How to Crossplay on Minecraft Java and Bedrock

As you might know, Minecraft has become one of the world’s most popular games. It comes as no surprise that it has reached outside the world of PC gaming, and today you can play Minecraft on many more platforms other than PC’s.

This is where crossplay comes into play. It will bridge the gap between the Java and Bedrock players. So, in this blog post we will cover how you can enable crossplay for your Minecraft server, and connect you and your friends across all kinds of platforms.

As this is a blog post, we will not go into the all the technical details on how to set it up. For that, we would like to direct you to our documentation hub. There you will find How to crossplay on Java and Bedrock, which is a step-by-step guide on how to set up crossplay using a software from GeyserMC.

The Differences

Before diving into crossplay, it’s essential to comprehend the distinction between Minecraft Java and Bedrock editions. Minecraft Java is the original version developed for PCs running Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Minecraft Bedrock is programmed in the C++ instead of the Java language. By choosing the C++ language, Mojang has managed to make Minecraft a lot more resource efficient, and therefore made it possible for lower end devices.

While Minecraft Java was developed to run on high performance PC’s, Bedrock is designed for consoles (Xbox, PlayStation), mobile devices (iOS, Android), and Windows 10. Bedrock can also be played on more niche devices, such as ARM based ones.

Furthermore, Minecraft Java is where the main development of Minecraft is made, and this means that a lot of new features are deployed to the Java version. This is also true for the modding community, which is huge on Java compared to Bedrock, where the modding community is pretty much nonexistent.

To summarize, Minecraft Java and Bedrock are different versions of Minecraft, but they are still the same game. They have some varying features, but the main difference is the underlying codebases, making crossplay a bit challenging but not impossible.

Crossplay

One of the most popular ways of getting crossplay working between Java and Bedrock is to use a third-party software called Geyser, which facilitates a bridge for Bedrock clients to join Java servers without much configuration.

The inner workings of Geyser are quite complicated and technical. But in short, Geyser works as a translator between the Bedrock client and the Java server. As Bedrock is developed in C++, the packets it is sending are not compatible with a Java server.

This is where Geyser comes into play and work its magic. It will fetch the packets sent by the Bedrock client, and then translate the data into a format that is compatible with Java servers. Once this task is done, the Geyser software will then re-direct the translated data packets to the Java server in question.

The software of Geyser is quite a clever solution that bridges a gap between Bedrock and Java players. With closing this gap, Geyser has managed to connect the Minecraft community and allow them to play together no matter what device they are using to play.

Conclusion

As we are nearing the end of this blog post, we would like to mention that the developers over at GeyserMC also have a plugin called Floodgate. It can be a great compliment to Geyser and your Minecraft server.

So, let’s wrap this blog up. Geyser is a fantastic and innovative software that makes it easier for all Minecraft gamers to connect to each other. Speaking of connecting, are you a member of our Discord? If you aren’t yet, then what are you waiting for?