A full Minecraft day, including both day and night, lasts exactly 20 minutes in real-world time
. This 20-minute cycle is divided into distinct phases:
- Daytime: 10 minutes of daylight when the sun is up, making it safer to explore, gather resources, and build
- Dusk: About 1.5 minutes transition from day to night
- Nighttime: Approximately 7 minutes when hostile mobs spawn, making it dangerous to be outside
- Dawn: Another 1.5 minutes transition from night to day
The in-game time runs about 72 times faster than real time, with 24,000 game ticks making up one full day cycle
. Players can modify the length of the day and night cycle using commands or mods if they want longer or shorter days
. In summary, one Minecraft day and night cycle is 20 minutes long, split roughly into 10 minutes of day, 7 minutes of night, and 3 minutes of transition periods combined
