You may have noticed that some players have Minecraft capes, even in fresh new games without mods. You may be wondering, just how did they get a cape and how can I get one too?
Capes have been around for a really long time. In fact they were available even since the game was in its beta! They are a normal part of the game (just like player skins) and it is possible for regular players to get them.
Quick Facts About Capes
- Capes are purely cosmetic and offer no visible advantage to gameplay.
- Capes are given to individual player accounts by the makers of Minecraft as rewards. It is not possible to otherwise get a cape unless using mods.
- Capes have predetermined designs. They are not customizable like skins without the use of mods or plugins.
How to Get a Minecraft Cape
Capes are provided to people who helped work on the game (such as translators or Mojang/Microsoft employees), and also players who attended conference events like MineCon in person.
In early 2022, Microsoft gave away free capes to all accounts who migrated from a Mojang account to a Microsoft account. This is one of the easiest ways to obtain a cape for veteran players who purchased the game while Mojang accounts still existed.
How to Change your Cape
Once your account is given a cape as a reward from Microsoft, you can freely switch between them on the minecraft.net website. Your cape will be visible in every game you play, including single and multi player games.
The cape selection section of account management on minecraft.net. In this photo, I have access to the 2022 migrator cape.
If you really want a cape but are not able to attend Minecraft Festival or migrate from a Mojang to a Microsoft account, mods can be used to get a “fake” cape. Capes made visible by mods typically don’t show up for other players unless they also have the same mod installed.
The most common mod used to get a cape is the OptiFine mod, however a small donation is required. Since so many people use the OptiFine mod, this is a good way to show off a custom cape.