How to Get Packed Ice in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Collect packed ice with a Silk Touch tool from ice spikes, frozen peaks or frozen-ocean icebergs. You can also fill a crafting table with nine regular ice blocks to make one packed ice. Packed ice does not melt near light sources.

What you need

Silk Touch tool (a pickaxe is fastest)
9 ice and a crafting table for each crafted packed ice

Step by step

Look for packed ice in ice spikes, frozen peaks or the icebergs of a frozen ocean.
Use a Silk Touch tool to collect the block; a pickaxe is fastest. Without Silk Touch it drops nothing and does not become water.
For crafting, gather nine regular ice blocks with Silk Touch.
Fill all nine slots of a crafting table with ice to get one packed ice block.
Use packed ice for boat tracks or slippery surfaces that stay frozen near light sources.
If you need blue ice, combine nine packed ice in another full 3x3 crafting grid. Keep in mind that neither recipe can be reversed into its original blocks.

Java vs Bedrock

Both editions support Silk Touch gathering and the nine-ice recipe. Packed ice is a solid block and does not melt near light sources. It can support mob spawning, so a packed-ice floor alone does not make a build spawn-proof.

Versions: javabedrock

Frequently asked questions

Can I mine packed ice without Silk Touch?

You can break it, but it drops nothing. Use any tool with Silk Touch to collect it intact.

Can I turn packed ice back into regular ice?

No. The nine-ice crafting recipe is one-way; packed ice is not a reversible storage block.

Does packed ice melt in the Nether?

Packed ice does not melt near light sources and can be used for ice tracks in all three dimensions. It does not behave like regular ice that can turn into water.

How much regular ice makes one blue ice?

Using the crafting chain, nine ice make one packed ice and nine packed ice make one blue ice, so one blue ice costs 81 regular ice.