requires a diamond pickaxe to mine (iron pickaxes no longer drop glowing obsidian).
0.8.0?Glowing obsidian no longer has a red outline in the hotbar.
0.12.1build 1Glowing obsidian can no longer be obtained, though any existing blocks remain.
?Glowing Obsidian drops itself when mined, instead of normal obsidian.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0Glowing Obsidian.png Added glowing obsidian.


Glowing obsidian is an unsupported block and as such issues relating to them may not be fixed.


  • Glowing obsidian makes an appearance in Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two when Jesse places the structure block it spawns around the observer, and on the bottom of the obsidian cages Vos was in.
  • Glowing obsidian became unused when Silk Touch was added. Therefore, the block has never been obtainable.
  • Glowing obsidian has no name assigned to it, so its in-game name appears as[1]
    • Despite this, it can be assigned a custom name using resource pack with a language file.



See also[edit]