How to Get Fortune in Minecraft (Fortune III)

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Fortune comes from enchanting tools or books at the enchanting table, librarian trades, fishing treasure and structure loot. Fortune III is the normal maximum. It increases drops from many ores, including raw iron, gold and copper, and cannot coexist with Silk Touch.

What you need

Enchanting table + 15 bookshelves
Diamond or netherite pickaxe
Lapis lazuli and XP levels
Anvil for combining books
Lectern + villager for targeted trades (optional)

Step by step

Use an enchanting table with 15 active bookshelves to access level-30 offers. Check the preview on the actual tool you want to enchant; a cheap item does not necessarily show the same offered enchantment.
If Fortune is not offered, enchant an expendable item at low cost to change your enchantment seed, then check the intended tool again. Simply opening the table or checking another item does not reroll the seed.
Build a librarian pipeline: place and break a lectern in front of an unemployed villager until a librarian offers a Fortune book - then lock the trade. This is the most reliable targeted method.
Fish for treasure books, which can include Fortune. In Java the bobber must be in qualifying open water; compact AFK fish-farm designs may not catch treasure. Do not assume any small automatic fishing setup produces enchanted books.
Loot structures: Fortune books appear in desert pyramids, strongholds, ocean ruins, mansions, pillager outposts, ancient cities, End cities, mineshafts, monster rooms and jungle pyramids - plus vaults in trial chambers.
Apply the book to a compatible tool on an anvil. Two Fortune I books give II and two II give III. Compare balanced combinations and displayed costs rather than merging every book into one automatically.
Bedrock bonus: mobs spawned in a raid can drop enchanted books, including Fortune - raid farms double as book farms.
Know the rule: Fortune and Silk Touch are mutually exclusive. Keep one Fortune pick and one Silk Touch pick - they do opposite jobs.

Java vs Bedrock

Fortune works the same in both editions for ores. Two Bedrock perks: raid-spawned mobs can drop enchanted books, and sea lantern drops aren't Fortune-affected (in Java, Fortune raises prismarine crystal drops up to the 5 cap). Crop math also differs slightly - Java guarantees 2 carrots/potatoes plus a binomial roll, Bedrock rolls 1 to level+1 first.

Versions: Describes the current Java and Bedrock releases. See the edition note for differences.

Frequently asked questions

What is the easiest way to get Fortune III?

Librarian villagers: place a lectern, check the trade, break and replace it until Fortune appears, then lock it. It's the only fully targeted method - enchanting tables are random and structure loot is luck.

Does Fortune work on iron and gold ore?

Yes. Fortune increases raw iron, raw gold and raw copper drops when you mine their ores with a suitable pickaxe, including deepslate variants. Silk Touch collects the ore block instead. Fortune does not multiply ingots produced by smelting.

Can Fortune and Silk Touch be on the same pickaxe?

Not legitimately - they're mutually exclusive. If commands force both onto one item, Silk Touch wins on blocks affected by both.